FatBeats: Behind The Counter Podcast Episode 3

On Episode 3 of FatBeats' Behind The Counter Podcast, DJ Eclipse links up with DJ Jazzy Joyce, DJ Perly and Amore Querida to complete our celebration of Women's History Month and discuss the important contributions women have made to the culture of Hip Hop. 

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DJ Eclipse:
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DJ Jazzy Joyce:
https://www.instagram.com/djjazzyjoyce/

DJ Perly: 
https://www.instagram.com/djperly/

Amore Querida:
https://www.instagram.com/intlx/

#Fatbeats #HipHop #BehindTheCounter #Podcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

What's up everyone? DJ Eclipse here. And uh if you're seeing me, that means it is time for another Fat Beats Behind the Counter podcast. And what we're doing is we are a little bit late for the month, but we are celebrating Women's History Month, specifically hip hop history, right here, Fat Beats Behind the Counter. To my right, another Fat Beats uh alum, uh my uh former uh co-worker uh and still friend, great friend, uh Amore uh Karida.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

Amore querida. Yes, hello, thank you for having me. Um oh man, so many, so much, so many stories at the store.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Oh, we're gonna get into tons of stories about the store for sure. That's a big part of what the podcast is. We're living uh a lot of those moments uh throughout the 90s and even into the early 2000s. Uh some great, great times at Fat Beats. Uh Amorda's gonna be here with us, as well as hailing from the Bronx, New York. DJ Jazzy Joyce is here with us right now. And when we talk about history, there is so much history there, and I'm so looking forward to getting into uh uh the come-up of Joyce. And I even brought my Jazz.

SPEAKER_05 1:23

He got me working, y'all already.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

I got my Jazzy Joyce records here, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_05 1:27

So I gotta get my John handcuffed together.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, for sure. And then also we have also coming from the Bronx, New York, DJ Pearly is here as well.

SPEAKER_04 1:41

Hi, welcome to Tiny Fat Beats Radio.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

I didn't say hi, but hi, but this is gonna be great. This is great. This is uh, you know, Amore with me at Fat Beat, so you know, we got all those stories, and then Joyce is part of the the origins of you know early hip-hop to current, being able to transition through different eras, uh, but also someone that inspired all of us for different reasons, you know, just to um get into hip-hop more and and follow what she was doing, and then Pearlie, who I always kind of look at as the the face and voice and hands of today's generation, of uh kind of taking what everyone did before her and presenting it in her way. So uh everything makes sense here, and I'm happy to have all y'all here. The Spider-Man There it is.

SPEAKER_05 2:37

Thank you, everybody, in advance for allowing me to be in this space with y'all. Before we begin, I'm saying thank you.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

Ah, you're quite welcome. Thank you for actually being here. I'm just so glad it all worked out, you know. Um you know, I like to always start at the beginning, and you know, obviously you come before fat beats. So we're gonna start with you. Um I want to know, and that's also very because very interesting, interesting for me, you know, is like the stories of how things happened. So for you, who were you seeing that made you even want to decide that you wanted to DJ and and become who you ended up becoming?

SPEAKER_05 3:15

Uh by way of where I was born in the Bronx, New York, I was privy to see people like Red Alert and when they were in the park stages, not knowing what it's gonna be gonna become. Um so it was people like the Bronx collectives, the BAMs, the Red Alerts, the Jazzy Jays um were the very few that I saw in the physical form. Everybody else, because I was so young, uh was through mixed tapes. So at that point, and then from there it's like I didn't know I was making history, the rest after that. It was just I happened to be born in the Bronx because I think if I was born anywhere else with the skill set that I have, all of what I've done wouldn't matter as much.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

Right. Being there actually gave you the uh the skills that you needed and and and and also the the drive and the motivation. The drive and the motivation because it was there.

SPEAKER_05 4:24

Yeah, and in real life, and also I if I was somewhere else, I wouldn't have been developed in that way because what I say and what I mean by that is to actually be taught the four elements. I'm just one element of the elements, but I was privy to all of the other elements to understand why I'm important, you know, for the dancers, for the the the circle around. But the add-on is to actually see the trains. We saw that we can see the trains. So you you you have your black book. That's why I asked for this, because I I didn't know the dynamics of how we were gonna go about this. But we're gonna sign it, even if I don't I'm gonna find but that's the the collective, the tagging, yeah. Oh to sort of go to the bench. Go to the bench, yeah, sit at the graffiti bench and then see the train hit the turn close. Yeah, you can smell it, you can hear it. Those are the things that help shape me to be inspired to move forward because I was here at the epicenter of the development of the whole culture. Right. At its developmental system. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Absolutely. Yeah, CJ Jazzy Joyce. Yes, uh Pearlie, let's think let's stay in the Bronx for a minute. So for you, obviously, you know, decades decades later, what was your experience for like the things that turned you on into you know becoming DJ Pearlie?

SPEAKER_04 5:58

Man, as a kid, I always listened to music. My mom, my yeah, I'm gonna say my mom's the DJ because she's the one that put me into music. And you know, coming from a Puerto Rican background, she was teaching me at a young age, like this is our culture, this is you know, our our our culture, our history, our roots, and these are the songs that tell our story that bring it out to the world, like Celia Cruz, Joe Cuba, Joe Batan, um, you know, almost everybody. She was like even teaching me about Motown and like the stuff that she grew up with, and she went to Studio 54, and she went to the other clubs as well. Yeah. And she's like, Oh, this is what I listen to, this is my time, this is Elvis, this is the Beatles. So I was like, Oh, this is dope. So then, of course, me being the MTV kid, I was also watching, you know, TRL, watching celebrity deathmatch, and all that stuff. So I was like getting the best of both worlds, and then like once I got into like wanting to play an instrument, I started getting into like percussion, like the congas. I wanted drums, my dad was like, Hell no. I'm like, why not?

SPEAKER_05 6:57

Too much noise, too much noise.

SPEAKER_04 7:00

So then I ended up just like you know, being so curious about music, just like being a sponge. Like I would just whatever was on the radio, I'm like, who is this? So and then like got into like into DJing with my dad, he had his turntables, but he was busy working and he never used it. So I was like, mm-mm, let me just give this a try. So I taught myself. I you know, at the time I didn't have nobody to show me what these things do, what the knobs do, how do I put my hand on the record? At the time, YouTube was still developing, it was just a baby, so it was just like two or three videos, and then the rest is on your own. So I was like, okay, I could figure this out. I'm like, it's not too bad. But then my dad was like, Don't touch my records. I'm like, come on, right, right, don't touch my records. I'm like, what the hell? Get you a song. Then he gives me rapping duke.

SPEAKER_05 7:45

I'm like rapping duke.

