The Fix

We welcome Pat Drastik of @thuglimusic on the latest episode of THE FIX. Pat kicks off the interview by breaking down our nation's history 🇨🇦. We then jump right into it, Pat tells us about his early influences, how skateboarding videos influenced his music taste, being the only rap kid growing up, his early fashion swag, and being picked on. We chat about meeting his now partner in crime, Tom Wrecks, through skateboarding, and convincing him to buy turntables. He would then reverse engineer what he was hearing DJs do on the radio, mixtapes, and video. Pat reveals his motivation for moving to Toronto; it's not exactly what you'd expect. Next up, we chat THUGLI origins, and how he and Tom agreed that they would treat this music thing as a real 9-5 job. Their heavy influence from the bouncy beats of southern rap, before trap was really a thing. How the group's sound has been constantly evolving. Naturally, we chat about how Pat got into production. His gear setup, learning/stepping up chord progressions. Learning to play piano complete with an insanely detailed description of Pat wrapping his head around it. Pat breaks down his extensive foray into the battling scene and his experience at DJ Jazzy Jeff's Playlist retreat. The conversation naturally transitions into the importance of establishing personal relationships and simply being nice. We wrap our interview up by getting into Pat's "mild" gear and sneaker obsession.

Welcome back! To kick off the second season of THE FIX, we welcome LA native DJ Spider. Spider sat with us during his recent to Toronto for TIFF, and shared some of his stories - including playing a Quincy Jones party where he got to meet the legend himself. We learn about his acting experience alongside Russell Peters, Tracey Morgan and El Helms - where him and Russell chopped it up on the decks between sets. As always, we chat about the come up and his early influences, first records (DJ Rectangle Battle Weapons) and his college & online radio shows. Spider speaks about his transition into the digital format starting with Final Scratch and eventually into Serato. We hear about his first booking in Vegas at a convention where he met the late DJ AM for the first time. He talks about seeing AM play open format, and how it really opened his eyes to the possibilities using the technology. Simultaneously, Spider’s first big break was a mixtape contest via BPM magazine where he had the opportunity to open up for Mark Ronson. Spider tells us about a live hip hop trivia night he’s started called The Questions Trivia, and how he has partnered with B-real to bring it to the masses via the internet. We wind down the episode by talking about confidence as a DJ, keeping momentum going, and getting out of ruts. You’re not gonna want to miss this content packed episode.

On the season finale of THE FIX, we welcome "DJ Stimulus", or as you might know him - Skratch Bastid. Pull up, kick back and enjoy this in-depth conversation with this legendary DJ. We hear about Bastid's early exposure to music from his diverse cultural upbringing, his first cassette tape (Shaq) and how Wu-tang changed the game for him. He talks about how he started to hone his skills through early Q-Bert/Invisible Scratch Piklz videos, his mom encouraging him to enter his first battle and some of his influences (and competition) from those days. We get into the details of his time at Scribble Jam, including his now infamous Imperial March Star Wars routine and how it went viral at the time on sites like ebaumsworld. Bastid gives young DJs some golden advice when it comes to performance routines and battles - don't save it! He tells us about DJing alongside the legendary DJ Cash Money, and how that one night had such a tremendous impact on how he approached his craft. This episode wouldn't be complete without chatting about #BastidsBBQ and his involvement with Red Bull 3style. We wrap up the show by coming full circle with a couple great stories involving SHAQ and RZA, and also chat about what's next for the Bastid - which includes his desire to give back to our community and some of the projects he working on to facilitate this. Oh, and we're running a likkle contest, so listen up!

You can find Skratch Bastid on social media channels:

https://www.youtube.com/user/SkratchBastidTV

https://www.instagram.com/skratchbastid/

https://twitter.com/skratchbastid

https://www.facebook.com/skratchbastid

https://soundcloud.com/skratchbastid

https://www.mixcloud.com/skratchbastid/

https://www.skratchschool.com/

http://www.skratchbastid.com/

We've got the homey ESP in THE FIX studio for episode 11. Tune in as we nerd out with one of the funniest dudes in the scene. We'll title this one "Roasting 101". We kick off our chat with ESPs ongoing efforts to get a San Pellegrino sponsorship and impersonating other DJs to make it happen. ESP tells us his backstory that has lead him to the "best job ever", including the time he transported his first set of turntables and mixer on the back of a motorcycle (gasp 😲). Our conversation quickly turns tech heavy as we chat about the exciting new technology that has the DJ world buzzing - the Rane 72 & 12s and the Phase wireless timecode adapter. He also tells us about his experiences at the Red Bull 3style competition in Poland - including one particularly polarizing character. Check it out now!

