Interview with Mr. Dibbs
Recorded at the Atmosphere concert in DNA, Aarhus, June 2003
by Ann Noyd
What´s your real name?
Brad
Can you introduce yourself please? Like, what you do.
I scratch…yeah that´s basically it… I scratch! (laughs)
We do this event in Cincinatti called Scribble Jam and in 96, that was the first year. Rhymesayers came and I met Sahdeeq who is one of the owners of the label and saw Genepool and a bunch of other people from Rhymesayers, they were giving away Overcast cd´s. I´d bring Slug to town to do shows and so when Eyedea and Abillities wanted to focus on their solo career more they needed a new dj. Eyedea and Abillities were a group already. Atmosphere was a different line-up, it was Slug, Ant, Musaam and Spawn. Eyedea backed up Slug, same thing me and Blueprint are doing, they just did it for a bunch of years and then they wanted their solo-career and Sean asked me if I wanted to dj for him, so... they used to sleep on my floor a lot. Come to town and sleep on my floor. For years.
How long have you been djíng?20 years maybe. Since I was ten.
Where do you live?
Cincinatti, Ohio. Same place as Blueprint.
Do you tour a lot?
Well, last year I was gone 230 days. So ¾ of the year I'm not at home.
How do you feel about that?
There's not a lot of other shit I'd rather be doing. I wouldn't wanna be going back to working in a restaurant or whatever. I miss my son! My friends fly or ride out to my shows in the country, but my son I miss, other than that it's alright.
Are you a hip-hopper?
I know more about hip-hop than anybody you'll probably ever meet in your life. (a couple seconds of utter silence) But it don't look like I would right? All tatoos, I look like a punk. I look like a hardcore kid, like a punk.
Why would you want to look like that?
That's the way everybody looks back home. If you go to a hip-hop show in Cincinatti..
Blueprint (walks by and joins us): Nobody goes to a hip-hop show in Cincinatti!
Dibbs: Why's that?!
Blueprint: It's baaad.
Dibbs: Why is it bad?!
Blueprint: We did a whole tour with no fights, no problems, end up going to Cincinatti. People getting beat-up, heads busted, people getting thrown off stage…
Dibbs: Well, at a hip-hop show in Cincinatti there'll be a couple of hundred kids looking just like me, and then at punk shows, hardcore shows there'll be hip-hoppers who's kinda crossed, so it's normal to look like this and be in hip-hop back home, I mean look at Rita!
Dibbs: There's no division between hip-hop and punk-rock and metal, it's all one big scene.
That must be something characteristic of the states, do you find that anywhere outside of America?
Yeah, people seem to be into only one genre of music, but I think it's wrong. It's stupid to listen to just one type of music. I listen to a lot of different types of music. I'd get bored of listening to hip-hop everyday, all day my entire life. I listen to punk, metal, hardcore, hip-hop, jazz, r'n'b, classical... pretty much everything.
What about country music?
You know I don't really.. Johnny Cash! Yeah, he's pretty much it. Johnny Cash is dope. But I don't really think of him as country 'cause he's a hardcore, rough guy. He's not crying into a beer.
What kind of mentality do you attribute to hip-hop?
The same as I attribute to punk rock. Punk rock and hip-hop are like the last two aggressive forms of music. They're aggressive, kinda in your face.
Then what about heavy metal?
Heavy metal's not that big any more. Hardcore is like a cross between punk and metal.
So it's like slow and then a lot of screaming. Like hip-hop shows: big mosh pit. Punk rock show: big mosh pit. That's why I'm into both, I don't wanna go to a show and just stand in the front row and stare, I wanna be rowdy. I wanna just stare when I go to a coffee shop and read poetry.
What about trance music and techno?
Trance, techno, drum n' bass are kinda like off-shoots of hip-hop, it's like sped up electro. I've never been into it.
Have you heard about Kraftwerk? The German group Kraftwerk?
No. You're not gonna catch me listening to a lot of trance, techno, it's too repetitive… too boring.
Do you stay updated with the hip-hop scene outside of the States?
