Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - DJ Starting From Scratch: Toronto Mike'd #408

Episode Date: December 10, 2018

Mike chats with DJ Starting From Scratch about his tours with Russell Peters and Usher, his time at Flow and Virgin Radio, and what inspired him to become a DJ.

Welcome to episode 408 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Propertyinthe6.com, Paytm Canada, Palma Pasta, Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair, and Census Design and Build. Last time watch and jewelry repair and census design and build. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me is DJ Starting From Scratch. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. What do you think of this jam right here? It's good.

I was wondering, you know, I heard you with the sponsors. I'm looking around the room now. It all connects the dots and makes sense. So it's good. So shout out to ill vibe illy uh composed this for me when i started this uh podcast like six six plus years ago oh wow nice and it's not i why switch you know like i'm gonna say it still holds the test of time so that's amazing that's it i actually went to him and i said um I like that opening to As It Happens. I don't know if you know As It Happens on CBC Radio, but like it's...

Then they have this like flute part. I said, I want that. He's like, oh, well, let me see what I can do. And that's my theme song. And the magic happened. And the magic happened. So I'm calling you DJ starting from scratch because I actually,

I don't know what to call you. You have a real name or is that on your birth certificate? I wish it was, right? That would be the coolest story ever. But no, real name is Mark. So you can call me Mark. Most people call me Scratch or...

I'm calling you Scratch. There you go. Because I mean, that's the coolest. Plus if people tune in to hear Mark, they're not going to know who you're talking to. Well, DJ, I mean, we're going coolest. Plus, if people tune in to hear Mark, they're not going to know who you're talking to. Who the hell am I talking to? Well, DJ, I mean, we're going to get into this, my friend. But that's a name I've been hearing in this market.

It feels like forever I've been hearing DJ starting from scratch. Yeah, it kind of has been forever. Well, it all depends on your age, I guess. It's my forever. Like, I mean, here's a choice quote. Like, I was kind of doing a little Googling about you and learning a few things. I'm going to read this as I copied and pasted it, okay? Revered as one of the top 100 most powerful people in music,

DJ starting from scratch is considered one of the greatest. Like, did you write that? That's an amazing quote. I wish I did. I can't take the credit for that. I think that was when the Vibe magazine thing kind of happened and all that stuff. And I mean, hey, I'm not going to complain.

I'm still doing this, you know, 30 years later and still being able to, you know, open new doors and break down new walls and stuff and still doing what I love. I always said the day i stopped loving it is the day i'll stop doing it so i that's that's a good way to live man like uh and what else do they say like if you if you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life yeah i mean i don't yeah i wish it was that easy to it there's a lot of work involved um i don't think people understand

that but a lot of people think you know we just show up and play music. But there's really a lot more to it, depending on, you know, how deep you want to take it and how great you want to be at it. Well, here, if I can do my job well, by the end of this episode, people will have a whole new appreciation for the effort and what's involved in all this. Because you're right. I think there is a sense that like that's kind of fun and easy. Like he he spins like tunes you know what i mean well i think it's like this too like there's you know there's a lot of podcasts out there people just think it's you know i can record it on my phone or just grab a mic and do it but there's a lot more that goes into it you know what i mean and you get a test you wouldn't know what i mean yeah because like i'm not scratching over here but it's kind of like scratching i got faders

and all the prep work you have to do. I mean, you have to be knowledgeable about your guests and so forth. Right, right, right. And it helps to know the name of your guest, but that's okay. We got that out of the way. We got that out of the way. We're good. Man, I actually, there's so many places I want to start.

But firstly, I want to tell you that I love scratching, just scratching on old hip-hop albums and stuff like i don't hear scratching anymore like a scratching fallen out of favor in the hip-hop community no it's definitely there i just think i think the way it's being done now is totally different like um because of technology and just you know progressiveness along the way that the scratching that we're used to from the old timers i'll say old timers but you know, progressiveness along the way that the scratching that we're used to from the old timers, I'll say old timers, but you know what I mean,

like the way back album, the 90s album and stuff is more rhythmic and it's more, yeah, there you go. It's more rhythmic and more of that kind of stuff. And now I think it's very super technical and it's very niche now, you know what I mean? Before it was always part of the record and so forth, it was expected.

But yeah, you're right. I think for the most part, especially for the new generation, yeah, on record, not a lot of scratches. Unless you go to, again, it's more of the guys that were doing it back then that are still making underground-ish records now. Where you'll find that your Static Select and Premiere and all those guys are still doing it. But they're still the originators from back then, too. I always, like, I have a 17-year-old son. He's almost 17. And he listens to a lot of hip-hop.

And, like, I always tell him, I always felt the more scratching, the better. Like, we're listening, you know, we're listening, this is Terminator X. Yeah. Right? By the way, Terminator X and the Valley of the Jeep Beats was a great disc I used to own.

It was, like, he went off and did his own thing. But, like... Yeah, I see the t-shirt. Yeah, I go way back. When I first heard it takes a nation of millions

to hold us back, I was hooked. Yeah, myself too. That's one, that and LL's Bad, Paid in Full were albums

that were on constant, constant repeat for me. So here, we're going to, in fact, we're going to start in Montreal. We're going to go way back and then we're going to, in fact, we're going to start in Montreal. We're going to go way back, and then we're going to bring us up to speed here.

But I just thought I'd start by playing just some songs that I think have great scratching in them. I always think this one I always liked. Yeah? Yeah. And I don't know, maybe it's because of nostalgia, but I'll take this every day of the week still. Like, I still dig this stuff.

But the DJs were also, like, always mentioned in the records, and they were, like, a real integral part of the group. A hundred percent. Absolutely. What do we got here? You want to play a name in that tune? Premiere, one of the best always. Especially our record. One of the absolute greatest rhythmic scratches of all time.

Use of the words. He influenced you. Oh, absolutely. I mean, hearing these records back then was in my starting phases. So I would always try and duplicate these, especially Battle Cat from LL Cool J, the Scratching On I'm Bad and stuff like that. Poor Righteous Teachers, Rock This Funky Joint. Those were big records for me where I would just literally rewind the record,

try to copy it, rewind the record, try to copy it. And that was a lot of my learning process. And you were doing this back in were you doing this back in montreal no no you took it it was all here my my my montreal upbringing with music was just that it was just sonic it was all sonic for me it was never actual physical i used to hear it all the time on radio stations and so forth and that's where my love began but actually physically ever touching turntables and stuff was when i moved to toronto on radio stations and so forth. And that's where my love began. But actually physically ever touching turntables and stuff was when I moved to Toronto.

