SITE TOOLS
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Kandi Girl
By David Dodson
Who knew there were folks in hip-hop that cared about the art and community?
Well, if you didn't know, then meet DJ Kuttin Kandi.
DJ Kuttin Kandi is a member of the award winning DJ crew The 5th Platoon. DJ Kuttin Kandi
is a member of the female hip-hop collective the Anomolies. DJ Kuttin Kandi had one of the
hottest mix tapes in 1999 - B-Girl Stance in a B-Boy World. But what does Kandi do? She
does hip-hop.
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“It’s the way I express myself. It’s how I
reflect me, how I think, how I feel. Being a DJ, even though I’m not an MC,
there’s so many things I’m saying behind what I’m doing. A lot of hip-hop
has forgotten the DJ. You see house DJ’s, jungle DJ’s - they respect their
DJ’s a lot more than hip-hop. I try to bring that [respect] back. It all started from
the DJs,” reflects Kandi.
At a time when hip-hop is all bling bling, you could forget that there are real people
behind it all. For Kandi, it's important to embrace hip-hop's community aspect and to
realize its impact on children. “I’m [reminding] people that we gotta be there
for the community, be there for the people. That’s what I do for hip-hop. [I] try not
to abuse the music, the culture.”
Along with Kandi's respect for the community is a respect for the art. For her, that art
is turntablism. “You’ve gotta separate a Funkmaster Flex from a Q-Bert. But at
the same time, a turntablist isn’t a turntablist unless you’re a DJ first,”
notes Kandi.
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But in speaking about old school DJs, Kandi
is very clear. “[Early DJs] would still be considered turntablists just because of
the fact that they were creating. They were doing something so different. That’s part
of turntablism. You’ve gotta be advanced. Back then that was advanced, that was
[more] advanced than just playing a record.”
With today’s advances in the art, many DJ’s have gotten confused because the art
is still about the people and keeping crowds happy. Kandi remarks, that “[with] a
party crowd there’s a time and a place for everything. You can’t scratch the
whole night; they’re liable to get annoyed. But if you can do a little bit of both
[DJing and turntable tricks] and get people to go to parties and understand how important
the DJ is, you show them a whole different level. And they’ll show some interest;
they’ll understand."
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Kandi's Hit Parade (what
she plays)
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Mos Def (Black on Both Sides),
Pharaohe Monche (Internal
Affairs) and Dr Dre (Chronic 2001).
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| Kandi's Top Spin (what she plays first) |
"I’ve been scratching a lot to Dre’s stuff cause I like the beats.
It’s dope to see someone from the west still doing it."
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"As a DJ, the #1 thing to do is dig in
the crates. That’s what Grandmaster DXT always tells me. You gotta find what’s
new, what’s hot. [Back in the day] people [would] hear something they’ve never
heard of and still love it. Now, [if] they never heard of it, you’re not with it;
you’re not in. [But,] that’s what the value of a DJ is. It’s their job to
let the people know the deal,” insists Kandi.
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Currently, Kandi is busy working on the forthcoming
Anomolies album and other projects all the while practicing her craft in case she happens
to enter any upcoming DJ battles (Hint). Yet, still she never forgets the community.
In November, Kuttin Kandi held her annual birthday party in NYC to raise funds to benefit
victims of the sex-trafficking industry in the Philippines. Though there were more
DJ’s spinning than you can count on your hands, the event was really about the people
as DJ after DJ kept the crowd moving out on the floor. As we move to the 21st century and
as you keep your eye on hip-hop, be sure to watch what Kandi is doing as well. M
January 2000
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RLP Ventures, LLC and/or its
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