In the summer of 1988 my parents took me to get some pizza at a spot on the south side of Lansing. I begged some quarters from them and went to the Juke Box. I was ecstatic to see a song called “I’m Bad†in the play list. Confusing it with Michael Jackson’s “Bad,†I put in my first quarter and hit play. To my great surprise, LL Cool J started rapping and, at the ripe old age of 8, I was hooked. I couldn’t believe the sound of the music coming out of the speakers. I put the rest of the quarters my parents gave me in the machine and pressed the numbers for “I’m Bad†until I ran out of selections.So begins the life of a Hip Hop fiend. You hear one song, in one place, on one day, in one moment, and your life changes forever. For House Shoes, it was Dilla; for Dj Q-Bert and a whole host of other turntable pioneers, it was Herbie Hancock’s Rockit; for myself, it was, “So forget Oreos eat Cool J Cookies, I’m Bad!â€Fast-forward to September 11th, 2001. Having spent the interim 13 years in deep concentration on all things Hip Hop, especially ’94 era New York ish, I was ready to get my first set of decks. I spent months doing equipment research and I woke up early, excited to finally make the call to order a pair of Technique 1200s and a Vestax PMC-07 mixer. Just after 9 a.m. I turned on the TV and had to do a double take; one of the buildings of the World Trade Center was on fire. Suddenly, a plane came crashing into the second tower and I ran to my roommate’s room pounding on the door to wake him up. We spent the rest of the day like everyone else, staring at the TV wondering what was happening. It’s strange how sometimes life’s greatest moments are followed by its greatest tragedies.My decks came in two weeks time and I got to work learning how to scratch. For the first year, I thought scratching was the only thing that mattered, but I was lucky enough to stumble upon a great mentor in DJ Benny Ben in 2002. He was doing the Cultural Vibe on MSU’s 88.9 The Impact and I slid him what I thought was a “mix tape†at the time. I don’t know if it was out of utter sympathy or the goodness of his heart or what, but after somehow managing to listen to the whole (awful) set, he gave me a call. Much like that fateful day back in the summer of ’88, that phone call was a turning point for me. He bluntly explained everything I was doing wrong and it was back to the drawing board.It’s been nearly six years since that phone call and I’m not yet where I want to be. But, to paraphrase St. Paul, I’m nearer now than when I’d first begun. I recently moved to Toledo to work for AT&T and, though I miss The D, I finally have time to do what I need to do most (next to prayer) practice.If you want to come through for a session, hit me up. And if you want to book me, don’t worry, I ain’t retired—I just been on sabbatical to come back at ya’ll even hoarder—holla.-WiggEmYou are a 97% traditional Catholic! Congratulations! You are more knowlegeable than most modern theologians! You have achieved mastery over the most important doctrines of the Catholic Faith! You should share your incredible understanding with others!
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