I've never heard any really, untill we came to Europe, well Japan. MBMA they played at a Swedish festival they were really dope. Then I saw Static and Nat Ill, I've never ever seen anybody THAT good in my life. I mean the interaction between Nat and Static, like I didn't even wanna play last, I wanted to go home. They could play anywhere and blow anybody off the stage. That's why we got drunk, so we had an excuse to suck playing after them.
Theirs was probably the best live setup I've ever seen in my life. And we'll try to bring them out to Scribble Jam in August. That's my goal, to fly them out to like 6-7000 people that need to see it.
Spending that much time together (in Atmosphere), do you ever argue on your tours?
I've never argued with Slug, we've disagreed on shit sure, but we never get to the point where we argue 'cause it's not my way or the highway, but …Slug's the boss. I don't really give a fuck what he does, and he doesn't care what I do. We have different rooms, that way me and Slug aren't on top of each other, like we used to share a room on a three month tour and decided to separate it because you have days where you don't wanna wake up and see the same dude stare at you from across the room.
Privacy issues, stuff like that, I mean I'm really comfortable around him but I wouldn't wanna spend three month with my mom. On the road you need time alone to clear your head.
What do you miss most about the States when you're in Europe?
Food. I haven't had any really good food in Europe.
Like burgers?
We'll eat burgers because it's simple, but I like mexican food. I usually eat 3-4 times a day, but here I eat once a day just 'cause there is nothing I like.
Are you also a producer?
Yeah, I produce for myself... and Sean, we have a record we've been working on for a couple of years, but because I live in Cincinatti and he lives in Minneapolis and we tour so much, we haven't really had time to get it done, but I have 21 separate records that I've put out, so plenty of productions, just normally I don't think I'm doing this for him to rap
on, but for me to scratch on.But you don't rap?
Naaah.
A little bit?
Not even a little bit.
You can't or you won't?
I won't.
Do you beatbox?
When I was young yeah, but naaah.. not really.
Why not?
I'm mic shy. Things that require me to talk in front of a crowd, I can't do that. I can barely talk to you while you're holding that dictaphone.
How come you're so shy?
I've always been shy.. like you know in school when you have to do an oral report? I would write the report and get an A or whatever and then when I had to stand up and read it, I would get a F. I don't want to get up in front of people, I can get up and dj, I just can't talk. That's why when I get up, I turn my mic the other way, 'cause I'm never gonna use it.
You all seem to be sensitive people, like both you and Slug seem to be very emotional.
Maybe him in a different way, but yeah.. that's probably why we get a long, we can just sit there and complain to each other all night, we can cry like a bunch of little babies to each other.
Are you happy with your life?
Yeah, I mean it's work. Everything is definitely work, but I like it.
What about the world, and living in it. Do you ever wake up and say “I hate this place!”
No the world doesn't bother me, it's all in my head. What bothers me is in my head. A guy could walk out here and slit his own throat and I wouldn't blink. It doesn't bother me, but thinking about my son, what could happen to him, that bothers me.
Do you write? Like poetry.
Not poetry, more like a journal. It's a way of getting it out of your head and down on some paper where I can read it back to myself… so most nights when I go back to my room, I'll write for a couple of hours and then watch tv, you know, exorcising the demons.
What demons would that be?
Problems in your own head, everybody's got demons. Putting it on paper makes it all a lot easier to understand.
What do you dislike most about yourself?There's a lot of shit I don't like about myself.. do you want me to give you a list?
Sure.
I'm fat, ugly…bla-bla-bla, bla-bla-bla.
So… you're ugly in your own mind?
Yeah in my mind. I've got a bad self image. I used to be really really big.
But then you lost weight?
Well yeah, but in your mind, you'll allways be big. I'll always be fat when I look in the mirror. It's all in my head, I know that I'm not fat, but in my head...bad self image... I mean I'm manic depressive so I swing back and forth. But I'm pretty level this whole time, right?
Yeah, absolutely, I would not have guessed.
Isn't depression and manic-depression the most common illness among artists?
I think so. You get used to it after a while. It's just always there and you know you have to deal with it.
Do you have a pet?
I have a dog, a big, giant bloodhound
What is it's name?