SPEAKER_04 7:48

He's he takes it as like, this is the best record. I'm like, me, I don't know. Like, I'm like, okay. He goes, hey, Pilgrim. I'm like, oh crap, it's slow. Let me put on 45. I'm like, it's worse. So I was like, hell no. That was one of the first rap records, right? Um, like the first novelty record. Yeah, for sure. One of those novelty joints. So I was like, forget this. So I I just started like saving my money from chores and my boy, she'd be like, Oh, it te pa pa tu luncho, you know, this is for lunch money. I'm like, thanks. This is actually right.

SPEAKER_06 8:18

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:18

Yeah, yeah. So, and then after that, I just started teaching myself, going to record stores, and then like five years later, I discovered, oh, now there's a DJ school. Now there's Scratch Academy. I'm like, damn, I hated teaching. Damn. I hated teaching. Damn. Damn. But yeah, but the DJs that got me into it was actually like kind of a happy accident. Was I got Lily Allen's record all right still. And I was like, who is she? Like, okay, this is dope. I like her SNL performance. Let me see, you know, who are these, you know, who's the who's the producer, who's on this and that. And the MySpace days, I was like, oh, Mark Ronson, who's this dude? And then I was like, rest of these.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

No, I used to.

SPEAKER_04 9:00

No, Mark is the same.

SPEAKER_05 9:01

No, A Adams? AM.

SPEAKER_04 9:03

Okay, AM.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

Rest of P is AM.

SPEAKER_05 9:05

Sorry, Mark.

SPEAKER_04 9:06

Wrong, wrong white guy. We'll be back after these brief messages.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Before you go any further, was your was your father a D like a known DJ?

SPEAKER_04 9:17

Like no, no one in my family's a DJ but me.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_04 9:21

So I'm like the music nerd. Besides my mom that she was like, oh, this and that, Seri Cru, Hector Lavaux, Willie Colomb, rest in peace. And you know, she was just like feeding me what I, you know, right didn't know I was gonna be using it later on.

SPEAKER_06 9:32

Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_04 9:33

So yeah, so then I was like, oh, Mark Ronson, like cool, this is dope. You know, he did a remix on Lily's album, um, Smile Rev uh version revisit. I was like, this is dope. And then I just went down this rabbit hole of DJs, and from there I was like, oh, Milk Crate Athletics by Aaron Lacray, and I was like, Oh, he's on East Village Radio, let me listen to this. And those guys were like my teachers. So I was like, Oh, what are they doing? Like, I don't know, I'll just picture what they're doing and try to do it on the turntable.

SPEAKER_06 9:59

Right.

SPEAKER_04 10:00

And then, like, from there and on, I was like going into even further into like mixing, and then I stumble upon Qbert's records, and I was like, I was like, Who's this dude? Like the first video I saw Qbert, I didn't even know it's Qbert. It was like the Dud Rumble, do it yourself videos. He's like, Here, fix this pipe with the prints. I'm like, isn't that but let him go more? Like, like, okay. But then I stumbled like A-Trax video, his winning routine. I was like, what is this? Yeah, and from then on, I was like, you could do this with DJing, like you could do this with records, like what?

SPEAKER_06 10:31

Right.

SPEAKER_04 10:31

So from then on, I I just like fell into this big love and passion of like creativity and like seeing that there's more to just being on the radio, there's more to just doing um you know, mixing. There's like the creative side to it and just put it all together. And from then it was just like whoa.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Uh Amore. Yes, um, yes.

SPEAKER_04 10:55

Tell us your story.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

I don't even remember what what year was it you started at Fabi?

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Uh I think it was like 2002, something like that. Um yeah, so I, you know, was born raised in uh Queens on 111th, right across the street from Flushy Meadow Park, you know, and uh I used to go to the World's Fair like after school, like you know, I used to hang out in the park all the time, and um you know, my parents were immigrants from uh my father is from Dominican Republic, my mom is from Uruguay and Brazil, so it was like a very it was a it was a mix of of Latin culture because they're very different, the Caribbean and the South American. So, you know, the Spanish was different. I had to learn all the accents and you know um it was it was like a mixture of uh broken Spanish, like what would be equivalent to Jamaican to like Spaniard Spanish or like more uh correct grammar, so to speak. So it was an interesting upbringing. But my parents, uh my dad is from the South Bronx, he's roller skater, boogie, he was at all the parties, you know, he he is still this way. My father still looks fresh. Um he was into cars and queeds, you know, drag racing and all that. So I got to hang out um in those environments with my dad. And my my parents, um, they were a hot couple, you know, back in the day. So they were listening. I grew up listening to like Roberta Flack, Diana Ross, like they were in the party scene, you know. So um, and my parents were the youngest in the family tree. So my parents were like the cool aunt and uncles and stuff. And uh my my mom, when CDs became a thing, the turntable was just collecting dust. So they let me have it. So at like, no lie, like at 10 years old, I had a full receiver, you know, turntable and you know, speakers. And my mom gave me her little stack of records, which was like, you know, a few five records maybe. And my favorite one that was in that crate was uh Aretha Franklin Respect. And that record was my first 45, you know, and I played it so much. And like um as I got older, I started collecting, you know, records and everything. And at 17, I got my my first Gemini mixer. I couldn't afford Technique 1200, so you know, I jacked my mom's like one that she had, and then I put two different ones together, removed the rubber mats and put like wax paper, because I was watching executioners on VHS and I looked up to them so much, and um, you know, uh to cut like them was like a dream, you know. I like Mr. Sinister's juggles, like I was so like drawn to that. And um at like I remember um at 19 I went to table turns and I saw Atrack for the first time, he was like 15. He literally had a piece of paper, like sheet music, so to speak, for the scratching because he was trying to get his routine perfect, right? And it was the first time I saw Fifth Platoon as well, who are a huge influence to me. And the minute I saw Cut and Candy get on those decks, it was life-changing for me. It was at the bank downtown at uh in you know, LES, you know, and um I saw Candy get up there and she did her her routine and I was like, yo, that's I wanna do that, you know. And um she inspired me big time, you know, as a turntablist. And um, you know, in my early 20s, you know, working at Fat Beats, I knew that I was gonna be able to chat with these people that I looked up to so much, like Sinister, Rob Swift, you know, Rock Raider, Rest in Peace, you know, Total Eclipse, you know, all of them, precision. I knew that I was gonna have access to that. And I would bug them when they came in the store. I'd be like, yo, show me how you do your crab scratch. I want to see. And they basically mentored me. I used to ask them for like, I'm like, yo, can you school me? And they would watch me cut and they're like, you don't even need our help. Like you could, you could do, you could do it. You just you, you know, you have to unlock it. Yeah, you have to find it. And um, I remember like um Cuber, he, you know, he they would come periodically to the store, you know, when they were in town. And um, you know, I was fortunate to get, you know, one-on-one tips from from DJs that really inspired me, you being one of them. Like, I've always loved your style. You know, you're you're very clean and like so um uh structured in my like there's DJs that have like a certain type of style, you know, like where they have their signature stuff, but like I've always admired your style, and you've inspired me also all these years, you know. But um, you know, I I got into production. I went to IAR in the 90s.

