A legend in his own right, DJ SNS brings more than 20 years of solid hip-hop acumen and a huge fan base that stretches from Harlem to the West Coast.
DJ SNS will be present at the “Genesis The DJ” festival from Aug. 11 to Aug. 13, where deejays from all eras will be there to celebrate 50 years of hip-hop and their impact through the history of the genre. SNS spoke with rolling out about hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, and what people should be expecting at the festival.
How have DJs been instrumental to hip-hop?
Instrumental isn’t even the word. Before it became MC and DJ it was DJ and MC. It was Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. It was DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince. The DJ was always at the forefront and Lee we were the ones that would get the music together, make sure the breakbeats were together, make sure that the music was right for the artists and then that twist happened, but we’re still instrumental to it. We have great deejays that have turned into producers and they are making a whole lot of hits. DJ Premier, the Alchemist, and Just Blaze were all deejays. Guru was a DJ. We can’t be forgotten.
What have you witnessed in the evolution of DJs over the years?
I like what some of the new DJs do, they get very creative on how to separate themselves from others. A lot of them lack knowledge of the craft. It’s like they take advantage of the craft and they don’t put their all into it, and then they complain when things don’t go their way. You designed that, and you created your own path, and that’s with anything you do. You have to create your own path to become a great one. To become a great one in the game, you have to create your own paths and that’s what I did. That’s what these young guys just need to understand, this is not as hard as you make it out to be, [but] no one’s just going to give it to you. No one gave it to the people that came before you, so what makes you think you’re going to get it?
What should people be expecting from the festival?
You have a lot of my DJ brothers that are going to be there, and what we’re bringing is a knowledge of good music. We are going to give you those sets that people might not have heard in a long time, and we just need the public to open their minds. Everybody can be expecting to just hear trap music. You have to open your mind because you’re holding yourself back to understand what real music is. It’s out there. Just in this ’90s is good ’90s as old as this. You have good 90s music like Jody Watley, Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill, and others. It wasn’t just hip-hop, it was good R&B music as well.
