DJ PHANTOM

By Mark Williams-Washington

If you haven't heard of him, you've probably heard of something he has quietly been behind. Phantom has been behind some of the most powerful hip-hop cats like Bars & Hooks, Saigon, Ghostface, Redman, ODB, Ron G, Big Mike and a host of others. Stop what you're doing and check my man's hustle game.

Shine: How did you get started?

Phantom: Basically how I got started is my boy. He was a DJ and I seen he was the guy who was in control of the party. All the good-looking girls were there, you know what I'm saying, it was an ill situation. Basically I told my man at the end of the night to teach me how to become a DJ. That's how everything started.

Shine: What do you think of mixtapes, and the position they at now?

Phantom: I think mixtapes always been out. First and foremost, they always been out. Niggas just wasn't getting mixtape shine until 50 came out. You know what I'm saying. I always use 50 because he was the first nigga to put 100 mixtapes in a spot like the Coliseum and like a day later or an hour later them shits would be sold out.

It's like that's the only way we survive in the hood. That's like our crack. I don't like using drugs as a metaphor for the rap game, selling wise, but it's like that. If I put 100 CD's in the store at like, seven dollars, and I come back an hour later and I got like $700 in my pocket, that's a beautiful thing. I could feed my kids or feed my family off that.

So the mixtape game, it's like a lot of people are doing it, but the innovators and the trendsetters--those are the ones you see on top right now, not these dick-riding ass niggas. I got no love for those niggas for real. If you a dickrider start your own movement. Know what I mean?

Shine: What do you do for artists? It seems like you are changing the mixtape game.

Phantom: I was doing the mixtape game in 98' or 99', and it was like I was selling two or five thousand on my own at three dollars a piece, and I was just breaking even all the time. So I was like “Yo I am going to start working with artists one-on-one.”

One of the projects I worked on that was successful was with Bars-N-Hooks. I am their personal DJ, slash everything else they need to make it happen. So they're getting it popping in NY. The kid Saigon, I put out his album called Warning Shots, Kanye West - Consequence “Take em to the Cleaners, and Ghostface's new “Theordore Unit”.

I did a Smoothie D mixtape, that's a piece to my nigga, O Dirt. All those CD's was like from 10 thousand to 30 thousand at like $15.95 MSRP. So I go hard for these artists. I'm not just going to let them die out there. I am the idea, but they are the ones who are really getting creative behind it. So I am blessed that they came to me, and we can meet each other in the middle at making this bread. That's what counts at the end of the day.

Shine: Who do you think is next to blow?

Phantom: Bars-N-Hooks, the kid Saigon, this kid named Consequence I been working with, and this kid named Trife the God. He's Ghostface's protégé. I am working with this kid Vordul. We got an album dropping through an Internet site. I think he's real talented in a way that niggas haven't really seen yet. My niggas Purple City sold 10k units their first week on an indy (Sheist I see you homie). I heard a couple of niggas out here in Cali...this kid named Kamikaze 777, he get off. Muszamil, this kid named Spyder Loc. Right now that is not like my official roster on who I think is real nice, but these are the niggas who I think are going to take over the game and these are the people you should be looking for.

They bringing that positive message to the world and at the same time they are not talking about all that 'I'm a kill you, I'm a pimp shit.' I'm more towards the righteous path and still keeping it real with dudes.

Shine: What's your best mixtape?

Phantom: I think all my mixtapes are my best mixtape. I can't really say that one mixtape is better than all because out of all my mixtapes, I put like 200 percent. If I don't put 200 percent, then that wasn't a mixtape I was supposed to put out. I would've been put out madd mixtapes; I'm just a perfectionist. I got to make sure, I get these certain songs; I got to make sure I get these drops; I got to make sure the artwork is hot.

Shine: What DJ's did you grow up listening to, and how did they influence you?

Phantom: I grew up with this nigga Clue. DJ Clue, hands down. I look up to that nigga. And the only reason why I look up to him is because he is from Queens, and he is the only dude to me [who] can live off of a mixtape.

The nigga can buy a crib [off of] one mixtape. To me that's phenomenal. The only other nigga that is really doing it like that is Whoo Kid. Cause his movement is crazy, and Whoo Kid been doing it for years.

My man Ron G. Peace to my man Ron G, I did a mixtape with him. He is an innovator of his time. I worked with a legend who was at the start of everything. The nigga Green Lantern. All these dudes I'm mentioning in regards to mixtapes are all trendsetters to me. Flex. They brought they element into the game. My man Turntablelist Kev, the nigga who taught me how to DJ. They showed me this realm, and my man Large Pro. These are the dudes who set trends and who really put me on to the game. So, I highly respect them and I would like to say thank you to all of them because, if it wasn't for them I probably would be doing some stupid shit right now in the street.

Shine: Sometimes DJ's like Clue and Big Mike get a little critism for not being that creative. What do you think of that?

Phantom: Well, you got to realize that Clue has been out towards a decade. He has been doing this for about 10 or 13 years. So for dudes saying that you're not really that creative, at the end of the day it comes down to that music. You know what I mean, if a nigga has all the exclusive tracks, that's' what people want. Even with Big Mike. Big Mike used to drop these mixtapes with some corny ass covers. But niggas told him change your covers up son cause you got that music. He changed his covers up to make it more presentable in the street, and niggas was copping his shit hard.

I knew Big Mike before he blew. I did a mixtape with Big Mike called Cruel Summer and our first track was with Jadakiss, called "Boss of the Bosses" and this nigga Clue and Envy took the track like a week later. So bottom line is the music man. It's ill if niggas can do the ill shit, but niggas want that music man. If you have that music that's what really counts at the end of the day.

Shine: What are your plans?

Phantom: How I really see it is the industry is trying to shut out the positive side of hip-hop. They just like that negative side. They like niggas killing each other. That's how I think they are trying to manipulate the whole game. So basically I am going to bring out these artists who I'm feeling, and I am strictly going to go hard and just take over the game by myself on some independent young entrepreneur type shit.

Because I'm only 22 [years old] in this game, I got a long way to go. But it ain't nothing, I could take this over in a year. And I think that is what niggas is really scared of, me taking it over and me just not caring about shit anymore because, to me, it became a little too easy. You know what I'm saying.

Shine: Last Words?

Phantom: Be creative. Don't ride the wave. Don't be a dickrider. Do ya'll because you been placed here for a reason. Do you! Don't really try to imitate niggas because you don't want to be no carbon copy. You want niggas to really say "that man did his job, he made history.” You don't want them to be like “he just recycled some marketing schemes.” You don't want to be known as that.

Shine: You got any shout outs you want to give?

Phantom: All my peoples in New York. Bars-N-Hooks, Now A Laterz, everyone I work with. Saigon, Consequence, Ghostface, Theodore Unit, everybody. If I haven't mentioned your name it's still love, it's cause I'm doing some quick interview shit.

My nigga LaMarck, he doing my interview right now, and he about to hold down the whole West Side. Everybody behind this movement that I'm putting together right now they know what it is. Big shout to The Heatmakers. I'm about to come out with an album with them. Everybody, everyone I fuck with in Cali out here. That's basically it. If I haven't mentioned your name it's because it's on some quick interview shit.

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