By Odeisel

DJ Whoo Kid is on his grind. While some of you may not know him outside of the G-Unit context, Whoo Kid was on of the mixtape DJ’s known for having exclusives and was in definite rotation in the 90s. Now because of 50 Cent he is a global commodity. In this Planet Ill exclusive, he talks the  industry, the Game and Young Buck fallout, the mixtape wars and getting kidnapped by Big Pun over some song leak shit. Yes. Kidnapped. Here is part one.

Planet Ill: You pioneered the “best of” mixtapes and the mixtapes with one artist. What was behind that method?

DJ Whoo Kid: One of the reasons was getting a lot of music with no permission back then. Those mixtapes with like 20 different artists, it was like an adrenaline rush when you just steal a new Nas or a new Jay-Z.

Planet Ill: the REAL exclusives

DJ Whoo Kid: Yeah, like unfinished shit! These motherfuckers were in the studio and they shit ain’t done and I pay the engineer to record their sessions.  So there would be two DATS running and it would record everything; if you fucking up, unfinished, no hooks. And I would have all those versions. Every time I would drop a CD I would have like 20 artists trying to kill me.

That’s one of the reasons I called myself the Whoo Kid cause nobody knew who the kid was that was stealing the shit. And I was learning from Clue?, learning from Envy. We all came from the same neighborhood and I rolled with song thieves that they dealt with,  so I kinda learned from them.

It came to a point where I got tired of being chased. I got kidnapped by Pun, I got chased by all these people, it was ridiculous. I had beef with N.O.R.E. and I wind up DJing for N.O.R.E. It was weird. But it was like every artist was looking for me at a point so I was like, Let me just deal with one artist at a time and fuck with their fanbase.

So if Nas had a fanbase, Nas was really big, and he goes against Jay-Z, I made it upon myself to get near Nas, to get cool with him and eventually, do a mixtape with him. I was up against Clue? back in those days. Clue?  was running everything. So it was like you go to the bootleg spot, “Ah we got Clue? we don’t need your shit.” But I kept hearing that over and over so I had to bring my shit at a different level where I would get movie stars or big name executives; somebody to host the CD. So it was like a little added extra.

I did Busta Rhymes’ CD I think it was called Gold Platinum. It was my first CD I had Busta Rhymes hosting and he gave me new joints.

And back then, Busta Rhymes was like incredible. He had “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See,” he had that Knight Rider record [“Fire It Up”], he was going in. He had the Janet Jackson shit. He was like one of the biggest rap artists, so imagine if I had him hosting it AND he gave me new joints? And once I did that, I realized it’s bigger when you deal with one artist. That’s where the Snoop Doggs came in the Juveniles. I knew Lil Wayne when he was a little kid. The young T.I.s, I did all their mixtapes rather than fuck with 20 artists. Just do one person and you just deal with their fanbase.

And then when 50 Cent came in, it just solidified everything. Cause he changed the game by taking people’s records and doing them over. And you see that; everybody’s doing that right now. We created that map where you take somebody’s shit and make it better. 50 was doing to embarrass whoever had the record and he embarrassed them even worse because the radio shows was playing 50’s version more than the original version.

So that’s why we did that back in the day.  But now everybody’s doing it because they like the beat or they just want promo or they like to rip whoever got the record out. It’s so many reasons why I chose to just fuck with one artist. It’s easier and then I don’t have to give my production credit up because I can just pick through certain songs. I think I’ve done everybody’s mixtape except probably like Jay-Z. Back in those days it was like Clue? had Jay-Z he had Rocafella he had those Philly dudes like Beanie Sigel and all that so I took it upon myself like, “Yo, Clue? don’t give a fuck about Queens,  I’m going  to Queens; I live in Queens.”

I got close with Nas, Mobb Deep, LL Cool J and anybody  that was from queens I made sure I did their mixtape so at least I’d have genuine respect and genuine love because Clue? was big on the radio from fucking with Jay-Z ; he really didn’t give a fuck. He was doing it. SO I went back to my roots and just did everybody’s mixtape in Queens. I don’t give a fuck who it was. CNN, whatever. I don’t care who it was; as long as you’re Queens? Tragedy Kadafi, you name it. Every Queens artist, I did it. And then after that I just went out; I just branched out.

Planet Ill: What was it like back in those times. It wasn’t really all good. People trying to kill 50, and whatnot. Did you ever get some of that backlash?

DJ Whoo Kid: Nah, I never had no problems, for some reason. I guess back in those days. 50 kinda calmed down with the crews and the 100 n***as and all that crazy shit. But back then we would have like 50-100 dudes in the club and everywhere we went it was like 50-100 dudes, you know? If you beat me up, maybe you get away with it today but 50 would definitely get somebody to get you back.  So I guess people just calmed down.

I never really had issues because and I also deal with Zoe Pound, I got like the local Bloods and Crips, cause I did mixtapes for like both camps. Snoop Dogg with the Crips. I have so many people that want to protect me because I’ve done so much for them, whoever they represent or whatever rapper. Everywhere I went, people showed love.

I’m not really that kind of guy. Gangster, I’m not into all that shit, so I’m really neutral. At the end of the day, I’m the guy that really don’t give a fuck about beef shit cause I really ain’t got nothing to do with it. I can’t be involved with what a man has with another man.  I ain’t got nothing to do with it.It ain’t coming to me! If it ain’t my problem, I really don’t give a fuck, homie! I’ve been in the game like 20 years. I knew everybody before they even had beef.

