DJ Precise
DJ Precise and RollaRocka were making phat noise with their independent release 'Road Dogs' and 'New Days'. A little bit later Postmen dropped the masterpiece 'Documents'. No time left for AMMO Lab. Did DJ Precise mis the boat? Well, if you look twice you see him
doing mad work in the background. Look on the street corners of
Amsterdam you will see his name popping up from some posters.
As a DJ you want to show your skills and play your music on parties.
There are a lot more DJ's then parties. Many DJ's produce their
own parties. Hustling their own gig, working on their own job.
DJ Precise is doing very well. The Fresh Mode parties are the place to be if you want to have a good time.
The man reflects the romantic image of a DJ on the move. In full
color, headphone pumping, dreadz in the wind, mobile phone in
the jacket and traveling through the city. Putting flyers down
and posters up. For those parties he throws. After missing two
appointments for the interview and the photo session at the editorial
office, we shall meet at his crib, his lab full of ammo in Gein.
On a Sunday evening, leaving the Bijlmer to go to his place by
the best limo service there is: 'De Snorder'. Down south to Gein.
The posters and flyers of his parties advertise the party but
also the name Precise as not only the man behind the decks.
AQ: What about 'Fresh Mode'?
DJ Precise: There are a lot of things going on. Right now my main focus is
on Fresh Mode. It's a monthly event where HipHop, Ragga and RnB
meet each other on a street level. Pretty raw beats. It's street.
It's street music. It's street culture. DJ Precise: The whole
concept is me. The whole idea having the party, the way the party
is dressed up, that is just my idea. And I get the people together
to work it out. DJ TLM is helping me out. It's in the middle of an association between
me and the venue and me hiring the venue. In other words, if big
money is coming in I will be taking the lion share. But we're
still making a lot of costs now, it's not running that long. Once
it's an established event you don't need as much promotion. And
we keep the price low. Because we want to have the people from
the streets get in. So the damage is Euro 8,-. As soon you're
going up you will lose some of the audience. You will loose the
people who love the music. Because they can't afford everything.
AQ: On the tape level?
DJ Precise: I did one and I'm planning to do a second. But I didn't have
the time for it yet. You tried to catch up with me two times.
You know how hard it is to get with me. I got it too busy. I usually
sleep three or four hours a day.
AQ: That is not healthy!
DJ Precise: Well, I heard that the Buddha Monk only sleeps four or five hours
a day.
AQ: He doesn't look healthy.
DJ Precise: The Buddha monks?
AQ: Excuse me, mixed up with the wrong monk.
DJ Precise: It's about how you sleep. You got to eat healthy and take a rest.
Sometimes it's really hard, I agree with that.
AQ: After years of arguments and battles between Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
People versus people, there was Postmen. From Haarlem double A
came RollaRocka. Mis and DJ G-Boah from Rotterdam. You as engineer
from Amsterdam Southeast. And most surprisingly 'Documents' was
released by Kees de Konings Top Notch label. It was a master move, though not the most expected one.
DJ Precise: Divided is getting us no where. Unified will make us large. That
is the main move in everything. Keeping Holland up and after that
keep Europe up. And than keep the whole world up. We grow universal
or whatever. Keeping separated, you only will cut yourself in
your own fingers. It's all love for the music. Different styles
come together. Making it more complex and more interesting for
other people.
AQ: What is going on as an artist?
DJ Precise: I'm busy with E-Life. Right now I do a little DJ-ing for him when he performs. Shy
(RollaRocka) and me are caught up in so much work that we don't
have time for AMMO Lab. We think of it as a learning process.
Sooner or later we definitely come out again. So I'm not stressed
about that. When time is ready we will come. And till than we
do what we have to do. Keep surviving. We still have to make the
money. We just try to make money with music.
AQ: Are you succeeding?
DJ Precise: Surviving.
AQ: Not succeeding?
DJ Precise: Well it could be better of course.
AQ: How is it working with E-Life?
DJ Precise: It's cool. He's a professional and already a long time in the
business. And you can still learn a lot of him. We have a good
relationship. I give him some of my advice and he gives me some
of his. How to rock the parties and the shows. We recorded a track,
it's kinda hot. Keep your ears open for that one, in the future.
The future is going to be interesting.
AQ: What is your sound?
DJ Precise: A good producer will always adapt in a certain way to his artist.
The definition of a good producer, he's like a Chameleon. He will
adapt but will never lose his identity. That is the same thing
I did with E-Life. But you can't talk about that. You have to
hear it. You can hear the E-Life sound but definitely with the
Precise feeling.
AQ: What is your identity?
DJ Precise: You will hear it in the future. You definitely will hear. Good
quality drums with still a little bit melody in it. I like raw
sounds. But you have to feel it. To make your own sound as a DJ
you have to put your identity in it. And show your motive. I like
rap music since the beginning. But I also like to see girls dancing.
That is why I also play Ragga music. Followed by Wu or Mobb Deep.
Maybe even a commercial track for two or three seconds. You just
do quick mixing everything. Like Bambaataa did. In the beginning
he just came out with all this stuff. He was playing everything.
Just put your own in there and take it very seriously. That is
the first motive you got to have. If you take the music seriously
and you really want to bring good quality and got the love for
the music. That is the main focus. And you always will be good
to a certain point. And then you have to check your audience,
on what kind of music they focus on. You have to make a compromise
between those two things.
Sitting on a couch in his living room annex studio looking around.
And you see the man is busy. Not everything is put in a way you
can work in the right position. But the ingredients are there.
Between everything a professional Mic with a yellow cover pops
up. You can say his records are not in an alphabetic order. So
we are going to clock him.
AQ: I hate it when I can't find a record. How many minutes will it
take to find a record?
DJ Precise: Well, you getting used to it. Haha...