This is the Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the wheels of steel. The groundbreaking record right here. Done live. Still does it live Feel free to name drop more of the More influences from back in the day For scratching? Yeah, for whatever inspired you to become DJ starting from scratch

I mean, Jazzy Jeff is always the one I hold In my supreme bubble of idols Jazzy Jeff is always the one I hold in my supreme bubble of idols. Jazzy Jeff, just from day one, his scratching abilities and just his smoothness. And I'm a very rhythmic person. So, yeah, Jazzy Jeff always. The first time I heard Kid Capri, I had a huge appreciation, not on a skill level, but just on an aggressiveness level. Sure. I always thought

he just brought a whole new dynamic to the table which i really appreciated um who else back then here this is a little bit of mix master mike yeah but he i mean he's a good example of of being at that the full change of when scratching went from the previous songs we were playing to really aggressive and really technical stuff it was these guys that did it his scratchers were like unheard of at the time

and I mean DJ Scratch on the EPMD records he really changed the game a lot like the older guys like the Jam Master J's and the Flashes and stuff were very they were great at what they were doing, but they were all kind of in the same box. It was only a certain guys that really, Richie Rich from third base. Yeah, I remember this.

His cuts were crazy. So a lot of those guys just, and then newer guys would come out and the Scratches, the Q-Berts, and all these guys. And just Scratches kept getting more technical and changing because i guess they just moved with the times nice nice now here i want to get you to toronto because you moved to toronto when you're in high school right so you're still a grade 10 i was Okay, so here we're going to open the show with a question from Brian Gerstein because Brian's a sponsor.

He's a real estate sales representative with PSR Brokerage. Okay. But he's got a question about Montreal and then I can get you to Toronto and learn how you get kicked off here. But here is Brian. Propertyinthe6.com

Hi Scratch, Brian Gerstein here, sales representative with PSR Brokerage and proud sponsor of Toronto Mite. Now is the time to have me evaluate your home or condo if you are looking to get it on the market in the new year. If you are buying, December is the best time to get a great deal with less competition and motivated sellers.

A buyer of mine just got an amazing suite and view in the building by putting in an offer the first day it was listed. Call or text me at 416-873-0292 to get the ball rolling either way. Scratch, like you, I grew up in Montreal, moving here in 89, two years after you. I know you are a Habs fan for life. So do you take any ribbing now that the Leafs are doing so well while the Habs are in rebuild mode? Any other memories of Montreal you want to share as well? Oh, yeah. The ribbing never ends.

It's constant. Yeah, I love it, though. I mean, you know know when I was in Montreal it was Montreal it was the Habs versus the Nordiques so I was like you know I'd have

friends from Quebec and they were like it never ends that's the beauty of the sport and you had those playoff series that were like

bloody battle royales and I remember those in the mid 80s when you watch them now like on when ESPN does those classic sports it's crazy like

one guy would start fighting and literally both teams would all jump on the ice at the same time. Right. Yeah, I know. I totally remember this.

The benches would clear and then everybody would just be, yeah, roundhouse and it's crazy. Yeah, it was awesome. Is Quebec getting a team again? Do you have a prediction? I don't know.

They gave one to Seattle now, right? Yeah, that's right. But maybe they could move one. For some reason, Bettman just doesn't like Canada for some odd reason. I don't know why. He likes US dollars. He likes U.S. dollars.

He does. He does. But it'll translate over time. And, you know, hopefully, I mean, hopefully Vegas is doing amazing. So hopefully, you know, Seattle can sustain and fill the arena, which I'm sure they will. I mean, the way I look at it, if Winnipeg can get a team back, Quebec can get a team back. Absolutely. They built that arena, right?

Yeah. And I think Quebec would be great for it. I mean, to me, that's where it all started. So I think it would be great for them to get a team back, and I think it's much needed, and Canada needs it. Now, so Brian was asking you about Leafs versus Habs, but I want to ask you about the Expos. Were you an Expos fan?

Yeah, yeah. I went to quite a few games when I was young. I mean, it's a shame what happened there too, but yeah, it was great. I mean, the stadium at the time, before it started to fall apart, was awesome. Oh, the big O. Yeah, the big O.

The atmosphere was always great there. So yeah, it was fun. It was always a fun getaway for us too. Like we'd go with family and friends and so forth. And there's some like buzz about possibly, although it's an outside chance, but possibly getting Larry Walker in the Hall of Fame.

I've been hearing. Yeah, I mean, he's well-deserved. Yeah, I mean. He deserves it. I think for sure. Yeah, he did it. And he's Canadian. He is Canadian.

We watched it. We saw the whole thing. Yeah, I know. And I always feel bad for you. I was a Jays fan. So we were winning World Series in 92, 93, and then it felt like 94 was your year. Like it felt like, okay. Yeah, we were right there.

And then the strike happened, and everything fell apart from then. It's bullshit, man. It was. We were so close. That was the year. That was the year. Thanks for bringing up that.

I'm sorry, but at least that year you also, I believe you won the last Stanley Cup won by a Canadian-based franchise, 93, when you guys won it. So you have that. We do have that. And then Calgary took our dreams away after that. But yeah, no, it's been great.

It's been, I mean, hey, listen, it's sports. You know, not everybody can dominate for so long. We still have an amazing amount of banners up on the roof there. Oh yeah, don't remind me. Now I'm pissed off. But here's the thing. I'm not what you would call a Leafs fan, but I'm also not a Leafs

hater. There's nothing more I would love to see and I think the city deserves it is to get a cup in the city. I think it would be absolutely amazing. I'd be scared because I think the riots would be intense here because I see some of these fans. I think we'd be polite rioters.

Is that possible? Apologize after you set the car on fire. I don't feel like we'd loot and stuff. I don't even think we'd overturn the cop cars like you guys do. Listen to me. I love Montreal. But when Axl Rose is too late for his concert

and cancels it or whatever, you guys overturn the cop cars. You know what I mean? Forgot about that one too. I never, never forget. Never forget. I was a big Guns N' Roses fan, so I remember all that.

But here, I want to give you some gifts for coming all this way. So Scratch, in front of you, there's a six pack of beer. All right. Courtesy of Great Lakes Brewery. They're a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke.

99.9% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario. It's brewed for you, brother. That's a great thing. And Ontario. Enjoy, man. Thank you, Great Lakes Brewery. I was actually there.

They had a Christmas market on Saturday, which was jam-packed. Oh, yeah, it says Etobicoke right here. It's right down the street. Yeah, it's like 5K away, maybe less. I'm there. I brought my kids because Santa showed up. And I was worried,

was Santa going to be a little tipsy? No, Santa was sober, I think. He deserves one. He deserves to kick back after a while. There's one in there. This guy there. So that guy, I believe if you buy that can, what's it called?