SPEAKER_05 16:29

Is my post well is there a picture there of me?

SPEAKER_02 16:34

They shut down now.

SPEAKER_05 16:35

Oh they got it, used to be a huge picture. I didn't mean to in the middle, but like a ginormous picture. People used to go there and then they say, I saw your picture at higher hospital. Yeah, when I went to somebody got it.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

When I went to IAR, it was uh 97 and um it was we were tape splicing, there was no Pro Tools or you know, recording recorders, it was, you know, tape machines. So I had to learn that. And um, it was so raw, you know, going to school there. Like it was uh they taught me about synthesizers, it was like so much information, but I was like, I need to know the foundation of this so I can make my own, you know, records or get my own studio. Like that's all I was thinking about. And while I was there, you know, I met other producers, and I always wrote poetry, so you know, we would have ciphers in the hallway in the school with the old Sony tape decks and all this, and we would bring our looped beats and all this, and we, you know, I was like, Oh, okay, so we you know, we would start freestyling in the hallway before classes, and um, you know, I I have been in like tap with all the elements of the culture, you know. Growing up in Queens, we were breakdancing and doing graffiti for the first times. Like, I was always with my older cousins, so I I was like sweating all the stuff that they were doing, and I was just tagging along with them, but they really like you know, formed that you know, everything you were talking about. Like, I have I recently uh was able to get video footage of uh family parties in '84. And it's us like with our ghetto blaster in the kitchen with our parents like dancing, and like it's like golden for me to have that because it's like the roots of what hip hop did for me as a as a person. Like hip-hop has always been um there for me, and like I really believe that there are hip-hop gods because I've had so many situations, you know. Working at Fat Beats, I learned the business side. I was a creative going into a business space, not understanding the industry. And fat beats changed my life, like my interpretation, it was like that stepping stone to like, yeah, this is the fun stuff, and now look, this is how the business actually works. I swear, I wish I would have had that.

SPEAKER_05 19:08

I would have loved to work at that. I would have had that heads up because I've my whole path would have been different, right? But because they knew that I didn't know that, I was puppeteered gently, a little bit rough.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

Yeah, I really I really saw the the both sides of the worlds, you know, and um it it helped me, it it gave me a good thing, and then you know, when you when you do it for a long time, as you both all everybody here probably knows, you develop like a love-hate relationship with the game. And uh, you know, there was many times in Fat Beats where I was like, man, like you know, you shop so many beats, you you do so much, and like you don't get the answer that you want until that one person says yes, you know. It's like you really can't stop going. You gotta just keep keep going.

SPEAKER_05 20:03

It's like you gotta think of it like sperm. Look how many motherfuckers come out that motherfucking amazed one you, right? And a lot of times, you gotta keep clutching it.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 20:23

You gotta keep shooting you gotta, right? Yo, Papa shut up and a lot of times to make one you. If he stopped shooting, you wouldn't have been here.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

No doubt.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

But yeah, no, the working at the store was definitely uh you know, an eye-opening experience. And um it taught me a lot about you know how a record is made from scratch to the final stages of the promotion, the It taught you so much.

SPEAKER_05 21:00

It taught you so much because you being on that side of the script, you understand where the money starts to push who don't get no push.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Right.

SPEAKER_05 21:10

Sometimes it's a record that's better than the record that's being pushed. Yeah, of course. But the record that's being pushed got money behind it, but this record is better, so independent, they don't got no money for it. I mean to put is that. But that's what we were.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

But that's what Fat Beats was we we came in.

SPEAKER_05 21:28

As the help to the underdog, yes, absolutely. I was a help because I was the one taking all of the corporate BS once I they realized I was an underdog helper. Right. And unintentionally, it was just I'm a seeker of new sounds and creativity. So I was the spook that had the foot in the door, I guess, if you will, for the underground person that doesn't necessarily have that budget. I'm a I'ma squeeze you into the mix of this shit. Yes, and that's what you. I was 100%.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

But again, it just goes back to, you know, again, all of us learning. Like these records were my introduction to you. You know what I'm saying? Hearing your name on here, seeing your name on here. And it's just like, okay, she made it. You know what I'm saying? Like she, this is someone now I have to look up to and study and stuff like that. And so we all learn from everything that came before us. Now, you know, Pearlie and Amore m might have had more um opportunities to see things and experience things because it came a little bit later.

SPEAKER_05 22:35

Right. Because after everything. But usually the first one is that. Imagine if I was able to then, after all that I have been through, double back and experience some of the things that they or had some of the some support that they have. Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Of course, of course. I mean, you know, so saying all that, um, let's start, let's, let's talk about your setup. So what did you start on when you first started?

SPEAKER_05 23:04

Um, you really wanted the real real startup was the in the teaching stages was the old record player that had the arm that go like that. And then with the balance knob. Yeah. And then you before this is before any equipment, whatever, they would y'all heard the stories of how people used to do this with the balance knob. That was the first first. But my first setup would be SLB twos and the Gemini mixer. Okay. The classic little square one with the meters. Yeah. That one was my first. Okay. And then after that is like hundreds of dollars of needles and turntables and equipment later, like thousands and a lot of money. Yeah. Yeah. Like people don't realize, going back to when you were talking, how you said your family member gave you money, then you tuck it because you're trying to, you like, I'm a buy these records. I'm a because it's$4.99. I need another, yeah, whatever. So we said people don't realize those sacrifices that we made. People don't realize how many times I was wiping off my sneakers to keep my sneakers clean and presentable because I'm saving the money so I could get a piece of equipment to play for who for y'all. Like I was talking to you earlier. This is when y'all see me in photos of this jacket, this I got this after I was DJing with Diggable Planets, right? In 1996. Here we are in 2026. Right. So it's like did I not be able to buy a new coat since then? Or am I dipping in a uniform all this time?

SPEAKER_00 24:51

Right. Absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 24:54

You know what I'm saying? The sacrifices we make to make those moments happen. Of course. Of course.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

And then so now when you're starting to DJ, obviously you're seeing these people you mentioned, but now here comes you, a woman in a in a predominantly male space. Was there any other women at that particular time that caught your eye that you were like, well, if she can do it, I can definitely do it.

SPEAKER_05 25:23

I I had no uh no teacher, no example, no I think by like again, me being from the Bronx and then it being the epicenter of the sprouting of the culture. I was just someone that came on the scene accidentally by proximity.

SPEAKER_06 25:41

Right.