ESP can be found on social:

https://www.instagram.com/espearce/

https://soundcloud.com/espearce

On this episode we welcome a legend in the DJ and broadcasting world for over 25 years - Mastermind. Join us as we fan out about how much of an influence he is to us. As always, we dig deep into the story, talking about his intro to this thing we love called HIP-HOP! His long career in the radio world, getting his first college radio show at 15 years old, the influence and evolution of hip-hop radio. Mastermind tells us about his influences as a DJ ranging from Cash Money, Jazzy Jeff, Jam Master Jay, Marley Marl, Chuck Chillout, Red Alert and more. His high praises for the versatility and "open format" ability of his peer, Starting from Scratch. We talk about that moment that he sold ALL his records (you know how many records this man had his hands on?? 😢) just before Serato dropped 💰. Naturally, we discuss his acclaimed series of Mixtapes at length, including his access to not only the most exclusive records, but DATs from the studios too! He describes the death of the classic DJ mixtape that we knew due to the infamous "crackdown" (at least the feds didn't knock down his door like they did to his NY peers). We get some INDUSTRY GEMS, which starts with industry rule number 4080...record company people are shadyyyy! Mastermind also tells about the early advice he gave to Drake. You're not gonna want to miss this one!

Mastermind can be found on social media at:

https://twitter.com/Mastermind

https://www.instagram.com/mastermindlive/

JAYEMKAYEM visits The Fix studio for a candid interview in episode 9. Jayem has been killing the game for the past few years, and we get to dive into her personal and professional story. We cover the oft-debated topic of requests (and how not to do it), the DJ's role in breaking records these days, the shortage of quality full album projects vs compilations of singles, getting her start spinning, first time playing out in just 2015, and her meteoric rise since. She is also the first guest we've had who primarily uses CDJs, so we get some insight into her preferred setup using Rekordbox + USB drive with no laptop! Balancing skills with marketing, and the current landscape of influencer culture. We chat about the importance of radio, how it seems to be lacking these days, and some of her current projects including iStoleTheSoulFM and an upcoming curation at NXNE. We also get personal and talk about Jayemkayem's upbringing from UK to Hong Kong to Calgary, culture, language, past relationships and more!

Jayemkayem is all over social media (we think we've covered them here)...

http://www.jayemkayem.com/

https://soundcloud.com/jayemkayem

https://www.mixcloud.com/josephinemokcruz/

https://www.instagram.com/jayemkayem/

https://twitter.com/jayemkayem

https://www.facebook.com/jayemkayem

Welcome to Episode 8 of The Fix! This week we welcome the Professional RAP FAN and one-third of already legendary hip-hop group Run the Jewels, Trackstar the DJ. Trackstar has been in the game for a minute, with over 150 mixtapes already under his belt. He's been a busy dude touring around the world with Killer Mike and El-P as RTJ, hosting a weekly show on Shade 45, and managing his clothing line RAP FAN - yet he took the time to sit down with us before their show in Toronto. Tune in as as we chat about the typical plethora of topics you're used to on the pod ranging from his come up, linking up with Killer Mike, their first show in Toronto and the hilarious story that came out of it. Trackstar also gives us some hot takes on Drizzy, Free smoke in every city, the surprisingly unknown production juggernaut Earththone III, why the blog days were so important for him, collaborating with Q-bert on some gear, and the most down-to-earth zen outro to the episode. You know what to do!

Trackstar's online coordinates:

http://djtrackstar.com/

https://www.instagram.com/trackstarthedj/

https://twitter.com/djtrackstar

https://www.facebook.com/realdjtrackstar/

https://soundcloud.com/trackstarthedj

We welcome Big Jacks to THE FIX studio in our latest episode. Big Jacks' resume is impressive list of ✅milestones. Tune is as we run the gamut of topics ranging from snacks, Toronto radio, digging tips, mixtapes (and actual cassettes), the record label (@ggbrrecords), his gig with clothing retailer Aritzia, connection to Conway & Westside Gunn, tips for up and coming DJs, and a bunch of other shit.

You can order GGBR Records Music and Merch through their website, including pre-orders of "Daily Bread - Gospel according to Big Jacks": https://www.ggbrrecords.com.

Big Jacks can be found online at all these places:

https://soundcloud.com/bigjacks

https://www.instagram.com/djbigjacks/

https://twitter.com/BigJacks

https://www.facebook.com/djbigjacks/

⬆️ Haters Gonna Say it’s Photoshopped! ⬆️

This week on THE FIX we host Hamilton, Ontario’s very own Buggin Out DJs made up of Walter Deans and Cam B, who is fresh off a 3rd place finish at this years Red Bull 3style World Finals (https://vimeo.com/255789910). We chat with them about their come up, and how the two of them met and got started DJing together, some of perils of spinning in the Hamilton scene, their journey to world finals in Poland, nerves and the process of putting together a competition set.

Buggin’ Out can be found on the web through the links below:

https://www.bugginout.ca/

https://soundcloud.com/bugginoutbugginout/

https://www.facebook.com/bugginoutbugginout/

https://www.instagram.com/bugginoutdjs/

Also, Walter is on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/walterdeans/ and Cam at https://www.instagram.com/dj_camb/

On this latest episode of THE FIX, we welcome one of the most enigmatic and interesting dudes in the game, The Gaff. Born in Washington, DC, grew up in Victoria, BC and currently residing in Toon Town (aka Saskatoon, SK), The Gaff is a world renowned party rocker, music knowledge gawd, crate digger extraordinaire, and so much more. A true DJs DJ, respected and acknowledged by the greatest of heads. We cover the gamut in this interview: touching on his days as a sponsored skateboarder, to his journey into the world of DJing, and his connection to spirituality & the healing arts. Get ready for a unique and fun journey into his world!

The Gaff can be found online through these platforms: Soundcloud, Mixcloud, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.