What's that called? Grandpa's Old White Eggnog Stout. If you buy that, they'll donate a dollar to, I want to say, does it have the charity on there? Daily Bread Food Bank. Daily Bread Food Bank. I can't think of a better cause at this time of year. Absolutely. So go pick that up.

That's a pompous ass because I was told you're a pompous ass. Just kidding. I don't know who told you that. Canuck Pale there. I'm a Canuck. There you go. So enjoy that. You know what goes good with craft beer is delicious lasagna.

Seriously, that's a lasagna you're taking home with you today. Wow, look at that. I love lasagna. I'm half Italian, so it's in my blood. Well, listen, they're Italian. That's Paul. Trust me, I deal with them. They're Italian, okay?

Every time that gentleman there calls me, my phone plays the Godfather theme. Not nice. And I answer, yes, Godfather. That's how I answer the phone. As you should. I do. As you should. Now, Palma Pasta,

they're Mississauga's best fresh pasta in Italian food. They have four locations in Mississauga and Oakville. So if you go into Palma Pasta, get yourself some tasty Italian food for the season here. Let them know Toronto Mike sent you. If you're doing catering for your holiday party, you got to talk to Palma Pasta.

Those guys are fantastic. Go to palmapasta.com and scratch you enjoy that. You're not a vegetarian, are you? No, but I have to wait. I just started my cleanse today. Tell me about this cleanse. Three days? Three days I can do it. What's that for? Do you mind me asking? Just to reset. Yeah, I've done it before. Just to reset your body. Oh, it's for sports. It's not like doctor's orders

or anything. No, no, no doctor's orders. No. It's just for my own benefit, my own. Make my brain proper again. Okay. You've got to celebrate the end of that reset with... Oh, definitely. ...meat lasagna from Palma, Boston. This is going in the oven. Yeah, for sure. Enjoy it.

Enjoy it. So we mentioned you're from Montreal. You were telling... Oh, Brian asked you, do you have any memories of Montreal? You were kind of young when you moved here. I don't know how much... Yeah, I was 14 when I moved here.

I mean, my memories are pretty, I think, just regular childhood-y stuff, playing street hockey all night. And when the snow would come in, it turned to ice hockey. And just, you know, a lot of time with friends, a lot of video games and so forth. And your typical, you know, 0 to 14 kind of memories. And then you're going to high school in Toronto. Do you want to shout out the high school?

Yeah, I went to T.L. Kennedy in Mississauga. I mean, I have to shout him out because I don't think if it wasn't for that phase of my life, I wouldn't be a DJ. Okay, tell me that story. How does that school introduce you to the art of DJing? Just through friends at first. I went to my first high school dance. And at that time time we're talking like 86 early 87 you know high school dances were everything there was like you know 800 people there

that's the only place we had to go uh so everybody would go there and the first time i that was the first time i'd actually seen a physical dj in front of a crowd live and it just blew my mind uh i don't even remember who it was. I don't remember if even if they were good or anything, but I just remember that feeling of how one person can be in control of so many people by putting songs together. So that really blew my mind. And then just, you know, I had met some friends then that were DJs as well and a lot from other schools. So it just started, you know, I'd have as well and a lot from other schools so it just started you know i'd have my friends and we go to other schools and see their djs and go to their school

dances and so forth so my interest just kept growing and then i finally about a year later um i finally actually had to physically try it for the first time uh through a friend's you know he had turntable i was never able to afford turntables back then uh it took me a long time to afford them and then uh i just started doing it right from then they lent me the turntables and i was literally like six hours a day i would just sit at home and you know my mom used to work for warner brothers so i had at the time it was called wea um so i had a little base of records already just albums and so forth and all that stuff and i would literally i had a bunch of recordings from montreal like i said my my sonic appreciation a little base of records already just albums and so forth and all that stuff and i would literally i had a bunch of recordings from montreal like i said my my sonic appreciation for djing started

in montreal um so i had a bunch of cassettes recorded from the radio station there that saturday nights they would have a mixed show and um i would literally just used to play the tapes and then i would just you know play records kind of, it took me a while to kind of make them kind of mesh at one point. My mom bought me like a $99 mixer, this little pyramid thing. Nice though. That's a, that's how it began. She saw, she saw like, I guess she never saw that besides hockey.

She saw that this was something I really was passionate about. So she bought me my mixer and then literally we had like a little wooden turntable, didn't even have a pitch control, had like a 33 and a 45 button. And I used to actually just kind of hold them in between if it needed to go faster and so forth. So I'm very self-taught and in a really, I guess, awkward kind of way,

but it showed me that, you know, now that I can kind of handle any kind of equipment that comes my way and so forth too. So yeah, just from that high school era, my grade 10 year, because I came up here in grade 10. So grade 10 was like a learning process for me. And then grade 11 is when I kind of really started into grade 12 DJing. And we had the coolest principal who was Rush Jackson, CFL legend, Rush Jackson. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Get out of here. So he was my principal at the time and he was super cool. And, uh, I was, we would, I would always talk to him just like a regular, you know,

just like a regular person. I was never intimidated by him. Uh, but he was, he never gave us a reason to be, but we were just talking one day and I was like, was like, is it cool if I play music in the cafeteria during lunch? Because everybody's there, and I think it'll just set a cool tone. I won't play cursing and all that stuff. And he was like, okay, cool. And he let me do it, and it went well. And then a few more times we did it. And at that time, cafeterias was like school dances.

Not a lot of people left the school, so everybody was in there. And it was all walks of life in there, know all different groups in there right that appreciate all different kinds of music so it was the ultimate training ground for me and then from then it was just school dances and dj competitions back then but everything was high school based man your story reminds me of uh dj ron nelson's story so because because similar cafeteria he's on the other side, he's in Scarborough. Yeah.

But yeah, very, it's kind of very interesting how he started DJing in the cafeteria at lunchtime. Yeah. Like his own,

like little pirate radio station, right? Yeah. And I mean, what better place to do it when you know you have one table over here that wants hip hop

and this other table over here wants, you know, New Order and Depeche Mode and this other table wants different stuff so it's just it was the greatest training ground because already musically like that was instilled for me just from growing up i've always listened to everything so i was never really partial to any type of music i was listening you know to super tramp to from just everything across the board and i wasn't really exposed to reggae or really hip-hop until i moved up here so that as me coming up here like just changed my view of music but

i never lost that that view of not separating my music i just music was always just music to me man uh do you remember any of those artists, like any of those albums? You mentioned WEA because your mom hooked you up with someone. Yeah, it was Warner. Do you remember any of the albums? Oh, at that time,

it was like stuff, everything from like Laura Branigan to Twisted Sister, Honeymoon Suite. There you go. Who else? In Excess. Just that whole area.