SPEAKER_05 25:41

And I was shoved into the circus. People know me for battling DJ cash money. But I DJ I battled Red Alert in '84 in London. There's there's documentary and all of that stuff that finally hopefully somebody will smuggle it and bring it over here, whatever. So for years, I didn't understand my energy with Red Alert. But then when I made the correlation, oh I but I was again being put into this thing, not understanding the full spectrum spectrum of it. So now we go to how did I get to these spaces? Like how did this moment happen? Sure, absolutely nonstop. Proximity. Right. I'm born and raised in the Bronx. The foundation of the people who created this is from the Bronx. Okay. It's proximity. Proximity and happenstance of the skill set that I was presented. I was presented with the skill set because I was a sickly individual. I had Crohn's disease early stages. So my mom was hardworking and I was assigned and not assigned, but put with people to help take care of me while she worked. Her son taught me the foundation of the DJ, okay, DJ Chovy Chove out of Forest Project.

SPEAKER_06 27:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 27:08

Across the building from Fat Joe's family, okay. It was over there. We was okay. 980 Forest Project. So to bring it fast forward, I DJ'd for the first time. I was 13 years old at the Club World. And no Earth's Edge on Houston. And that's all the combination of Jazzy J, etc., because it's the Tommy Boy, and that's the blending. So that's where it starts to happen.

SPEAKER_06 27:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 27:39

People see me and now it's vying for I wanna work with her, I wanna, but I don't know that outside of it yet.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

So you're still just young, just enjoying doing it, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:51

Right. So the early stages of me being groomed and presented and prodded and whatever was the the battles. New music seminar, you know, those things. So all of these stages is prep prepping you and stepping you towards these type of moments. And um WizKid was the and I now know recently was the AR of Tommy Boy. I didn't know he was at that time. I wouldn't have even known what the title meant at that time. But that's the segue. That's the I just found out that from recently from one of the MCs that because I did scratches and everything, but they removed my scratches from back then. So that was an executive call from someone, it could have been from his mate at the time, anybody, could have been any perspective. So imagine that if we would have got to hear my scratches. So there's a lot of things throughout the years and years and years that happened. Like when you hear a conversation like this, it's like a microcosm of why I may have walked away. That's just what you know what I mean. You get tired of being just like you said, you have a love-hate relationship with with the everything. With the whole the whole time. So we could go through these, so that's not the same sweet tree. And you can't listen, if you've ever heard this record and you hear my voice, right? Okay. Non-stop party rocking it's show. You can hear my note. Yeah, Jazzy Joyce has got them jumping. G-L O B E, you know, like play that beat. Yeah, why don't you play for me? Switch the mix, Mr. D. Hell yeah. That's why I'm saying it right now. Like for you to go home.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

I gotta go back and listen.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Yeah, it's gonna be there.

SPEAKER_05 29:49

Play that beat, play it, kick it. I'm doing a note on it. When you go back and listen after seeing this, it's gonna make your hand up. See, I would have never known that. Right, but this nils. Oh my god. So then, okay, we get to here.

SPEAKER_06 30:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:08

So we go to sweet T. By the time we get to this situation, it's after this situation.

SPEAKER_06 30:16

Right.

SPEAKER_05 30:17

I uh let me shout to Sweet T. I'm thank you, thankful for the opportunity, wholeheartedly. I I saw a recent interview where Sweet T said, oh, the part of the reason why I put Jazzy Joyce on the wheels. Like, because I wanted to give her an opportunity to have a record to cut with her name in it. Excuse me, miss. Hello? They say my name over here first. So anyway.

SPEAKER_06 30:44

Well, it doesn't hurt to have two.

SPEAKER_05 30:47

Yeah, no, but I had to just like no no no no. She's but ultimately the how this came about was I'm born and raised in the Bronx. Josky Love at the time was dating sweet T. I lived in Park Chester. He came up to me, my girl needs a DJ. Would you like to XYZ? I said, and the rest is history.

SPEAKER_06 31:14

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 31:15

She said she seen me in a park somewhere DJing. Maybe, maybe not. I want to know what the park flyer is. Like, usually there's a whose jam, whose equipment was it? Right. What slip mat did I do? No, but I'm just saying when you hear so sure for it to make sense, it's gotta make it right, it's gotta make sense. Like if I tell you something, then we could, it's the stamps that we talk about.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Of course.

SPEAKER_05 31:41

So the rest is history.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:44

I made no money anywhere. The greatest monetary gift was this right here. My name. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. It's worth more than weight and gold. For sure. So I never cried over like certain people get mad over certain things. But I knew early on. I was like, okay, I ain't getting no money. Two things I got out of this was the credit, and I got this jacket. This jacket, no, it was on Broadway. So when I used to go to um Profile Records, walking from the train stays. Remember, if you remember seeing it? You remember, yeah, it was they had the Vince, it had a mannequin with the Vince, and you know what I'm talking about. Because I was going being diligent, and I said, one day I'ma get that.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

Right.

SPEAKER_05 32:43

And here I am.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

You have props over here. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 32:47

And let me say this. Obviously, it's never good when an artist gets jerked, but if KRS never did criminal-minded and got jerked for it, we would have never known the greatness of KRS. He would have never had the career that he had from that. So similarly, we would have never, I would have never have known you without your name being on these records. You know what I'm saying? Like it would have been a different trajectory.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

I was gonna say, speaking of sweet tea, that reminds me of Paul Winley when I used to buy records from him. But he had a lot of, you know, he had the recordings. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

Early recordings.

SPEAKER_02 33:27

The the Zulu and the clubs and all that. Right, right. Wasn't wasn't that his daughter? Who? Paul Winley. Remember Paul Winley? Sweet T was his daughter, wasn't he? I don't know who her dad was. I only met her.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

Yeah, I don't remember the relationship. He had those recordings.

SPEAKER_02 33:40

No, I think I think it was uh Paulette Winley and uh we'll have to ask Weechi. He had yeah, he had he had like the whole, it was like a family thing. Is that right?

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Uh Pearlie.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

Sorry. Credits. Credits.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

DMC. Yes. Um many battles, but uh 2017, um, first woman to take US finals.

SPEAKER_04 34:05

That's correct.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

And then didn't stop there, kept battling and then kept battling.

SPEAKER_04 34:09

I defended in 2018 with a broken finger in Colorado. How'd you break your finger? A car door. Oh man. Somebody slammed it. No, it was it just happened. That you you not paying attention. I was just like walking out all of a sudden, I was like, oh my god. Is that a million-dollar finger?

SPEAKER_06 34:27

The one nice.

SPEAKER_04 34:29

Yeah, it's pretty nice. You know, it was crooked for a bit, but you know. So no one knew I had a broken finger that year. So I was let me not say anything. So I went to Colorado. It was that was crazy. Like my flight was the like canceled the day before my actual flight, and I had to take the the flight, the day of the battle, and it was just like great. Right. So I had to take off the splint and be like, Alright, here I am. And then like whatever happened at the battle happened. And then, like, you know, then I took a break because I was like, you know what? I think it's like a sign from the universe, like, girl, you gotta chill. So and then, you know, COVID happened. I was like, I still gotta battle somehow. So I did all the online battles, and then I won my uh second US title in 2022, and then you know, I just keep I just kept going because I don't want to give up. Like, that's my my ultimate goal is to not give up because like I know in my heart I can whenever I put my mind to something, I can do it. You know, people say, Oh, you know, you should just stop because you know, just stop. I'm like, no, I'm stubborn and I'm like really hard-headed. I get it from my bullet, I'm not stopping.

