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I was born in Los Angeles, CA, but in my first year, my mom and I made our home in the neighboring suburb of Altadena. We lived there until I was 17. Music was my mom’s way to relax at the end of the day. She loved Ella Fitzgerald. I also remember the sounds of Bob Marley, Z.Z. Hill, and Earth Wind and Fire drifting through our apartment.

My father, a congero, also inspired my love for music at an early age. When I was little, I remember everytine he would go over to a friend’s house he would take the time to play the congas that were near the door. The family on my father’s side holds most of the musical talent. My paternal grandmother sang classical Spanish songs with her sisters. Naturally, they influenced me and I remember really wanting a drum kit when I was a child, but because of money issues, I never got one. I am now getting a kit for my 3-year old son.

TV also connected me to music. When I was a wee lad I saw some of the first videos, Rock It by Herbie Hancock and Buffalo Girls by Malcolm McClaren. I’d never seen or heard anything like that before. The music…the visuals…it was like watching the future, it was so out there! That was before I knew about hip-hop. There were cats breakin’ and poppin’. I’d never imagined anything like that. I was like “Woah!” The whole package blew me away, but I knew I liked it.

I grew up, hip-hop grew too, and when I was almost 16, I got a job so I could buy the music I wanted in large quantities. I bought mostly hip-hop. Some of it was good, some of it was bad. During my first years of high school, I was like any other knucklehead kid playing video games, listening to Digital Underground, Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, and Eric B. and Rakim. Then De La Soul came with this idea that hip-hop could be fun. The second Jungle Brothers album “Done By the Forces of Nature” came out around the same time. It was incredible.

At the end of my junior year of high school, my mom and I moved to San Diego to be closer to her family. This sort of threw off the whole flow of my life at that time. I didn’t have many friends, so I hung out mostly with my relatives. Basically, I spent most of my time listening to music. Yo! MTV Raps saved my life. It was on everyday, after school for a half-hour at 4:30pm. I remember that’s when Gang Starr put out “Step into the Arena”. A Tribe Called Quest dropped its first and second album, “De La Soul is Dead” was released and also Main Source. Damn, that was a good time.

All the while, my friends back home in ‘Dena (that’s short for Altadena and Pasadena, they’re so close, they’re like Siamese twin cities.) were keeping in touch by phone. After high school I went back for the summer to visit my homies and they were wearing high top fades, creepers, and oversized mustard colored overalls with one shoulder strap hanging off. It was crazy. Everyone was trying to be a groover/dancer. I wanted to be a part of that.

I returned to San Diego at the end of the summer, but went back to ‘Dena a few months latter. That’s when I met Raashan. The heads he was around (because of his older brother, Din) were the illest crew I had ever witnessed in my life. They rapped, did music, DJ’d, and rocked shows. Even though we were younger, we would roll with them. That was when Organized Konfusion’s first album had just come out along with Gang Starr’s “Daily Operation”. They weren’t just rapping to rhyme; they were actually saying something. It was then that I decided to move back to ‘Dena.

The crew we were in was full of eager cats that wanted to find their place in the hip-hop scene. Dancing was how a lot of us entered. The more functions I went to in ‘Dena (house parties and freestyle spots) the more exposure I got, and the more I wanted to be a part of it. At this time I began to purposely buy vinyl: Digable Planets, Brand Nubian-”Punks Jump Up”, Jeru tha Damaja - “Come Clean”, De La Soul - “Break of Dawn”. I finally purchased my first mixer and some junky turntables and started practicing my blends so I could be one of the house DJs at “the Spot”, the local freestyle in ‘Dena. Shortly afterwards, it was my gig. During this whole time, Raashan and I were involved in a dance crew and two rap groups that slowly disbanded.

In 1994, I decided to move across town to Venice Beach, CA for a year. This is where I really got exposed to beat production. Common Sense’s “Resurrection”, Biggie’s, and Mobb Deep’s albums had all dropped. After living in Venice I bought my first beat machine (MS-1). I spent the next few years learning how to make beats and recording songs.

Around this time, Rah (Raashan), myself, and another good friend of ours, Cel (Brown Young) were in a group together. This is where we began doing real shows in front of real crowds and everything. The energy was hype, but unfortunately the group did not survive. It was during this time when I first starting using an MPC.

Raashan went out to Boston to work with a group called MISSION: A few months later, I myself went to ‘Beantown’ to see what the hype was all about. While I was there I met Moe Pope, Ethan Parsonage (Headnodic), and Kat Ouano. My first night there they happened to be having a house party. Between the DJs, open jam sessions, and ciphers, I was pretty impressed by the intensity of the city. The next day, I gave Rah and Moe a beat and a song was written and recorded in a few hours. I was impressed with how hungry they were.

During my stay, there was talk about the group moving to the West Coast. I told them, “Wherever you cats go, I’ll meet you there.” A couple of months passed and I received a phone call from Rah saying that the group was moving to Oakland. I made the decision to meet them there and be a part of their energy. Since then we’ve made an EP, released a full album - “One”, four singles, a video, we’ve been on five tours, and we’re constantly building.

woodstock@crowncityrockers.com of myspace.com/woodstockmakesbeats

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