It was a big label back then phil collins of course because it's atlantic no jacket required yeah all that stuff and that's the whole that was the whole era of it all so uh yeah just like a greg kin band like everything jeopardy all that stuff was like that was all on their label so i had a good base of stuff some 12 inches mostly just albums and stuff and then just along the way it was the regular you know i didn't have the money to do that stuff so i would borrow records um and then i mean i think at that time too a lot of guys are doing it you'd tell your friends okay you go buy this one and i'm gonna buy this one and then we'll meet up and you know you can borrow this

for a week and i'll borrow yours for a week smart yeah it's i mean at that time remember if you didn't have the actual piece of vinyl, you could not play the song. There wasn't CDs. We didn't have CDs back then. We didn't have all this other stuff. It was literally,

if you didn't have the vinyl, you couldn't play the song. And what sucked about vinyl, because I'm from this era too, man, is that you couldn't dub vinyl. So cassettes, you could dub it. You know what I mean?

Absolutely. But vinyl, I mean, although I have seen on YouTube people kind of pirating vinyl with molds, like plastic molds. It seems like a lot of work and it seems really messy. Yeah, I mean,

they have dub plate machines and so forth. They're A, expensive and yeah, they're not very practical. Right, right, right. Yeah, you need the vinyl. I always think of like, was it Run DMC when they were going through the crates and then they they come across uh like

the aerosmith album or whatever and they like that opening of uh do do do do do do do like and then of course the rest is history but uh you know you never know what you're gonna find like yeah on an album so that's why you got to keep your music minds open at all times don't stay pigeonholed and on that note it sounds like you had an ear for this like from the get-'s why you got to keep your music minds open at all times. Don't stay pigeonholed. And on that note, it sounds like you had an ear for this from the get-go. You took to it naturally. Sort of the way you can kind of... I mean, I got four kids, so I'm always looking

for this. I haven't seen any of that. But you can spot a prodigy when it comes to... You can see that guy who's like, there's a special... Hockey, for example. That guy's got it or whatever. You want to nurture that or whatever. But it sounds like you had an ear for this because you mentioned you're self-taught, which I think is the holistic,

that's the organic way to make sure you can always be kind of like, control your own destiny, be master of your domain, right? Absolutely. But so you just naturally had the ear for this. Yeah, I think to a point I did because I mean, I have vivid memories

of when we were living in Montreal and we'd always go to to like at that time we would all call her my second mom, which is my aunt and my mom's best friend. And we'd always go there and I always used to love going there because she had she had, you know, her stereo system and she had a bunch of albums and I would just as a kid. So now we're talking, I'm like seven, eight, nine years old. And I would just love going there because i would sit in front of the stereo and i it was always breakfast in america the super tramp album that i would listen to you know no joke i was spinning that uh two days ago oh yes in america it's amazing album so i just i remember that i don't know why that one album sticks up but i would always look forward to going and i would just put it on put the headphones on

and just sit in front of the stereo. It had nothing to do with DJing. It was just music. But that album in particular always stands out to me. Take the long way. Yeah. Yeah.

Logical song. That's a great album. It's an amazing album. So yeah, it just, I think, I mean, an ear for music,

yeah, I think that's a good assumption to make. Yeah, for sure. Speaking of, I'm going to play, I just, I think, I mean, an ear for music, yeah, I think that's a good assumption to make. Yeah, for sure. Speaking of, I'm going to play, I'm going to use this segment called Remember the Time as an excuse to play what I think is one of the greatest pieces of music of all time. Now, that wasn't it.

That's the Chamber Brothers introducing the segment, but that's a great piece of music too. I like that song. It goes on and on forever and I never want it to end. But what I want to tell you, my friend Scratch,

is that on this day in 1967, so this very day in 1967, Otis Redding died in a plane crash. Way to bring the room down. Yeah, way to bring the room down. No, seriously, that is, he was only 26 years old. I know, it's crazy. There's a lot

that died at an early age. Yeah, well, you get the day the music died. Buddy Holly was like 23 or something like that, which is insane. So, Otis Redding, I mean, this song we're listening to right now. music died took i buddy holly was like 23 or something like that which is insane so uh otis reading i mean this is this song we're listening to right now give it a moment here do you ever work this one in the mix oh yeah yeah, for sure, for sure. Make it happen. When I was growing up, my mom was really, really into Motown and soul stuff.

So this was like in our homes at all times. My dad was like the British Invasion kind of guy. So it's like between the Beatles and all this other stuff. Yeah, this was me growing up. This was the very first posthumous number one record on the Billboard Hot 100. Yeah, people, well, most people know, actually. I used to say people don't realize, but then at some point I realized, well, most people actually

do realize that this song came out after Otis passed away in the plane crash. 26 years old. That's crazy. 26 and he sounded like he was 50. And the catalog he left behind,

like I'm still discovering new Otis Redding songs. You know what I mean? It's like, wait a minute. It's almost like Tupac, right? Yeah, that's true. He's like, I never heard that Tupac song. He's got four million songs in his 20s. Tupac was 25 or 27? 25?

I'm not sure. Yeah, but he was mid-20s for sure. That's another guy. We could go down the list of the great musicians who died way too young. Sadly, there's a long list. Yeah, usually it's drugs. Tupac, of course, is murder, which is terrible. But Otis Redding in a plane crash.

That's just tragic. Yeah, absolutely. Thankfully, they put in that work and we were able to live with their legacy for the rest of our lives. And a lot of these songs are just timeless songs. And guys like you can kind of take an older gem like that and give it new life for a new generation. Yeah, absolutely. You can reshape that, make it, remix it, and then bam, some kid, I don't know,

some 14-year-old is going to hear that for the first time because you threw it in the mix. Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, just like you said before about discovering Otis' new music now, I mean, that happens to me pretty much on a daily basis where it's either through iTunes or through another method where you're just exposed to music that came out eons ago and it's fantastic. And, and it's, it seems stylish. It still sounds like it can, it could have been made, you know,

a couple of weeks ago. So are you still, even at this point in your career, you, you'll still hear a song, let's say it pops up on, I don't know, Spotify or something. You hear a song for the first time, but if you hear like the, the beats the beats like the the beat and how it matches up with other stuff can you kind of map it in your head yeah that's that happens to me automatically like whenever i hear as soon as you play the otis like music just goes through my head like the hamster starts going crazy in there so it's it's yeah that's a never-ending with me. That's, it's an automatic DJ reaction. It's like any song I hear, I'm immediately, you know, mixing it in my head with something else or putting beats to it or something else.