SPEAKER_05 35:32

When they say stop, what do they mean by that? Like, stop battling because like oh battling, yeah, yeah, it'll it'll come. I guess they want you to keep a clean, clean slate, like never to get hit by a uh L. Right. If you will, because you're in a nice standing. You don't want one of these new motherfuckers that just came across here, whatever. Well, not gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_04 35:53

Well, do they they place third in the beach uncle battle in the world? Like that world title. I'm a seven-time world finalist, I'm not gonna stop.

SPEAKER_00 35:59

So let me say this. There's a couple things to that point. Um, one is a lot of people that you know have gone through the battle circuit usually use that as a stepping stone, you know, to go on to do other things, producing, you know, whatever it does. Of course, yeah. Um, so I get that point, you know. It's like, but I will say this, you know, and I've told you this, you know, off mic before, I was very um kind of like, you know, bored with a lot of the the battle scene after our generation of, you know, X-Men, scratch pickles, allies, you know, you know, all B junkies. After that generation, I was kind of like, I I'd stopped going to the DMCs just because I felt like the people that were signing up for the competition weren't as good as the people we've already seen and experienced. Um and for the people like shout out to Christy Z, you know, who at that time was was still booking the DMC events, you know, much love to her because she always did her all to try to put on the best shows possible. But it's also based on who signs up for the competitions, and if like, you know, if there's a hundred people better that's not signing up, then I can be in the battle. So you get who you're gonna get. And so there was a while there I try to go to some of them, and I would just be like, ah, it's just like it's it's I've seen better, you know what I'm saying? It's like I've seen better, so it's not enjoyable. And then I saw Pearly, and Pearly gave me hope that that that it would it could be saved, you know what I'm saying? Like, you know, because that's what you want. It's like we all played a part in our own journey that contributes to the overall culture of hip-hop. Yeah, and you want as and so for every for all of us, we're like a parent to what we've left behind of ourselves, and we want to see other people take it, pick it up, and move forward with it. And so thank you, Pearlie, because I I think you are moving forward with it.

SPEAKER_04 37:55

I gotta thank you guys because you guys are my foundation to what I'm doing now. Because when I went to my first DMC battle, um, going back to Scratch Academy, um, my my teacher, Dirty Digits, um, shout out to Dirty Digits, he he was like, Yo, you gotta like check out these girls. I'm like, I haven't seen any videos of them at all. So he gave me this paper, and it was just like five girls out of like a blank sheet of paper. He goes, Here you go, check them out, come back, and we'll talk. And on that paper was Jazzy Joyce. Ah, and there's not a lot of footage of me out there.

SPEAKER_05 38:28

Exactly. So that was hard for me to like find you. Telling me, letting me excuse me, go for it. Everybody, fine. Go ahead. But me letting you know about the disappearances, meaning the health issues, now kind of fills in the gap. Exactly. If you think I've been cut open eight times and then it takes six weeks to recover after each cut open, do the math on spreading that out through when I discerning so that's where the disappearances were, but I would never correct anybody, I'd let them assume whatever. So I'm sorry that I wasn't available more.

SPEAKER_04 39:05

Listen, health comes first, you know. That that's like the most important thing is taking care of yourself first before anything else. It just explains my absence.

SPEAKER_05 39:12

So go ahead. Who else did they say?

SPEAKER_04 39:14

Cut and candy. Man, I I was like blown away. I saw I saw like that first DMC video. I was like, okay, cut and candy, let me see. Like, oh, Fifth Platoon, like, wait, roly roll, wait a minute, hold on. And everything was like just coming together, like, oh, everybody is in like the community in the scene, like everyone knows everybody. You know, it's a battle, but uh off camera, they're they're chilling or whatever. You know, it was cut and candy, um, Jazzy Joyce, Spinderella, Coco Chanel, um, and then I think it was like Killer Jewel. And I was like, whoa, okay, this is it. But then, like, as time went on with like social media, like opening doors for everybody else, I started seeing more and more women. I was like, this is dope. Okay, so we are out here, but you know, kind of like imagine.

SPEAKER_05 39:58

I'm sorry to cut you off. Go for it. But imagine for me, for almost 20 years, there was nobody around across the globe, all around. There's stories I got. I got stories of different countries. I realized before the state of what we in now that other countries didn't like Americans or whatever, because I'm coming up, I'm pulling up with the Yankee hat on. They like this bitch from New York. So they giving me every hate ever. The black hate, everything, the US hate, that I'm like, so after they hate send me the hate, they be like, but she could, she got me dancing though. But I'm still hating. I still hate that. But you know what I mean? There's like a plethora of different stories and stuff. And you know what I was thinking as you were explaining everything that you were explaining? I was like, I'm so glad that YouTube was available for you so that you didn't have to be subjected to a whole lot of sexual harassment from guys that wanted to teach you to craft. I was telling somebody, I was telling somebody that. Excuse me, can we curse here? But not really. I don't want to do too much so that the editing. We don't want him, you know, having to work too hard back there with his sexy self. Redhead. So going back to just, I've been watching you and proud of you. We were talking before we came here. No, because you gotta think. I'm like, before I get up out of here, I needed to feel comfortable that somebody was gonna carry the torch. That they gotta care about it. Yes, they gotta really, and you did, you did, you read, you did it like people have come to me, want me to teach them, want me to do, but I'm like, you didn't even get the a you didn't do wax on wax off.

SPEAKER_00 42:04

Right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_05 42:05

You gotta do wax on wax off to understand everything from the technology to the all of that, and you did it, and then you went and battled. It's scary. First of all, you battling with a broke finger. Every morsel of her is used when she's battling. Meaning, I know what it's like to stand in her shoes, so I can't even imagine what her mind was like every time when she's going through her routine that she already made, but the finger got broke, right? And she's not showing any facial expressions, but you can feel it. And then you don't want to drug yourself because it's gonna slow down everything. And you are on a timer of the six minutes. Right, six minutes and nothing else. Yes, I'm proud of you. Thank you. And be and you took the torch of DJing, you took it seriously, you took, you did everything. So taking it to the bike. I crashed on my my motorcycle in 1996. Come here, come here, come here. Since you are here, let you feel this because when the people exclusive. Yes, wait.

SPEAKER_04 43:17

Wait, what?

SPEAKER_05 43:17

That's the bone fused from when I crashed. So I'm showing me well who could say that they did that.

SPEAKER_04 43:24

Not like that. A couple of people. A couple of people saw I did that look.

SPEAKER_05 43:29

That's only a couple.

SPEAKER_04 43:30

I'm the third in the middle.