Me and Nas used to be really cool but him and Fif going through bullshit, he chose another route, he went that way, I went thataway. But it’s some people that 50 killed that you just gotta understand the levels of the beef, if it’s lyrical, if it’s personal. You know like the Ja Rule thing is personal. So I knew Ja Rule waaay back in the days with Irv Gotti and all them because that was my neighborhood.  I knew them even way way back then. But I understood the level of beef with him and Fif so I don’t really fuck with those guys because of that and I don’t need to.

So why would you come after me? Maybe you could get away with it, maybe you could corner me with your crew, but you’re going to get it anyway. Cause 50 Cent’s like yo, anybody touch me…but I got so many other phone calls ; so many other people I could call. I got Haitian dudes that will just do whatever cause they know I’m a cool, important guy in what I do. I’m not really reckless with what I do I’m not on the radio screaming, “Fuck this guy.” “Fuck that guy.” I’m just doing what I do. And I’m enjoying it. But I just ain’t got time to be dealing with situations that people are going through. At the end of the day, people know the whole story. I’ve had phone calls where people call me and say “Yo don’t be there.” That tells you how people don’t want me to be involved. I never really had any problems with 50 or any other problem.

Other rappers I know and there’s other rappers that got beef. Most likely rappers are not the ones that are suffering or really the ones getting hit;  it’s usually the friends or the crew. They go to jail they get shot and get killed. And they’re the ones that are suffering. And that’s why I don’t really deal with the shit. It’s stupid.

Planet Ill: How important is loyalty in this business?

DJ Whoo Kid: My loyalty is to 50 Cent  unconditionally. If he says don’t fuck with this guy, then you know. He actually helped with my career and I’ve been to amazing places and I’ve done amazing things because of him. So my loyalty is always to him first. It’s confusing when you have internal feuds beefing with each other and the loyalty becomes clear.  I mean I’m still cool with Buck but he doesn’t call me, but it becomes not only more difficult because you’ve known a person so many years and toured and they know personal things about you, I know personal things about him, we helped each other, bla bla bla. Even through the pain and suffering.  So it’s kinda like weird when you just separate. We were all like brothers. Game was the only one that was like… I found Game when he was fucking with Dre and  I kinda like brought him in to the picture.

I did his mixtape; I snuck his song in our mixtapes. But at the end of the day, his songs was like the bonus track on a G-Unit mixtape .  If you go back and listen to G-Unit Radio like 1-7 or whatever, The Game records were like bonus tracks. And then he had a perfect story. He was with Dre, the West Coast had no one; all they had was Snoop Dogg  and they needed another NWA shit and he raps like he was from the East Coast.  So I was like yo, you’re perfect for even dealing  with me, but perfect for mixtapes. But when I first told 50 about him , he didn’t know who he [Game] was. He was like whatever, but when I brought him into the mixtape game, then 50 woke up. That’s development. Anything that has to do with , that’s the way you wake him up. And if you have a mixtape buzz he’s going to wake up and bring  you into the team because understands the hard work when you’re doing a mixtape.

50 Cent never complained about him being on there because he was Dr. Dre’s artist, so it was perfect for me to mold him . Even on his first album he talked about me in like mad records ‘cause I really brought him into this mixtape shit. But when they separated, due to the beef, he wasn’t like Buck. Buck was with us for a longer period of time and did tours and we did a lot of crazy shit with each other. The Game was kinda like the outsider. I just knew him personally. He’s a cool guy if you really get to know him. Whatever he does is for publicity and he just wants to sell records or he just wants to keep his name out there. But at the end of the day, Game is really a cool dude if you really want to know him personally. But when that time came when him and Fif had beef? After they separated? I went with 50. Loyalty has to be there. There’s no question; it’s unconditional. 50 made me who I am today. Even though I put my stupidity on him. We all changed each other. All of us was a different person ten years ago but when we all came together everybody was either too gangster or one way, didn’t trust nobody. He just got shot; he didn’t give a fuck about no one, he ain’t trust shit.

So we all was like getting to know each other but then after a while we all grew up on each other. I was the fucking clown of the crew. They were serious. Banks was like so serious you couldn’t even talk to Banks. But my stupidity over like six years grew on Banks and we al changed each other. I brought the fun into the Unit. If you ever watch our videos of us touring, every country I’m the fucking comedic aspect of the video. Either I make them go on some stupid shit go to the zoo; skydiving. They would never do that if I ain’t bring it up.

We all grew into different men after eight years of hanging together but it just gets weird when, now Buck is ousted. That was like the most weirdest shit to me. But at the end of the day, I’m rolling with 50; that’s where the loyalty comes in. Cause without that you can’t survive this Hip-Hop shit. Shit is political, conniving, even with the record labels the managers and the people behind it from every aspect from media to bloggers it’s just… you have no  choice but to trust who you with and that’s why  you’re always gonna see the five of us. You’re not going to see no friends.  There’s always just five people like the barber, Yayo, me Fif and Banks. And that’s it.  Friend sis something you don’t really need when you get older. You just hang with your family and your brothers. I only hang with my brothers.