Music Pick!: 5 Questions for DJ Stylus (James Brown Edition)

02 May Music Pick!: 5 Questions for DJ Stylus (James Brown Edition)

Hometown hero and native Washingtonian, DJ Stylus is one of the three featured artists for our special James Brown tribute, On the Good Foot!, happening Thursday, May 2nd at Tropicalia. This is gonna be a stone cold gas, so we figured before the crew hit the decks we would get them on record about The Godfather and his effect on their lives as DJs and producers.   We had five questions for all three, here is what Stylus had to say.

LiL SoSo Productions: What was the first James Brown tune you remember hearing? What did you like about it?

DJ Stylus: “Please Please Please”. Saw James Brown performing on tv when I was very small.  He was doing the cape routine, my parents were throwing a fit, and I was mad that they had been keeping this amazing secret from me.

LSP: What is it about his music that makes James Brown such an iconic figure in music?

DJS: Making entire songs from just a vamp. The primacy of The Pocket. Creating the blueprint for funk. Elevating the groove over melody and harmony, which is an African approach to music.

LSP: What is your favorite use of a James Brown sample from a hip hop perspective and why?

DJS: This is a terribly unfair question. It’ll change tomorrow if you ask again, but I’ll go with “I Don’t Know” by Slum Village. It’s an amazingly creative celebration of how James Brown perfected the art of the ad-lib.

LSP:  If you could spend an hour with James Brown, what would you talk about?

DJS: How he translated what was in his head to his musicians.

LSP:  Name your top three JB tunes.

DJS: “Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose”
“Funky Drummer”
“Doing It To Death (Funky Good Time)”

DJ Stylus will be spinning this Thursday, May 2nd for  On the Good Foot: A Musical Tribute to James Brown, 9PM @Tropicalia. You can find out more about DJ Stylus; check him out on Facebook and Twitter.