SPEAKER_05 43:32

I shared that with you because you gotta understand that if this was snap, pop, snap, straight, it's broken here. How fearful I was of the idea of me never DJing again or never being able to draw again. I'm left handed, y'all showing me this. Right. So when your finger aches, I don't want to hear shit.

SPEAKER_06 43:56

Facts. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 43:59

Mm-hmm. Facts. No doubt.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

Amore. Yes. Fat beats. Uh like Pearl was saying, as she found out, you know, how everyone was kind of connected. I mean, that really was the hub for us, you know, for serious community for sure. You know, I mean, you know, fifth actually Fifth Platoon was initially First Platoon uh as they came together and then ended up changing it to Fifth Platoon. I think actually it might have it might have been First Platoon on the first flyer. I forget when it happened, but but it was all and they were inspired by X-Men and Executioners, and it's like everyone just kind of like, you know, brought the other one up and and it was it was so much of a family. Shout out to um not just the DJs, but you know, shout out to Natural Elements, shout out to Arsonists, nonfiction, juggernauts. Um, there were so many people that uh half of them worked at the store. Um, but if they didn't, it was still part of a bigger community. You know, we all we all felt like we had each other to help move the scene, you know what I'm saying? Like in those those indie days were very important um for us getting our our feet wet and for showing the world that there was other options uh opposed to what was just being money spent on and force fed to you from major labels, and so it was about the the the the quality of the music and the quality of the people. Uh what's some of your highlights from being at Fat Beats and experiencing whether it's in-stores or just more conversations of you building with people about, you know.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

I mean uh uh when I when I started uh interning at Fat Beats, I remember um you know, at that time the I had I used to go to Fat Beats after I would leave IAR after school and we go hang out to go to get some records. And I I remember there was an in-store with uh Guru and Premier. They were releasing a project, and I remember, you know, going to the store and and I was like, dang, I wanna be, I wanna this is this is the next move for me. Like I need to come and and work at Fat Beats um because I need to learn the industry on that side. And um, you know, once I was in there, I realized um how much influence fat beats had in the underground and also like the selection of artists, like so many people were submitting music. I remember, and it was like, you know, we were also ARing for Fat Beats. So it was like, you know, we used to get so many submissions, and there was a lot of times where, like I said, you gotta keep going, you know. I had people that eventually got a deal, but I remember like projects from like Sky Zoo. I remember when they first were coming in, bringing in their mixtape because they wanted stuff on consignment, terminology, um, immortal technique. You know, he was very radical at the time, and it was kind of like, you know, does he does he get signed? Does he, you know, who what's gonna happen with this? And um it was it was good to see the evolution when he went on to Uncle Howie, and like, you know, I was part of that team that helped push those projects. I remember when the Doom project, the Mad Villainy project came out, and I was like so proud to be part of that team that was making that record what it was, you know, like to help push those projects, one below, you know, there was so many dope projects that were coming out at that time. Um, you know, and then you know, when I was helping with managing the store, you know, the interns that I was hiring were also like very dedicated because I was a nerd and I was like, I'm not hiring just anybody who wants to just work here, like they gotta know their thing. Right. And um, you know, I remember, you know, hiring the brown bag all-stars before they were that, you know, J57. Shout out to that whole camp. But you know, everybody went off to do their own things, and I remember um, you know, we had so many different people on consignment. It didn't matter if you were established or not, you know. I had Red Man on consignment. Yeah, like it wasn't even just um the records that we were putting out, it was also the things we were affiliated with. We definitely um, you know, that was the thing. It was like being part of uh a team of experts, so to speak, on that side of hip-hop, because hip-hop has many genres within it, but it was interesting to learn about all the genres and also the the culture in itself, like people like Ricky Powell. We you know, we used to carry his his stuff, and I remember meeting Ricky the first time and thinking, wow, this is he's such an artist, he's such an eclectic person and collector, you know, and um, you know, I was fortunate to be able to collaborate with Ricky back then because uh we were doing parties and stuff with art and and uh you know sneaker collecting, you know, in mind. But um, yeah, so many artists um that we helped their careers to flourish, you know, because of our you know, massive like guerrilla promotions that we used to do in the streets. Like if you worked there, you repped the brand and you you you helped to push those projects and you felt good about it because it was like good stuff. It wasn't like something whack. We were pushing good music. And um, you know, it was it was great to help, you know, photographers, not just you know, also artists. Like we used to sell designs of like you know, graphic designers who were selling t-shirts and things like that, and um you know, Jamel Shabazz, um, you know, Martha Cooper, so many dope photographers that we got um exposure to, and just also not just uh just I feel like Fat Beats really represented the culture in all of the aspects because we we represented graffiti too. We had a lot of books, we had books about Dandy, we had Babitos books about kicks, like we were definitely immersed in the the culture of hip hop, but it was great to be able to have all of those different um parts of hip hop, you know, working buying records from Peter Brown or you know, Paul Winley. Like I it was such an honor to have these conversations with guys like that because they were from the old school and they were hustling, you know. Like I remember Amir, you know, DJ Amir, shout out to him. Uh, you know, we had this conversation. He's like, you're doing business with Paul Winley. And I was like, Yeah, like Mr. Winley's mad nice to me. He, you know, he tried to buy me a fur coat. Like, you know, he got he got that old school game.

SPEAKER_05 51:09

You know, old school game, but get you caught up.

SPEAKER_02 51:12

Have you pregnant?

SPEAKER_05 51:14

Hey, what's that do you win its shirt? I mean, old school game.

SPEAKER_02 51:17

I was like, oh, he this guy's like old school, but you know, they always showed me mad respect. And that coming going back to what Jazzy and you were talking about, you know, as a woman in the production and the DJ world, I had to deal with a lot of you know stuff also why I wanted to work at Fat Beats because I worked really hard to get the respect because I was not one of those girls that was just gonna do whatever. Like I was like, I grew up with brothers and I kind of had that toughness already. And so going into the Fat Beats environment, I was also the only woman there for a long time, and my career has sort of been like that as a pro audio, you know, technician. I currently work for BH photo video. Success means different things to different people, but to me, like the fact that I've been able to live the hip-hop culture. My my children, shout out to Lyric and Melody, you know, they have been a huge inspiration for me. You know, if if there is a definition of hip hop, I am definitely that. I'm proud to be a hip-hop diplomat. Shout out to next level as well. Um, but um, you know, I love what I do, I love to inspire other people, not just women, you know, but I am a gear head, you know. I uh, you know, I love being able to educate as well. You know, I'm involved in several different workshops and um shout out to the laundromat project out in Bedsty, um, which I will be part of uh next week. If you if you want to learn how to make a beat collectively, we're doing a free event. Yeah, I I'm definitely here to educate and inspire others and um just keep the culture alive. You know, turntablism is my heart, you know, and uh I will always, you know, try to push it forward and and keep it going, you know. Not try, you will. I work, you know, for a corporate company to feel somewhat normal. Like I kind of got burnt out from DJing, you know, residencies, you know, it was exhausting, you know, as a mother, as a everything. It takes a toll on a lot, your relationship, you know, everything. And um, you know, I feel like I'm in a place now where, you know, I see the people that are coming up, and I feel like not like a gatekeeper, but I want to make sure that they understand the foundation before they just jump in, right? You know, because it's important for them to understand where it came from.

