In the year and some change that I have been apart of illRoots, I, Hallway J, have not found a blend DJ that has incorporated hip-hop more seamlessly into his entire life our favorite DJ, Dub Floyd. This man is the epitome of a good DJ and if you think I'm wrong then download his worst stuff. It's still better then your best. Enter The Boiler Room.
illRoots.com: Mr. Rookie of the Year, its only fitting to tell you that you are arguable one of the nicest if not the best Blend DJ this year. Give me your influence both musically and in general.
Dub Floyd: Hahahaha!!!! I appreciate the compliment. I would say that my influence would have to be the early blend pioneers... My uncle (my pop's younger brother) DJ Black... who taught me everything I know about blending & folks like Ron G, DJ Juice, Dirty Harry, and even DJ Clue. I remember back when Clue put blends on the B side of his tapes, that right there influenced me a lot & showed me i can incorperate blends into whatever I wanted. I'm also influenced by a lot of the early Jersey City DJs that were trendsetters on this blend ish. Dudes like DJ Nel-E-Nel & DJ 007, I copped their tapes heavy. Jersey City set it off on the more than one beat blends & blending different elements from different songs to make new instrumentals to blend to. My two biggest influences though would have to be DJ Juice and Dirty Harry. I think they both were ahead of their time with this blend ish. I grew up listening to both & they play a great part in how I get down!!!!
iR: The easiest blend tape you ever constructed was....
Dub Floyd: Wow! Hahahaha!!!! Man, let's see, that would have to be a blend tape I did in 2004 called "Mr. Opportunity Vol. 1". It was the first blend tape I'd done in the Mixtape Game. Unlike my current Mixtapes, it featured no concept what so ever. Just straight blends. Aside from that, "The Worst of Screamixxes" had to be one of the easiest due to the fact that all the Screamixxes were already done. And it features my best work.
iR:I must recognize the entire Floyd Foundation, explain the role of your family in your music?
DF: Yeah man... my family plays a major role in what I do. My wife Mizzez Floyd is heavy into Hip Hop, the Mixtape Culture & just plain Music itself, so she has a lot of opinions & ideas about how I conduct things musically & business like. She'll let me know really quick if she's not feeling something. She is also the voice of Dub Floyd. I can't stand speaking on my mixtapes, so she's the voice of reason. She's the voice you hear reppin what I do to the fullest... in that innocent, sweet but freaky voice "Duuubbbbb Floooooooyd!!!!" Hahahahah!!!! My children also play a great part in what I do as well, whether it be doing drops or just plain support for their Daddy. As parents, Mizzez Floyd & I filter out alot of what they hear, but they see & know how hard I work. My oldest daughter Triniti (age 4) appeared on the cover of "Screamixx Two" & for that she won the Promo & Print portion of a pageant she entered. That allowed me to set myself apart from alot of DJs. I wanted to get my fam involved, & a lot of my peers recognize that. They know that's how it is & how it will be!!!! The Floyd Foundation is Us... it's our family, our life & our home. Every home needs that solid foundation & our home has that without a doubt.
iR: What is the next step in the evolution of Dub Floyd?
DF: Good question. I think the next step in the evolution of me is for me is to excel beyond Mixtapes. I'm definitely working hard to take the DJ where he/she is least expected to go.
iR: You are known worldwide for your blends, what was the first blend tape you did and how do you feel you've progressed since then?
DF: Once again, it goes back to the first blend tape I dropped back in 2004, "Mr. Opportunity Vol 1". That particular Mixtape was straight blends, no concept, theme, drops, special effects, no nothing. This was all before I coined the term Screamixx. Alot of folks ask me "what does that mean & where did it come from"? It's a remix/blend done the Dub Floyd way. It's done so ill, that it makes the listener scream with joy... because it's so great & makes other DJs scream in horror because they don't stand a chance!!!! Hahahahahaha!!!! So, if you listen to any of the blends that I produce now compared to what I've done in the past, you will see a definite improvement. Blends are the past for me & Screamixxes are the future.
iR: We all know that you co-sign Phene to the fullest, what do you guys have in the works?
DF: First of all, shout out to Phene. If folks aren't familiar with him now, they soon will be. Phene's a monster, he's a true lyricist & a real MC. We have tons of projects in the works leading up to the release of "The Spokesman Two". If you don't have part one in your life, you need to go get that. Real Hip Hop right there!!!! One of the projects we are working on right now is entitled "Tapping My Veins: The Quick Fix Vol. 1" thats basically 75 tracks of nothing but the illest Phene verses. Phene has so much music in the stash it's rediculous, alot of unreleased material, so we're putting it out for the Phenes to get their quick fix. Another project in the works is called "Paying Homage" in which we pay dues to some of the pioneers of hip hop. We have a joint off of it circulating the net as we speak called "All About The Wu", the title should speak for itself, & might I add, it's getting alot of positive feedback. We're also working on our movement "High Off Life" look out for the movement & the website coming soon.
iR: You call yourself "Mixtapes Worst Nightmare" why?
There's a couple of reasons I call myself that. For one, those that know me, know that I'm on my Freddy Krueger & Nightmare On Elm Street ish. Better yet I'm on my Horror ish. I'm a huge Horror fan and the plan is to make most of my catalog Horror based or Horror related. Aside from that, even with the amount of things I have going for me, people still seem to sleep on the kid. Everybody... Mixtape Lovers, DJs, Artists, you name them... they sleep. So that title is my way of waking them up. You sleep I'm coming for ya simple as that, just as Freddy did, & it won't be pretty. It's as if the Mixtape is personified too. Mixtapes have been slacking for a while now, none really move me like the some of the classics dropped back in the day. It's like the Mixtape has been misbehaving & forgetting its purpose. That's where I come in, I'm here to put the Mixtape Game back in check. Therefore I'm its worst nightmare!!!! The true Urban Legend!!!!
iR: Speaking of which I read an entire backstory that is on your myspace...www.myspace.com/williefloyd...go check it out bitches...lol..Explain to me the why you come up with this story?