So what would you have done? Like if you couldn't make a living from doing this, and we'll get to how that happened, but like what would you be doing right now? I have no clue. And I don't want to think about that. You don't want to find out. So let me tell the people that Remember the Time is brought to you

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So my friend Scratch, I love the fact that I can call you Scratch. Like I wish all my friends had names like that. Seriously, Scratch. You can. You too can own this.

You too. That's right. That is right. Can you walk me through, like how, so you have this passion in high school. You're kind of nurturing

this passion. You're kind of, you're putting in your reps, so to speak, and you're kind of improving your craft. But rep so to speak and you're kind of improving your craft but how do you parlay that into you know dollar bills like where you can actually eat and maybe pay rent one day yeah i know right one could only dream um it was just i just really took the grassroots method i really literally literally went from high school dances house parties um and just to

show you how far back this goes of of i i dj'd my own prom because i had the opportunity to and i was like in my mind i was like well i might as well make money instead of spending money i'm still gonna be with all my friends yeah yeah you know what i mean so it literally started like right from there and then i just as soon as i turned 19, you know, I moved, I moved downtown, but my career moved downtown and did that for, you know, that was like 1990. And from then on, I was, you know, working six, seven nights a week. Didn't have a day job at that time. I had the day job.

I did the McDonald's and I think Mark's work warehouse. And I worked at Lime Ricky's for like two weeks. I just, I couldn't stand that feeling. I couldn't stand the feeling of working for somebody else. And because all I wanted to do was get out there and play music, but I knew I had to afford my stuff. So I had to,

you know, I did all those jobs just to pay for my records and so forth. Worked at HMV for a couple of years and worked at a record store called Trax downtown on Yonge Street. Was that near Wellesley? Is that the one near Wellesley College? Yeah, it was like Trax played a record. Yeah, so I worked there for years and years.

This was all after I'm 19 though. So yeah, and then just I got on radio and like full-time in in 2001 when flow started and just from there just between that and touring by myself and with artists and stuff it's just it's a never-ending thing and more doors keep opening and i'm at the point now where you know i'm full-time salary benefits everything my family's taken care of and i'm just in a super place and it's just all been due to the grind and hard work and just you know moving with the times is very important it's it's it's very hard to be you know relevant and still be you know even sonically cool after 30 years of doing this in in a in a profession where it's ever-changing.

And now, especially, there's a million more DJs than there was when we started because of technology and so forth and how easy it is to get music nowadays. Yeah, the barrier is so much lower, right? The barrier is really low. And I think the term DJ… It's too low, right? You can say it's too low. It's way too low. I don't hide from stuff like that.

It's my life. I think just the term DJ in general has been dragged through the mud so much now and embarrassed on so many scales that it makes it even harder for, like you said before, OGs. It makes it harder for the OGs to survive because the new generation doesn't understand what we went through. It's just like anything. It's like talking to your kids.

It's like you could tell them, I used to walk to school and do this, and they'll be like, eh. You know what I mean? Or I had to come home and actually find stuff to do without sitting on a phone and sitting on an iPad. Right. So it's like it's so hard now. It's a catch-22 because if I didn't have the breeding ground that I had before and built my name for so long

and had such a strong name for so long, then I wouldn't be able to survive now. But now I'm at the point where even though I do have that, I don't sacrifice myself just to fit in because I don't feel I have to, but it's still a lot harder. There's just more competition. I'm fighting more guys and girls now that are DJs that I shouldn't have to. And these guys are just pressing play on their MacBooks, right?

Literally. That's what I said, and I shouldn't have to. I know. I know. So it's just like- I know what you're talking about, too. And it's usually they got wealthy parents, so they don't have to make, dare I say, make some scratch as they did there.

But they all have a nice macbook and they press play and they think they're a dj yeah and i i mean it djing is in the forefront of that but everybody suffers from it you suffer from it doing this you know photographers especially suffer from it yeah you're right since everybody got iphones but i think it goes with it i mean there's only really a few professions, like professional athlete and so forth. Well, it's strictly a show and prove success level. If you can't play basketball at a high level,

you cannot make the NBA. So, I mean, I wish we had a league, and I wish there were other levels of... You need accreditation. Like a black belt. Somehow, the licensing system, like you've proven you've got the chops, therefore you are

an accredited DJ. Or, you know, you pay your dues in your martial arts class, you get your, you know, your stripe on your belt. But we don't have that.

So it's like, it's a never-ending fight with us. And, you know, thankfully, I put myself in positions where I've created

my own lanes and i'm not really you know i i get asked uh like who are your biggest competitor i don't look at competition because it's not a cocky thing but i've just if if i find a lane is getting too congested i'll just move on and pick another lane right i have no problem doing that because i never got into this to be at a certain level i'm very happy being where i am there's still a lot more work i have to do um and i've been able to just do it in the way i've wanted i mean social media is another thing that that really made it difficult because a lot of people feel like you'll go on a lot of djs pages and scroll through their pages and it's nothing to do with djing you know it's cars it's this it's where i'm at who i'm with

or like look i met this guy and look i met that guy and it's not actually not djing um so i mean it's fighting that aspect of it that that's made it super super difficult and super difficult for someone like me because i'm not a forefront person and i don't like putting myself out there like that and being you find yourself having to be forced into social media just to keep up with the joneses but like i say thankfully i've made various lanes where i don't have to i still play the game because i mean you can't really fight social media and it only benefits you in the long run but i've just been able to know create parties that have lasted for you know 20 years and and still you know being able to create parties that have lasted for 20 years

and still being able to tour with Russell and other artists and so forth. Oh, you said Russell. We're going to get to that, actually. And before I run out of Naughty by Nature here, heaven forbid here, this, of course, OPP, big hit. This was a big top 40 hit. And they're still touring like Mad Men. They're still killing it.

It's awesome. And they put on a great show. I always prefer this jam here. Hold on here. And then we're going to get the Naughty by Nature story. Yes, Dr. Blair. Okay. I'll go to the waiting room and inform the father it's a boy. I'm afraid there is no father, sir.

Another ghetto bastard, huh? I'm afraid so. Well, put him with the rest of the porn losers. All right, doctor. A shame, isn't it? Not a shame. A problem. Dr. Blair.

Dr. Blair. Dr. J. Hamilton. Dr. J. Hamilton. Here it comes. Here it comes. Tell me, Scratch, how does this band, Naughty by Nature, Tretch, right?

Yeah. Treats or Tretch? Tretch. Tretch, right. Tretch, Viddy, and KG. Right. How do they play a role in kind of what you might regard as your first big break as an 18-year-old? I'll bring it down and we can hear you tell the story. Oh, you guess you're talking about the concert?

