I read an article in the newspaper "USA Today" that asked for rap to return to its artistic roots. In the article they mentioned the song Self Destruction. For those of you who are too young to remember, Self Destruction was a recording by the Stop The Violence Movement that featured KRS-ONE, Public Enemy, Heavy D, Dougie Fresh, MC Lyte, Kool Moe Dee, Ms. Melodie, Just-Ice, Stetsasonic, and myself. Many of you may not have known that I also produced, arranged, and mixed that recording at the age of 18.

There was one particular member of the STV Movement that was against me being the producer of Self Destruction and made it known that he was uncomfortable with an 18 year old being responsible for the project. He thought that Hank Shocklee and the Bomb Squad, who were the producers of Public Enemy, should do the job. Well, after producing a classic record that sold over 700,000 singles, I received a phone call from the same recording artist that was against me doing the job. He asked me to produce a track on his next album. That was the sweetest joy.

-dj

Posted by D-Nice at 09:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

That was the name of a song recorded in the late 80's to pay homage to Red Alert by a rapper named Mitch Ski. Throughout my career Red has always been one of my biggest supporters. I remember being in Power Play Studios 1986 with Scott La Rock & KRS-One recording my very first promo for Red. It was called "The TR808 Is Coming". Red played that song every Saturday night at 8:00 for over 2 years. There was also the time when I stopped by the radio station after leaving the recording studio with a demo of "My Name Is D-Nice." Red listened to it and immediately called Vinny Brown, who was the program director, into the room and played it for him. Vinny listened to it and added it to daytime rotation, which was almost unheard of at the time! That moment clearly defined my career.

When Red called and asked if I would throw his birthday party, I jumped at the opportunity because I knew this would be my chance to show my appreciation for what he has done for music and for what he has done for my career, after all, he is part of the reason I'm deejaying again. On Wednesday, November 24, we are throwing it back old school style! I will be spinning strictly old school hip-hop and r&b with the exception of Snoop's "Drop It Like It's Hot", because that's my favorite song out right now! We are also serving red velvet cake and the best part of it all, this is the only party that night the doesn't cost one red penny to get into so reach in your closet and pull out your old bubble goose down leather jackets, cazal glasses, kangol caps, name belts, and your Lee jeans with the permanent crease!

Posted by D-Nice at 08:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Whenever I'm bored at home the first thing I do is pull out one of my cameras and start taking pictures of any and every inanimate object in my apartment. The lemon slice is one of my favorite images. Allow me to explain how I created it. I wanted a photograph of a lemon that appeared as if it was glowing. I sliced a lemon about one inch think and placed it on top of a sheet of paper towel. I used the sheet of paper towel because of it's texture. I then placed them both on top of a light source in order to illuminate it from behind. I set the camera on a tripod and photographd the lemon from above. And there you have it! My abstract lemon! :-) The same technique was used to photograph the kiwi.

Posted by D-Nice at 09:00 AM | Permalink

I've received some incredible e-mail lately from some of my journal subscribers. Many of them were wondering what’s taken so long for me to send out the next journal entry. Well, let me start off by saying that the last few weeks have been truly amazing. The reason I started to dj again was because my appetite for old school music wasn't being satisfied. I never imagined that my appetite for good music, a pair of technics turntables, a pioneer mixer, and my Leica camera would open up new doors for me but they've done just that.

Within the last few weeks I’ve played at Lincoln Center for the Young Patrons Society, the top of the Sears Tower in Chicago for Martell, and at the Pepsi headquarters where my photography was also featured. I've decided not to tell a story with this e-mail but instead I would like to use this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way.
-dj

Posted by D-Nice at 09:07 AM | Permalink