13 minute read
Doing it for the Love of Hip Hop
Interview by Jay M@dH@tter for Loud&Clear Magazine. @city_built_music // @loudandclearmagazine
An interview with an old school soldier for the culture.
Geechie Dan is the Co-Host of Planet of the Tapes with DJ Diamond the Artist on Rock the Bells Radio, Executive Director of The National Hip Hop Museum, and the Co-Chairman of Artists Archives, Tapes, and Flyers at the Hip Hop Hall of Fame. He is also an Author, Brand Ambassador, Music Consultant, and Member of many Hip Hop organizations.
Life is truly an interesting journey of ups and downs and all around, but as soon as I think I’ve reached a level or maxed out, life has a way of showing me there is more coming my way. Case in point, just when I thought I was doing the most, I got to interview Geechie Dan! Host of “Planet of the Tapes” show on his childhood friend, LL COOL J’s channel on SiriusXM Radio. Geechie Dan is also the director of The National Hip Hop Museum in Washington, DC. He is a rapper, writer, collector, businessman, Hip Hop historian, husband, father, and all-around cool ass dude. We talked about everything from his days on Farmers Blvd, kicking it with a young LL COOL J, our shared passion for Hip Hop history, hundreds and hundreds of old school Hip Hop tapes, to dope ass business ideas (that I will not share.. LOL!) So, before I get into it, I want to say, Thank you, Geechie Dan, we are mos def going to work on that idea!! Now, Let's get it!!
50 years, man, it’s a trip that Hip Hop has gotten to this point. Being from the West Coast I have this passion and this love for Hip Hop culture and music that started young, but my dad used to say it was just a fad. I hadn’t gotten into Hip Hop music yet, I hadn’t started trying to rap and write. But I remember telling him that this is something else. As someone who was there in Hip-hop’s beginning, I respect and also envy the fact that you were there and most have seen people, graffiti, breakdance, DJ, and rap all at the same time in the same place and no one knew what was happening.
Man, Its Déjà Flu (Geechie was sick during this interview). LOL, It's crazy because of how I was living back then you know, we talking 1980-81-82. I’m standing next to LL, you know this is a 16-year-old teenager, I mean we are both the same age. We rhyming in the neighborhood on Farmers Blvd, and you know we would have never imagined. You know, we laugh today but we would have never imagined where it is today. Like, I’m telling stories of me collecting tapes from all these jams up in the Bronx, because I was the neighborhood dude that had the tapes. I was collecting tapes from different dudes outside of Queens. Taping the off Zulu beats, and world-famous Supreme Team show, and Mr. Magic. These were shows that played Hip Hop at night, they only played hip-hop at night. It wasn’t even on mainstream radio yet. So, to see where Hip Hop is today, I’m like wow!! To see LL COOL J on New Year's Eve on Channel 5 and remember 1984 where he played me “ I Need a Beat” right down the street from his grandmother's house. He’s playing the cassette tape of his demo, and he keeps hitting the rewind button, and I’m like, “Yo, I heard the song, its dope” LOL. LL was like, “yo, I mentioned Farmers Blvd, let me rewind it”. All of that is iconic now, it's crazy!
FUTURE OF HIP HOP
It can be iconic, it can be classic if you just be yourself and express how you feel and your voice, and do more music that can move people on a global level.
This may sound funny, but LL is my Idol, if anyone argues with me about who’s the G.O.A.T (greatest of all time) I say LL because he is still and has always been relevant, always transcended, always did different shit. I just saw him at Sandia Casino here in Albuquerque NM, it was the Rock the Bells Tour. But, getting back to the tapes you were collecting when you recording them, did you know that what you were recording is going to be some true historical stuff?
NO! I don’t even think 10 years ago, I knew. I had no idea I would take the tape game to another level, like I did. I love these tapes so much, that I wanted a show that showcased the tapes and that led to today. I just had an idea to convert all my tapes CD and MP3. I was like, “damn, I love these tapes” and when I would play these tapes when I was in my car, back in Atlanta GA, I would play my tapes with my window down and, you know” people would be bumpin’. People would pull up beside me and yell, “yo, you from New York” and I’d be like, “Yeah” they’d be like, “yo, yo, I gotta get your phone number, can I get a copy of that”. There’s history with all my tapes, there are certain tapes that got history with me cause I was going through such a dark time and dark period of my life. These tapes would help me, I would listen and bump my head and forget all that happened. So, I felt like these tapes are the essence of Hip Hop and they don’t get revered, they don’t get the accolades or talked about. I just felt like I just need to do something with these tapes! I felt these tapes was gonna be something iconic, something to get the spirit back in Hip-hop. Get Hip-hop back with these tapes. LL, being that he knows me for having a show where I was playing these tapes. So, then I said, fuck it, let me take it a step further. Let me interview these pioneers, iconic, the legends on these tapes. So I took it a step further and created a live stream show, a TV-based around these tapes.
So, that’s where you created “Planet of the Tapes” on LL Cool J’s Channel on SirusXM?
Yeah, I had a show that I did for years called, “Geechie Dan’s Hip Hop Tape Show”. So, I called up Chuck D, from Public Enemy, SHOUT OUT TO CHUCK D. Chuck D was like, “Yo, why don’t you do a show on my platform” and I was like, “Yo, that would be dope” He Said, “Yo, you can rename your show, instead of “Planet of the Apes, you can call your show Planet of the Tapes”... Chuck D then said, “I’ll even go further, I’ll help you create a logo”. So I said, “alright bet”, so Chuck helped me create a logo. I had to let him know that, LL had come at me about doing my show on Rock the Bells (SirusXM) So, Chuck said, “go ahead, god bless you, go head and make it happen”. So, LL reached out to me and asked me how many tapes I have, and at that time I had like 800. I told him, “I can do this shit for like a couple of years”. So, LL said, “Alright Bet, I’ll give you a one hour slot, put something together and let's make something happen”. The rest is history.