Please let there be a Naughty by Nature story. Or maybe it's just a good excuse for me to play some Naughty by Nature, which is all good. But there was a Naughty by Nature show in Toronto, right? Yeah, this was uh yeah at spectrum and this is that was really where it was damn and black sheep and that was when black sheep's the choice is yours like dude came out it's still a killer track i still spin that all the time but that was when it was like that was the song dreads right yeah i mean their song was bigger than naughty at the time the time. Yeah. And there was someone else opening. I forget who it was, but it was them two.

And I was the one playing. And I was still at that point where, because, I mean, I'm a West Ender, and Spectrum wasn't really West End stuff. So there was a lot of people that didn't know me, but I was playing the hip-hop and stuff, and people were looking up, and this little white kid was spinning, and they were like, who the hell is this kid? the building was just it was just ridiculous i remember playing i think it was scenario and the whole building was like shaking it was just bonus

this yeah it was that it was just one of those crazy crazy things that just happened and i was just playing at the right time and playing the right stuff. And from then, it's like my bookings just went crazy and people just, you know, I was the it kid from then kind of. So you were basically, you were a fill-in DJ at a Naughty by Nature show when you were 18 years old and then bam, it all starts taking off for you. Yeah. Is that pretty much right? And you mentioned another name here. I'll bring down Ghetto Bastard here and just give us a taste of this guy here. I was traveling. My passport expired.

Last summer I had to renew my passport. I don't know about in America, but in Canada, on your new passport photos, you're not allowed to smile. That's the new rule. You're not allowed to smile. This is their way of fighting terrorism.

This is how they're going to catch the terrorists. You can't smile. That's the message they're sending you. If you're traveling, you'd better not be happy. I didn't know, right? I'm in the terrorists. You can't smile. That's the message they're sending you. If you're traveling, you'd better not be happy. I didn't know, right? I'm in the mall. So this guy here, Russell Peters.

Never heard of him. Never heard of him. Up and comer. That's right. This bit, by the way, he calls it Terrorists vs. Indians. That's the name of this bit if you want to go seek it out because I'm going to bring it down a bit. But yeah, tell me about your relationship with Russell Peters. That goes back as long as I started.

We knew each other. I mean, he's like an elephant. He doesn't forget anything. So he can tell you the exact person that introduced us and all this stuff. But yeah, he doesn't forget anything. But yeah, we met in high school just through DJing, through music. We had met at parties and so forth, and we just clicked. And then he was in Brampton at the time, and I was in Saga,

but then eventually I moved up to Brampton. And yeah, we just had met, and we'd go to mutual friends' houses and DJ. He had some records. I had records, so we used to loan each other crates. And then he would come over to my house, just we dj for hours and so forth and then um you know his love of comedy we started you know our careers at the same time he's 30 years now i'm 30 years um and he just you know found his love as much as he loved djing his true passion was just comedy and his journey began and my journey began and we just you know you had to kind of give it your all so he was giving his all and traveling the country and doing his grind i was doing the same we just drifted not necessarily

drifted apart but career-wise we drifted apart and then um you know we'd connect every now and then and i was always keeping tabs on his progress because he was always doing amazing um and then after a while i guess you know he just started getting bigger i was i was getting bigger um and we just you know we would stay in contact and we'd see each other at events and so forth and he never lost his love for djing and then i guess it was around 2005 maybe where he called me up and he's like you know he's at the point now where he's touring internationally and doing you know doing bigger venues bigger theaters and so forth and he wanted to take me out with him so I was like wow that's amazing okay cool and you know I had never been to places like you know South America and South Africa and Australia. I'd never been to these places. So, excuse me.

It was just awesome that he, I mean, he didn't need to do that. Nobody else was really doing that. I mean, it had been exposed on like Def Comedy Jam and so forth. But, you know, for somebody to take, you know, I guess he always considered me his favorite DJ and stuff back then. So I thought it was really cool for him to bring me out. know and i take i guess he always considered me his favorite dj and stuff back then so i thought it was really cool for him to bring me out and not only bring me out but you know i was on the stage and i would stay on the stage the whole show and so the exposure

to the public was always there for the dj which is you know i i along the ways after we did all that you know russell george lopez and russell did a show and i was there and then george lopez is like oh i really want to dj for one of my shows so then russell called me and he's like well call george lopez because he wants you to come out and do some stuff i was like cool wow but when i go to that show now it's like lopez is like you know no i don't want anybody on the stage you got to kind of stay on the side on the curtain you know this is my stage my which i get you know my stage my show which made me have even a bigger appreciation for russell because russell's like you know i don't really

care because this is a part of who i am and you know anybody that follows him will know his jokes and he always references the djs and always lets the crowd know that you know this is real quote unquote djing and you know he had a famous bit with the hands in the air stuff and all that with, with his DJ. But even up to now, like he still does it. He, he, you know, he has got speakers in his dressing room. So before the show, he can hear us. And, you know, he's, he just, he just loves that. It gets him hype. It gets him excited. And he wants, you know, his crowd to appreciate as much as he does. And I mean, keep in mind,

his crowd is not like, you know, they're not like, it's not like a deaf comedy jam thing where it's like, you know his crowd to appreciate as much as he does and i mean keep in mind his crowd is not like you know they're not it's not like a deaf comedy jam thing where it's like you know that crowd there already knows what a dj is and they they kind of get it right russell's crowds are not like that like russell's crowds most of them probably don't have no clue what we're doing while they're watching us and keep in mind we're on the screens when i say we it's myself and spin bad um you know we're on the screens and and we have carte blanche to do whatever we want and he wants us to go like as crazy as we can um and just like don't worry about them do what you guys do you know what i mean we don't have to play you know cheesy music just to appease them so they'll follow along but it's just he appreciates it so much

and you know i think every dj should really be grateful for him for what he's done to expose it to crowds that have never been exposed to it and continues to do and he's given you know a lot of djs opportunities and i mean it's transcended into you know documentaries like hip-hop evolution and so forth that he's part of which by the way so way, so is Russell Peters a part of Hip Hop Evolution? Yeah, he's the executive producer. I watched, they just put out the new season, which is only like four episodes or something. Yeah, they're constantly recording more. So Shad's the host.

Yeah. Excellent. I think it's really, really, really strong. It's very well done. And Darby was the man behind it. But yeah, he's a part of it. And the same thing. He knew there was a void for it.

He's great friends with most of these artists. And he just wanted to take it and give it to the public. So he did exactly what he did with DJing. And he did it on that level. And I think it's absolutely incredible. I can't say enough about that series, actually. Like, I told my son, you got to watch this. I'll tell anyone

who likes anything to do with hip hop, like, go watch Hip Hop Evolution on Netflix because they did a great job on that. They did.