SPEAKER_06 54:01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 54:02

And so, you know, uh understanding where it came from will give them the endurance to go on. Right. Because if you in it thinking, I'm gonna be a DJ and it's just about money, honey. Learn the history, you gotta love it a little because there's a lot of dark moments and a lot of moments that'll make you want to fight, cry, whatever. But if you love it, you'll be like, anyway, we accomplished what we needed to accomplish. Like, you can come back to that place and be like, oh, that shit I went through. Right. It was worth it, right? For sure.

SPEAKER_00 54:35

For sure.

SPEAKER_02 54:35

Yeah. So yeah, I mean, I'm I'm definitely grateful for my experience throughout the years. You know, I'm I'm so grateful to everybody that has given me mentoring over the years. And um, you know, I've learned so much about the the culture in general and um the things that I love about DJing and and turntabilism and the evolution of it. You know, I have all types of turntables, you know, custom stuff. I have I can scratch anywhere. I scratch at my desk at work. I have like practice things, I have stuff in my bag right now. I was like, oh, let me show Jazzy and early supportable stuff from Japan. Gadgets and toys. Yeah, so you know, but um as far as production goes, you know, I I love the art of uh battling. You know, I always try to support it, you know. But for me personally, like I don't really like to battle, I like to create and I just like to be as nice so I could be like, yeah, look at what I could do, you know. But um, you know, I've I've battled in a few scratch battles when uh Rolly and them were doing like the table turns and the open faders.

SPEAKER_05 55:54

Oh, y'all battled each other in the freestyle Mondays.

SPEAKER_02 55:56

Yeah, we we all we I mean I've definitely been in the scratch sector of the battling. I I just love it so much. Um but um I feel like because it it's like family, every time we battle, it's kind of like funny. It's better, you know. It's like let me diss you with this record, you know. For a while I was uh digging for like cartoon records, like yeah, just because I'd be like, oh, I got the Disney, you know, like I could I could come up with some exclusive stuff that nobody had. Like now it's different because you can download or you know, get anything. But like I remember like when clips was talking about the battles back in the day, it was like you know, there was only so many records. So if you had something that was different or like a sample that nobody had, it was kind of like, oh, you know, facts, but um, yeah. I mean, I still have my dirt style records, uh you know. I have I still cut with those records, and um, it was funny switching over to the digital, you know, because I always it was like hard for me to understand how to juggle through Serato. Like I remember at Fat Beats when we first started carrying Serato, it was like I was waiting for Evil D and Eclipse to be like, all right, the switch is happening. Because it was like final scratch had come out and it wasn't as stable. And then Cerato came out and it was like, oh, this is perfect. And Eclipse and Evil D were like, We're we're converting. And I was like, all right, all right, I was like, all right, I you know, because I trusted that. I was like, you know, but I've been a Serato user for a long time now, and um, you know, I switch from analog to digital all the time. I use phase, I I use it all. I recommend it to a lot of my OGs who are stuck in the vinyl just because of the creativity aspect, you know, like stems is new for everybody, but we all have been scratching with a cappellas for the for years, you know. But it it definitely has opened up the floodgates for everybody, but it's also like it keeps us in in tune and and continuing to inspire, also. So um, but yeah, um I love technology, love what's happening, and uh, you know, I'm also really proud of you, Pearly, because I've seen you from the beginning.

SPEAKER_04 58:14

I was just about to jump into that. Thank you, Amore, for being like when you were saying, like, you know, we were battling for fun, and thank you for making it feel fun because now the first like DMC battle I did, I completely blanked out. I don't remember what happened.

SPEAKER_05 58:26

Yeah, you went into a space. I went into a space, it's so scary.

SPEAKER_04 58:30

Yeah, no, it's space, it's like everyone. Everything could happen, your turntable could die. This is my first like first battle ever, and I felt like that first time pressure on stage. And I was like, Whoa, this is it. And then like I didn't make it to the next round. I was like, Okay, now what? So I was just like, you know, practicing and then D Spliff, shout out to D Spliff. He's like, yo, check out this Freestyle Mondays battle. I'm like, uh, okay. So then like I met you there, and like I was like, wait, another girl, another girl.

SPEAKER_02 58:56

I know it's always like one. I'm like, oh thank God. There's more of us.

SPEAKER_04 58:59

I was like, yes. So like seeing you there was like like it took like the weight off my shoulders, and I was like, oh thank uh another woman, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 59:07

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:07

And like you were being like like the the dopest support, like my like my sister. So I thank you so much for always being like my like I'm gonna cry. No, I'm not. Don't do that. I did my makeup nice, not today, no. Like, thank you for always like being like so dope and being like so in with it and like so understanding since like day one and being like one of the very few people that never like like you know change and say, like, oh you know, you should just stop because that's enough. Like, thank you for always being like so supportive and being like the real and OG. When they say stop, when it not stops, like people are like, you know, they to get out of the room because they don't like seeing women do great things. I don't yeah, well, maybe I had a friend, let me tell you, I had a friend at the time that was like saying, Man, I'm kinda like a little stressed out making this routine. I don't know, I'm having like beat like beat writer's block and I don't know what to do. And she was like, Well, maybe you should stop since you're so stressed out. I'm like, What?

SPEAKER_05 59:57

What? She doesn't but you can't that's not even the realm of the colours.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:01

Exactly what I'm doing. So I was like, you know what? Forget that. I was like, you know what? Now you show me your true codes, like you don't want to see me like do great things. And like, I was, you know, being the supportive friend, and I was like, Alright, you don't need that. I'm out of here. So you were always been like the number one, so thank you. And Jazzy Joy, thank you. I have to give my flowers to everybody. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:19

Yeah, I'm doing nothing yet. Oh, let me get some flowers. Let me say something.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:25

I met you. The first time I met you was at the DMC's in 2013, the USA Finals.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:30

I was judging. You were judging, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:32

I wasn't battling. I went there for the first time. Like, um, the guys at Scratch came was like, yo, there's a battle. Go check it out. Just go for fun, so you know what it's like, so we could talk about it. And then there was this guy behind me, he was just like this old head, he was hating on Serato, hating on everybody. Hating, hating, hating. And I was just like, this dude's getting my nerve. And then he did he was he hating on me? No, when he saw me walk in and like turned into a groovy, he's like, yo, you know who's going to be like, I've been hanging up yo. Yo, let me tell you something. I was like, and I'm like, wait, what happened? I'm on the phone. He's like, yo, put the phone in the middle. I'm like, I'm like, there's so many people. Who's who? A real nigga. After the battle, and you know, they were doing the announcements um, you know, during the battle, like, okay, here's your judges, uh, Johnny Choose, Jessie Joyce, and all these people. I'm like, oh, Johnny Choose, like, oh, okay. Oh, that's who you were trying to give me to me. Okay, I'm talking to him about him. I'm saying, like, they're they're telling me like the people, like, okay, here's your judges for the night, here are the competitors, and you see Christy going back and forth. I'm like, okay, this is how it is. And then I see the guy on like the other side of the venue going, yo, you don't understand. Get trying to get people to understand. And then like, you know, no, no filming, yeah, no filming shit. I was like waiting outside to see like if I could like talk to the judges, like, hey, I need some money. No, I put you in time. Okay, because I'm giving the fuck up.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:24

