When a DJ threw his record on, he didn’t even have to look at the crowd— you could tell by the way he dropped the record that he knew it was the shit and the crowd was going to react a certain way. And they did. And he controlled the crowd…You don’t have to be seen. Most times in the club, the DJ is up in a booth and you rarely see him but you feel him all night and you know he’s there.
Straight Outta: Atlanta, Georgia
This Is My Story:
I started as the DJ for Outkast. I did it for five or six of their albums. I finally stopped DJing and started to produce music. I produced “The Whole World,” “Ms. Jackson,” “Bombs Over Baghdad” stuff like that. My first project after I stopped DJing was the 8Ball & MJG album In Our Lifetime. That kind of sparked my production. I also did the Goodie Mob songs “They Don’t’ Dance No Mo’” and “Black Ice.”
Rico Wade, from Organized Noise, is my first cousin. I remember when he worked at a beauty supply store and I stole cars. That’s what I use to do; I use to steal cars for a living. I stopped by to show him this new car I stole and he was telling me about the Outkast guys. I knew at some point they were going to need a DJ. I was like, “Man, you know I DJ. You should let me DJ for the group, I’m telling you.”
I started going over to the Dungeon a little more often and became friends with the guys and once they got ready to go on tour they let me be the DJ and it was all history for them. I was responsible for putting together all the early Outkast shows...those Run DMC-style Outkast shows. That was a lot of my doing, and that was sort of how I started.
[Outkast and I] came up with “Elevators.” “Elevators” was the first song we came up with ourselves that we produced. And it kind of started from there. Big and Dre came to me and was like, “Hey, we should probably start a production company…how do you feel about it?” So we established Earthtone III, which are Dre, Big and I. We produced predominately all the Outkast albums. We did Earthtone III for five or six years and then we all decided we should probably have our own production companies. And that was when we dissolved Earthtone III and everybody started producing for themselves. So here I am now. And it was kind of a hard road for me because during the Outkast run, everybody always thought that Outkast produced the music and by us being Earthtone III, nobody knew who Mr. DJ was. So over the past four or five years, I had to build a name for myself.
“He’s always been into music,” Rico Wade says. “I remember him tearing up his mother’s stereo. I remember him trying to learn how to scratch when he had no equipment. I remember looking at him sort of laughing. My cousin was always talented. And it was my sound…but the shit was jamming.”
This Is My Influence:
I like the control that the DJ had. When a DJ threw his record on, he didn’t even have to look at the crowd— you could tell by the way he dropped the record that he knew it was the shit and the crowd was going to react a certain way. And they did. And he controlled the crowd. I just thought that was the coolest shit ever.
There’s a lot of power in Djing. You don’t have to be seen. Most times in the club, the DJ is up in a booth and you rarely see him but you feel him all night and you know he’s there. That was my thing with it. That’s kind of my IMO all around. You can hear me all day, but not necessarily see me.
In 2007, DJ sent Common samples of his beats. He eventually got a call to provide production for the rapper’s recently released Universal Mind Control. The result was “Changes” and “Everywhere.”
This Is Why I’m Hot:
Common called me in the middle of the night and he was like, “Yo, this is Rashid… I got [the beats] you did and I want to chill with you!”
We got pretty good chemistry together… so it worked out well.
I feel like, maybe this would give me that break, in a sense. Maybe people can understand where the Outkast sound came from. This will give me exposure and people will understand my wide range.
I would love to work with Sade, if she would ever come back. I wish D’Angelo would come back. I can do any kind of music.
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