They really did. And yeah, there's bigger and better things coming along with it, too. Is there going to be a Starting From Scratch episode? Hey,

I hope so. I'm going to send this to Russell. There should be a Toronto scene. I always feel like we should do a Toronto scene because you have a,

I mean, we talked about DJ Ron Nelson, but you have that sort of like that. Well, there's Maestro Fresh West is over my shoulder here. And it's funny because I have the same exact record with the same signing. Obviously not the same name, but written the same way and everything.

That's funny. He's been on the show. He's awesome. Yeah, he's coming back. He wants to kick out the jams with me, which is cool. But he's awesome. Yeah, but you got that whole jams with me, which is cool. But he's awesome. Yeah, but you got that whole Mishy Mee, Dream Warriors. DJ Rumble, this is a complete aside, but I can't find this guy.

I've been asking Ron Nelson and Mishy Mee and people like, do you remember Rumble and Strong? Of course. Right. And then he had a single, Safe, which much music played a lot of it, which I still listen to at the time because there's two versions of that thing. I like them both and they're amazing. And I can't

find him. I don't know where he is. I don't have an answer for that. There's a lot of guys, I mean, back then there's a lot of guys that were doing great, great work and were making a lot of noise at the time. Mishy obviously was, I think, Maestro did it for Canada but I think Mishy was, in my think, Maestro did it, you know, for Canada, but I think Mishy was,

in my opinion, the first one who really broke the border with the whole Audio 2 Priority Records thing. She really crossed over and never reached a commercial success,

but she was the one who really made people look and be like, where's this girl from? And she was from Toronto. Really? You guys have people in Toronto? And she was the one,

in my eyes, that really did it and broke it open. I mean, what Wes did in Canada is, you know, even to this day, it's probably what, 31 years? That's 32 years? Well, 89. It's 89. You're all not Beethoven's 15th.

That's how I remember it. So, yeah, I mean, and he's still touring off that, which is incredible. And I mean, he's gone on to do amazing acting. Well, he's in what's just ended its run, but he was in Mr. D. Yeah, and I love that. And he was in a bunch of movies and stuff too. But he never got to enjoy that American success.

But what he did in Canada was great. And then, of course, I think the next big one was probably Cardinal. Yeah, so that's what I was going to get to. He had that kind of explosion there. Because Dream Warriors too, that End the Legacy Begins was probably Cardinal. Yeah, so that's what I was going to get to was it had that kind of explosion there because Dream Warriors too, that End the Legacy Begins was a big deal to me. Yeah, Dream Warriors was big in the UK. They were big overseas.

I don't think they ever got their props in Canada as much as they should have, but they definitely had a UK sound to it. But Much sure played them a lot. Much did, yeah, Much did. They had the industry support for sure. But I just think over time, I think like the locals didn't really, they didn't click. You know what I mean?

I don't think it was, it was something. It's also stuff that like, you know, a lot of people couldn't relate to at the time. Right. And they had a very, you know, they did have a very UK sound. I mean, Diggable Planets came out after and it was the same kind of thing. You're right. You're right. Yeah. But this, Diggable Planets came out after and it was the same kind of thing. You're right. You're right. Yeah.

But this, so that happens and then you're right, the Cardinal, that happens. Dangerous. Yes. That went international.

That was massive. And he, yeah, was that, okay, so he had another, he did the Tide Is High remake. Was that with Rihanna?

Yeah. He had a version with Rihanna that they couldn't release because of her contract. So he did a redid it with Carrie Hilson. Okay, right.

That's how that went down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, you're right. He had a couple of big US hits, US singles. Yeah, Dangerous was massive. It was number one all over the place. Akon, right? Yeah, with Akon.

So there's been, I mean, there's definitely been sparks. I mean, now, obviously, we're at a whole new level. Well, that's what I was going to get to. Yeah, that's right. So that's Cardi does his thing. And then, of course, Aubrey Graham graham you know who saw that coming but there might not be a bigger musician on the planet right now i've i mean i i just had this conversation yesterday where it's like i i tell people like i've never seen an artist dominate so hard and so much and so abroad before in my life and i mean

his consistency is unstoppable i mean everybody always talks about jay-z and and so abroad before in my life and i mean his consistency is unstoppable i mean everybody always talks about jay-z and and so forth but jay-z's never been a radio guy so jay-z's never been like a crossover mainstream guy people just know him because of his his work over the years and stuff but what drake has done and to play both sides of the field like he'll give you those singing radio hits and he'll give you you you know, the, the, the undergroundy stuff. And, and he just dominates on both sides of the field.

And I've, I've never seen that before and still doing it. I mean, his run has been very long too. It's at least a decade now, right? Yeah. So,

I mean, I think it's absolutely incredible what he's done. And, and, you know, he just did his run where he sold out 55 straight shows. And I mean, that whole team and what they've done

is incredible. And now it's just, now you have Tory Lanez who's kind of following. And The Weeknd obviously is doing massive things. But yeah, right. There's Jesse Reyes. Jesse's amazing. Yeah.

There's so much stuff coming out of Toronto or GTA even, because you can throw in Alessa Cara's from Brampton, but that's GTA. And you got even that kid, Shawn Mendes is like a hit machine. Yeah, absolutely. Is that Ajax or Pickering or one of those? And he's a YouTube star, right?

So yeah, it's amazing. I mean, we always had the rock element of it but I think now to see it on a pop and I think hip-hop, a lot of that is considered pop. I don't even know if you consider Drake a hip-hop artist. Well, the funny thing is about pop now because I have a 14-year-old daughter

and we talk a lot about top 40 pop and what it was. Back in the day, you would hear a Def Leppard song alongside Maestro Fresh West or whatever. It was all mixed up and it was just, they were hits. But now, it's all hip-hop rooted,

like R&B or hip-hop rooted. I don't hear any, there's no more like, I mean, maybe a little Ed Sheeran, but even he you know, he's the closest you get to kind of like... But even those guys rap in their songs, like Imagine Dragons and Ed Sheeran, they'll do the occasional song where

they're like rapping or their version of it anyways, but yeah, it's always there. It's interesting how that genre now dominates the radio. And all the reggae tinge stuff and the calypso tinge records that are out there from all kinds of artists. So, you know, it's definitely, it's

definitely, the shift definitely happened. So this is a long way of coming around to say that when you're talking to Russell Peters next, get him, make sure there's an episode of Evolution of Hip Hop. Make sure there's an episode about the scene in Toronto. Yeah, it's on his radar.