DF: Ahhh... hahaha!!!! Your talking about the Urban Legend story on the myspace. It's a spin-off of the original story line for "A Nightmare On Elm Street". All I did was substitute my name for Freddy Krueger's and then flipped the story a little to have my setup in the boiler room. The neighborhood retaliated because I played my music too loud & infiltrating the Mixtape Game is my revenge. That's what I called my mini lab... The Boiler Room. That's where I get down. Hahahaha!!!! Just all in fun, thats what this game is lacking nowadays. Seems like noone wants to have fun anymore. It's sad.
iR: Your Weapons in the boiler room.
DF: Uhhhhh.... Besides my Nightmare Glove (www.nightmaregloves.com).... plug, plug, there's only one true weapon I use when in the Boiler Room & the United Negro College Fund says that it's a terrible thing to waste.
iR: When it comes down to it your from Jersey, and have a military background, being transitioned back into civilian life and into music what are your ideas on the economic problems in our culture now and how have they changed from the time that you were in the service?
DF: I joined the Army back in 2000... Bush just got into office. Things were a little easy to handle when Bush first came into office, but now it's a mess, so things have pretty much gone downhill from that point on. It never crossed my mind that I would be deployed to Iraq. It all got hectic after 9-11. I was 19 years old, fresh outta high school & didn't understand politics all too well, but I knew it had to be more to it all than what the media claimed. It was hard to decipher because I heard the opinions of many of my fellow soldiers as to why we were there fighting this War. I was trying to figure out why we were there myself, but all I wanted was for it all to be over. I wanted to go home. When I finally made that transition from Military to Civilian life, I started a family. Now it's harder than ever to maintain, especially due to the way the economy is now. I know how alot of families are feeling in this day & age. I have kids now & it's not like how it used to be when I first joined. I was on my own, single & the economy was not in the shape it is now. Fast forward 7-8 years, my priorities are different & I'm realizing what a struggle it is as a Husband & Father of a family. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud I served my country and all, but I still have friends over there fighting. It's just plain ridiculous to me. Obama being the President elect, is a great look for the country. It's time to get out of this mess we're in.
iR: You are part of the League Crew as well as many others, explain the significance of branding yourself with the right people?
DF: Yeah... I'm part of a few crews. Crews that have more than one star. I think that's important. You don't want to be in a crew & not be seen or heard you want to shine as a unit, & the crews that I'm part of have that. Big shout to Mick Boogie, Wally Sparks, Terry Urban & the rest of the League Crew. Big shout to Miami Kaos, Dimez, Tapemasta & the rest of LXG Music Group. Big shout out Geolani Grandz, Montega & the rest of Team AFFicial as well as DJ Unexpected, Hevehitta & the rest of Digger's Union Local 1200.
iR: At one point you were an emcee, and transitioned into a DJ, Explain the move and why?
DF: Thats right, I was an emcee up until I was deployed to Iraq. I was 1/2 of a duo called "Dead Correct" along with my cousin Rip. Dead Corect was the opposite of Dead Wrong... with one R... It was spelled that way to show that we are all have perfect imperfections. Even though we are not perfect, we are in the creator's eyes, because we are his creations. We ran & spit with a numerous amount of ill MCs in Jersey City. One of those MCs being Mouse... now known as Joe Budden, whom I've wrote, performed & recorded with. I later seperated from my cousin & went on to do my own thing. I started putting together my demo to shoot to Rawkus Records with a producer who ran with the Double XX Posse... famous for their joint "Not Gonna Be Able To Do It". They were big in Jersey City & really put JC on the map. Anyways... all of that stopped once I was deployed. I was too depressed to write. Sounds crazy right? That should be the best time to write, but it wasn't for me. While in Iraq, I was impressed with the Mixtapes I was getting sent to me in care packages. Everything from Green Lantern to Dirty Harry had inspired me to pursue DJing. I already had the knowledge I just needed to execute the action. Plus instead of breaking myself out as an artist, I wanted to break other hungry MCs out. When I finally touched down in the U.S. the journey began.
iR: Hip-Hop in three words or less.
DF: Is For Everyone.
iR:How was it working with The Mad Rapper on "NOYS 2" and what are some highlights of the tape in your opinion?
DF: Hahahahahah!!!! Ahhhhh Man!!!! One word, hilarious!!!! The whole mixtape is a highlight because he's bashing me like crazy. It's the first mixtape I've dropped in which the host hates on me. He rags on my name, he claims it sounds like a dessert pastry. Hahahahah!!!! He rags on my aliases & he also rags on the clothing line I'm getting ready to launch called "HorroFly'd Clothing" It's crazy, had alot of fun putting it together. Big shout out to Crazy Cat Catalouge, D-Dot & DJ Rerok & last but not least The Mad Rapper, "tell em why you mad son!!!!"
iR: Favorite Scary Movie of All-Time and why?
DF: Why do i hear that question being asked in the voice of the killer from Scream? Hahahaha!!!! Come on now, Hahaha!!!! Do I really need to answer that? It's a no-brainer.
iR: Dub Floyd is ________.
DF: Mixtapes Worst Nightmare of course!!!! Hahahaha!!!!