Man, that’s dope, I appreciate and respect your passion for Hip Hop, its rare that I meet someone with the same or more passion for this culture then I have. I’ve been blessed to still record with my fam from back in the day. I have a podcast and I’m now interviewing you, so life is moving in the right direction for me. I’m also going to finish my degree and begin teaching Hip Hop history. That’s so dope man, we need more people like you, who wants to educate and bridge the gap between what was to what is, man. This generation doesn’t understand us cause there is a gap.
Thank you, man, Ok, I gotta ask this question to someone like you, a Hip Hop Head from back in the day. What do you think of all these rappers and social media personalities shitting on the pioneers, laughing at them, and calling them, “dusty” because they don’t have as much money as the new generation of Hip Hop artists have? It’s a huge disrespect for me that someone who sacrificed and did all this work for you (today's Rappers) to make all this money and you gonna laugh at them and be disrespectful. We are the only genre of music and artist that shit’s on their elders and pioneers. What are your thoughts?
Exactly, Country Music don’t do that, Rock Music don’t do that. Unfortunately, some of our pioneers are not doing well, but you have to understand that some of these dudes is in their 60’s. I see some of these pioneers, that are like 62, 63 years old and they still gotta go to work. That’s sad man. So, instead of me talking and running my mouth, I’m trying to make something happen for them. These brothers and sisters are suffering, and it bothers me, so that makes me go harder for our generation because it's not fair. And everybody ain’t dusty. I’m 57, I don’t look dusty, I look better than that n—ga that was talking that shit. I look better than him and he's probably in his 30’s.
LOL! That’s real!! He look more dusty than the OG’s do! I mean whos he talking about being dusty, LL aint dusty, Chief Rocka Busy Bee ain’t dusty, Rakim ain’t dusty. Fat Joe ain’t dusty, so who’s he talking about?
That’s what's up, Facts!! I wanted to touch on something real quick. How did you get involved with the Hip Hop Museum, was that something that you created or were you approach to be the Director?
I was approached to do the job, so yeah, I was approached.
Word, I also read that you were going to be taking the museum on the road to different states and countries around the world. Yeah, I wanted to take it more global. I didn’t want it to be just a pop-up. I want it to be an institution that preserves our items, our culture, our toys, our clothing, our flyers, our gold and platinum plaques, our instruments and our tapes. That all belongs in an institution that is going to carry our legacy. To preserve what we did, not to collect the items and brag about them, but to do nothing with them, not display them or do anything with it.
Hip Hop is 50 years old now, wow! I’m 50 and Hip Hop heads like me and you want to hear Hip Hop. I ain’t bumping these new people. I mean I feel it cause there’s a vibe but I ain’t playing it in my car. What do you see from Hip Hop going forward?
I think there’s more subject matter to talk about. A lot of time we so stuck on our pride or we arrogant and stuck on our ego that won’t allow us to make more iconic music or classic music. It can be iconic, it can be classic if you just be yourself and express how you feel and your voice, and do more music that can move people on a global level.
I’m working on a new project with my family that I first started rapping with when I was 14 years old. This interview ain’t about me it's about you, but I do want to mention that we had to go back to the drawing board because we felt we wasn’t saying anything new. The ideas are there, the songs are good, but we want to talk about shit that we experience now as grown men, not try and compete with the youngsta’s. But, have our own lane for Hip Hop Heads our age. So, I appreciate that you said that, I’m going to go back to the homies and tell them, GEECHIE WAS SPITTIN THAT SAME SHIT, LOL! He was saying exactly what we was thinkin, we gotta get deeper with the subject matter… Since we was just talking about the future of Hip Hop, I want to transition to what’s the future for Geechie Dan?
I want to take “Planet of the Tapes” Radio show from one hour to two hours, then create a “Planet of the Tapes” TV show. Then, I want to get a deal with NASA, and experiment with taking the music/tapes to outer space. Since, the show is called, “Planet of the Tapes” I want to get my tapes to different planets. Then, I want to do a "Hall of Tapes". Instead of a "Hall of Fame", I want to do a "Hall of Tapes". Hip Hop needs to make an impact, how many bottles do we need to pop, how much celebration and partying do you need to do. I’ve popped enough bottles. Hip Hop needs to make an impact.
GEECHIE DAN AND LL COOL J
We rhyming in the neighborhood on Farmers Blvd, and you know we would have never imagined. You know, we laugh today, but we would have never imagined where it is today.
Yo, I want to thank you for this amazing interview and getting real with me about your passions for these Hip Hop tapes and just Hip Hop in general. Thank you. Now Yo, you got any shout outs, comments, or things you want to share before we wrap this up?
Big Shout Out to Hip Hop TV, World Cup of Hip Hop, my man Joseph Clark. Shout out to LL Cool J and the entire Rock the Bells team, DJ Diamond the Artist, and the entire Hip Hop Community, I appreciate the love. All the Hip Hop pioneers and all the folks that be checkin up on me and making sure that I’m staying on track. A lot of the pioneers approached me and said thank you for what you are doing with these tapes. That’s our history and you’ve made it your business to make sure that we stay relevant.
So, that’s it man, thank you again. Thank you for the interview as well.
Follow and Connect with Geechie Dan at: https://www.facebook.com/geechie.dan.14 https://www.instagram.com/geechiedanofficial/
Follow and Connect with Artist and Writer, Jay M@dH@tter at: https://citybuiltmusic.com/ https://www.instagram.com/city_built_music/