Scratch. She kinda just lays around. Bloodhounds are lazy, they just lay around and sleep, so that's the right dog for me: low maintenance. You don't have to do a lot. They take care of themselves. Sleep, eat and shit.
Yeah? I heard people mostly get pets that resembles their owners?
Well I rescued my dog from the pound, they were gonna kill her. She didn't really look like me, maybe I look like her now... do I have a big droopy face, fluffy ears?
No, but maybe you're really laid-back?
I don't know, maybe right now.
You've got piercings... any I can't see from here?
No. I used to. Not a P.A (Prince Albert), but a frontem. P.A goes through the head (of the penis), frontem goes through here (points) underneath, but not through the head. I liked it. But I guess the easiest way to describe it is, my girlfriend at the time... it got caught in her tooth one day. And that was the last. I took it out the next day!
Ouch!
It wasn't that it was painfull, I just thought: “What if I get it caught in my zipper”.. you know, I don't wanna pull any metal out of my penis anytime soon so I took it out.
And you don't have any in your nipples?
No, I used to be a bouncer in a bar, and shit like that can be pulled really easy and that would be bad… For the longest time I had the little plugs in my ears which you can't pull out.
How do you practice your dj routines when you're at home?
I get up at nine and practice for a couple of hours, then I work on my music. So there's an hour or two where I just scratch.
Do you also improve by watching videos of other djs?
I don't watch videos, I mean I watch them but not to get better. I think it's about rhythm. It should flow like water, not just noise over a beat, a lot of people can scratch, but the fact is that it sounds fucking irritating. I mean I can't scratch while he (Slug) raps, that just doesn't go together.
Which djs do you look up to?I still look up to DST... and Jay Bibble!
Mix Master Mike... those guys are really really dope…Static!
What about dj Noize?
Oh yeah that's why I still watch videos, That was the first time I ever saw anybody needle-drop THAT quick, I haven't heard anything about him for years but on those videos he's really dope.
Now, as a producer, if you could get any rapper of your choice to rhyme on your beats, who would you choose?
Any rappers I wanted… I would get M.O.P…..... or Blueprint.
Blueprint: Aaw! Thanks!
Dibbs: You're welcome, It'll never happen but whatever!
Actually I did a song for Blueprint, but Blueprint can't seem to get a hold of the song. See, we live in the same city which means we can never talk to each other except on tour. It's a problem for him and me to cross paths outside of a club for some reason! (Blueprint laughs) Like we'll decide to meet up on friday, and what happens? “I forgot” !
Blueprint: I was in court!
Dibbs: oh yeah “I was in court”.
Do you get a lot of girls being a dj?
No, do you know why? Cause I'm shy, I don't talk to girls.
Yeah but maybe they come up to you?
Yeah and I look at their feet and walk away!
Blueprint: Brad fanbase is made up of little boys.
Dibbs: Little boys want me! (laughs).
I had a girlfriend. That's it, that's all I could take. I've had all I could take. Don't need a girlfriend, don't want a girlfriend. All I want is some cheese pizza and some movies in my room at night, and I'm ready to go.
Blueprint: And your dog!
Dibbs: And my dog.
Your dog instead of a girlfriend?
I'll take my dog over my ex-girlfriend or any girlfriend any day. A dog's gonna lay there, it's not gonna hit you in the face with a cellphone. Hit you on the head with firewood, not gonna stab you, you're not gonna get stabbed, cut, hit with a fucking lamp. With a dog... she might shit on the floor, but hey, my ex-girlfriend could shit on the floor. A dog's great.
What type of girl usually approaches you?
Blueprint, what type of girl usually walks up to me?
Blueprint: Girls with a lot of tatoos, either that or really big ones. Like rock n'roll chicks with big tattoos sometimes with only one leg.
Dibbs: One leg?
Would
you ever be in a boyband if there were a lot of money in it for you?
I actually had a chance to be in a boyband
once. The guy who was the lead singer owned the label that I was on, and
they wanted me to scratch on the album, like on a pop album, but then it
came time to tour and I…You were embarrassed?
I didn't like the music. If I had liked the music...
Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. That's my favourite book too.
Finally... any wise words you wanna say?
I don't really have any wise words for anybody.