I'm known for that. Like, I'm known for I'm giving J in the club, people be like, like, I'm talking about I could be in a whole nother country. Yeah. I say to whoever's handling me, scheduling me on the first thing smoking. Meaning if the flight is at seven and the club ends at four, we going straight to the airport with the sleepy and everything. My gang used to be mad at me. But I said, when we wake up, we're gonna be in the Bronx.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:57

Right, right.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:58

You sleepy now, you mad now.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:00

Right.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:00

But we're gonna get back to the Bronx. So that's back to you.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:03

So here's the funny part. So just as you just said that you just like dip out. Yeah. I caught you. I caught you. And you uh you signed my peace book. You're like, all right. You said the next time I see you, you better be in a battle. I said, okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:16

I didn't even know, but you know, but you know what that is when I say things like that to people, right? I can't explain why I said it to you. But I said it to you for a reason. You cannot see yourself. Same as I can't see myself. You have to reflect to me. A gift can't see itself, so I have to rely that your reflection is honest. Because if you don't tell me the truth, then I'm gonna chisel myself and incorrectly. So I told you something that you needed to know for whatever the universe told me to tell you that. Like, hey, because I understood, like, only certain people could take a little bit of information and understand the macro of it. Right. Truth.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:07

There it is.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:08

So then the funny part we are, boom. So then the funny part is I was like, whoa, Jazzy Joyce has signed my peace book and she wants to see me bow. That's dope. Like, this is great. And then the same guy that was like going crazy, yo, who's that? Yo, she was here. And he's always gone. I'm like, but he knows. Look what he said. Look what he told me. Look what he told me. Like, he's told me.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:27

Niggas know I ghost up out of like the main thing is get your picture, you know, in front of the step. Once I get the picture in front of the step and repeat, your chances decrease. You know, because that's the ten that you was there. Right. But I'd leave because you got to. The guy, right? The guy who was like, oh shit, you called her. She left because I had to figure out that there's like 10 of him in the room.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:00

You went that way.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:00

I saw she went that way. Oh, let me go get him. Let me taught you how to ghost before I taught you how to get before we ghost out of here, Pearlie.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:12

Please let us know what's going on today, 2026 with yourself.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:16

Well, we learned how to ghost people the right way. So for this year, it's just like um just keep being creative, keep doing dope shit, you know. Um, the beautiful beautiful thing about being a DJ or just being a fan of music, a nerd, like Amodi said, is just creating and just being able to be in this world, in this scene in this community, to just you know, put out dope things that people can enjoy. And hopefully that will make like a ripple effect that will inspire other people to create or to you know just get them curious about what they can make or what they can do differently or hear things differently instead of just doing the same things over and over again. So I mean I'm doing uh production stuff, um still DJing, I'm never gonna stop DJing. Um digging and then I got some cool stuff coming out pretty soon, but I can't say just yet.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:05

So if people want to find out what the stuff's gonna be when it is coming out, where do they find you?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:10

At DJ Pearly on all social platforms. And shout out to Fat Beats because Fat Beats is I missed the store first and foremost. Like the first time I went to the store was like the the last day I went, and I was I'm still so pissed that I didn't go earlier when you know it was still kicking. Shout out to Fat Beats. I went on the last day, and that was the first time I saw like A-Track and I met his brother Dave, and like the crazy part was it was like a couple weeks before they shot the Barbara Streisand video, and like A-Trak hands me an im like an invite to the first food school day off, and I was like, oh, and I was like, damn, school. So I was like, but that was like the first time I saw like community come together to celebrate hip hop, to celebrate a store that like literally is like part foundation, like the mecca. And then I saw like DJ Pimier there for the first time. I was like, whoa! And everyone's like, yo, and I was like, shorty, I'm the shortest one. I'm like, where is he at? You know? But like that was the first time I felt community right at that store. And I just want to say thank you guys for being that for everybody for all these years. No, no doubt.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:15

I mean, um, you know, that's that's what it was about for us. It still is, it's still about community, it's still about pushing what we feel is dope. You know what I'm saying? If we if we as DJs want to play something, then I want to sell that in the store. You know what I'm saying? It's like, you know, um, so thank you guys, Joyce. Yes, um, you know, obviously there's there we touched on a little bit of the beginning of your careers. You after all that, you went on, you did Hot 97, you did spinning with diggable planets, you know. You as an individual DJ have traveled the world, done tons of parties, um, mixtapes, the whole thing.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:51

So here we are, you know, 55 plus later years later. So I still gotta pioneer a little bit, right? Because who else is there? Right. So I gotta sh do some shit that'll make sense to make y'all keep going. Yeah. So to know that when you get my age, you'd be like, Well, we did the interview and I remember, and you know, we love her. I gotta do some shit so y'all could keep going. So with the turntables, the when I was around and wasn't hardly any females, the idea is always of where we gonna put this, meaning where we're gonna set these turntables up and have a D. That's why DJs are everywhere. Commercial, McDonald's, because it was people like me that was the guinea pigs, and they see if it could work. At my age, I still enjoy DJing. Since he's asking me what the fuck you doing, what you gonna do? I'm outside, nigga. I'm trying to get a job.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:50

Like they said too, like, you know, when someone's hiring you specifically, they're not hiring you for today, they're hiring you for the 50 years of experience that you've done to get there. And if people want to uh reach out to you about these inquiries, where do they find you on socials?

SPEAKER_05 1:09:07

Um, I'm DJ Jazzy Joyce on uh Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and then TikTok. Um I am legendary DJ Jazzy Joyce. Oh, I think it's the legendary DJ Jazzy. One of the other stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:24

Joyce, thank you very much for everything that you have done and continue to do, uh, has inspired us all, both male and female. Thank you, Pearlie, for coming out and I gotta sign these while I'm gonna do that. Thank you for for continuing on with everything that everyone's done before you and Amode. You know, you you've kind of the glue bridge and everything together. Thank you as well for everything. And this this uh roundtable discussion was great. Thank you all all again for participating. Yes, and uh we will be following everyone's uh movements on uh socials and see what's up next. And that's it for us here tonight. You know what I'm saying? Thank you for watching the Fat Beast Behind the Counter Podcast. We'll talk to you all next time. Peace.