Interview with DJ Unk
That’s Her Magazine: What interested you in making the transition from a DJ to an artist?
DJ UNK: I got the opportunity to be on the road with Swizz Beats and Yung Wun. I don’t know if you remember the movie Drumline with Nick Cannon [but] we had a song on there called “Tear it Up.” So I got on the road with them and I saw a lot that was going on…Just being close to an artist like that [was] an opportunity for me…After the whole two month tour and everything, I was just like “damn…” Every time I saw him hit the stage, I just saw people going crazy…You know, then I found out how much he was making…and me being in the booth, as a DJ [we] really don’t get no respect…So that’s what I was fighting for. I was like ‘I wanna hit the stage. I just wanna try this...” I didn’t have no song, no thought, no nothing…I got back home [and] I hooked up with Parlae [of Dem Franchize Boyz]…and I said “man I’m tryna come up with a song, but I need some help” and he told me “just think of something man, you behind the booth you see everything that’s going on.” an my reply was “I don’t wanna follow behind nobody. I wanna do something different.” And he was like “you just gotta put your mind to it. Whatever you wanna talk about...”
THM: Have you ever been a writer?
DJ UNK: I never really tried to write, you know what I’m saying? I was basically just joking. I wouldn’t even call it freestyle. I might just walk in the studio and start talking about you on the keyboard and how you put in work; then I might throw some punch lines in at somebody else. Just some stuff to liven it up.
THM: So how did you separate the two, being a DJ and being an artist?
DJ UNK: I get booked two ways. You can either book me to perform…and you could also book me to DJ. If they don’t have the check for me to perform for what I asked for, I know they’ll have the check for me to DJ. And then we just rock out.
THM: Can you tell us more about ITSAGO DJs?
DJ UNK: ITSAGO DJs is a coalition of DJs. I got like forty-five, fifty DJs from Georgia and all across the USA. I got2 DJs in Japan; one DJ in Germany. So any time I come out with something new, they’re in the main spots with the crowds. I just plug them first and they get me shows and a whole chain reaction starts, just generating a pipeline. That’s why I went on and just got my own label you know, ITSAGO. It means anything you do, you on point. Just go for it. I just believe in work ‘cuz I got a family. Everybody got a family. No sense in putting on for no reason.