He definitely knows. I mean, he knows. I mean, I'm sure it will happen, especially with all the people they have on board. Yeah, it better happen. Oh, yeah, Shad. Come on, Shad's gone bored. He's in his own backyard. So here, let me just thank a couple of sponsors real quick before we go on.

I want to talk about your work on the radio and everything. Sure. And this award you got, I got to ask you about this prestigious award I see in 2014 here. But let's thank Census Design and Build. They provide architectural design, interior design, and turnkey construction services across the GTA.

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You could download it at paytm.ca. I use Paytm to pay every single one of my bills. True story. I can prove it. But if you want $10 right now, when you set it up and make your first bill payment, put in the promo code Toronto Mike, all one word,

and you'll get $10 in Paytm cash that you can use towards another bill payment or a reward purchase. Remember, the promo code is Toronto Mike. And Scratch, back to you, my friend. I'm here. I'm still here. Yeah, you're still here.

Thanks so much. You're here because I see the beer and the lasagna is still here. So you're not leaving without that. Oh, this guy here. I have a song here. Oh, my gosh. Never heard of him. Baby, let me.

Who's more famous, Russell Peters or Usher See it's Russell's Russell's fame is so Unique in that He's got India right There's a billion people there He's got everybody

Like he goes into Places you've never seen Doing arenas But He doesn't have that Crossover fame He's got everybody. He goes into places you've never seen doing arenas, but he doesn't have that crossover fame. He's in a really weird spot. It's an amazing spot, but it's really weird. It's like he'll walk into a restaurant and everybody will know him,

but he's not like a Seinfeld. You know what I mean? He's not the name or face everybody will know. You're right. He never had the big sitcom, for example. He never had the big sitcom. And he's never, I mean, in the States, he still does great in the States. But he does, the States has been his hardest market to crack because of that.

Because States is very movies and TVs and all that stuff. That's what they want. Like the Kevin Hart's. I mean, Kevin Hart put in his work way before he got his movie break. Well, you mentioned George Lopez like 10 minutes ago. There's an example of a guy who just, you know, yeah, popular stand-up. But that's sort of a niche thing. Like you're a subset of a subset when you're just like this, oh, that stand-up guy. I saw a special on Netflix or HBO and it was good or whatever.

But once you get the sitcom, so Lopez got the sitcom. Seinfeld's a great example. He got the monster sitcom. And now he's like one of the most famous guys in America. But Russell Peters, we know he's from Brampton. We know him as this, he's a big effing deal. But I think of him more as like an international guy. Oh, he definitely is.

He definitely is. I mean, in comparison to Usher usher i mean i guess you'd probably have to say usher because i mean keep in mind these things are on radio and these things are in people's ears all day long so right uh whether you know them or not you know what i mean you know like when you play songs like this you you odds are way more people have heard this than a russell peters joke right so and and do and how do you know usher? My Usher story literally happened in a room probably about this size. Wait, were the ceilings this low or were the ceilings higher? They were a bit higher.

They were a bit higher. I didn't have to duck down. So, yeah, I did a friend's wedding and, you know, a famous friend's wedding in Toronto. Oh, you can't name the friend? I don't know if they want to be named. So, I mean, they're not married anymore. So now I'm intrigued. Can you give me a hint?

I want to play a game now. So, yeah, I did a wedding and it was like 75 people. And they told me in advance that Usher was going to be there. And I was like, OK, cool. That's pretty crazy. And then, you know, I was just playing. I didn't even notice him at first. I was just doing my thing

and playing and then i finally noticed him so i i did like a few remixes on the fly you know showing off that kind of stuff and i would see him poke his head out and he just danced he literally danced the whole night and he came up to me at the end of the night was standing right beside me um and he he just the music was done and everything he introduced himself i said hey what's up and then he said uh you know what are you doing in two months and i was like what do you mean he's like well i want to he's like well what are you doing i said well you tell me and then he's like well i want to take you on tour with me so two months later he flew me out to uh north carolina we started doing auditions and originally he was his tour was

called the ladies only tour and his original premise was smaller venue um and literally technically you're supposed to be ladies only in the venue well that was his his thing um so he's like i want you to come out and just do basically do what you did uh you know get the ladies ready for me play the music beforehand and then I'll do my show and we're good to go, I was like okay cool so we went over I talked to his mom, we settled our fees and all that stuff, I went out

and the first day of rehearsal he came up to me and he's like okay well I changed my mind and I'm going to put you in the band so I was like okay well what does that mean now he's like well we'll let you know as we go along but you're going to be part of the band now so i said okay so i'm not doing the early and now i'm part of the band i was like okay two more rehearsals he comes up to me he's like well um i need you to be on the mic now keep in mind i don't do that stuff i'm not

you know internal the stuff that i have going on with me like my anxieties and all that stuff i don't i'm not like I said before, I'm not a forefront person. So I'm the DJ. He's the rapper. Pretty much. Keep me in the background. So I said,

well, I don't really do that stuff. And he's like, well, if you don't, then, you know, I got to find somebody else that will.

So I was like, I had to, it was, it was very, it was a very stressful time for me. So it went from now just doing that to now I'm doing the mic. But then it turned into the way it ended up was I opened the show with him. We do the show.

We play a couple songs. I have my own solo break. I was the only one in the band with a solo. When I say solo, it's literally spotlight on the DJ table, mic in my hand, and I got to kill these guys for i think it was like 45 seconds to a minute which doesn't sound like a lot but it's a lot and then we had a solo together we had like a you know a five minute solo where i was kind of just playing usher records that he wasn't performing like with the band and we would just go back and forth it

was like it was a cool it was a cool break and then i opened the encore as well. So it's like I went from just being that guy in the front playing music probably nobody would have even cared about to walk in music to now being, you know, I definitely wasn't the most important member of the band, but I was the most seen member of the band because of what we had going on. And it was a great experience. It was the most stressful. I was literally going to walk away from it

a couple of shows in because I couldn't take it. It was like, it was- This is because of anxiety? Anxiety. Yeah. Just this confidence, anxiety, it's stuff I struggle with, but it was just so much pressure on me.

Like I was daily on the phone with my friends, you know, trying to get support. And they were like, just stay, you're going to regret it if you leave you know that kind of stuff which i'm so grateful for and um just a lot of guys telling me you know like yeah basically what he said if you don't do it somebody else is going to do it and do you really want that to happen so you know usher basically called me in the back one day and he's like tell me what's going on like what is going on and i was like well these i'm i'm not comfortable with this kind of stuff and he's like, tell me what's going on. Like, what is going on? And

I was like, well, I'm not comfortable with this kind of stuff. And he's like, well, if you don't do it again, he said it to me and it stuck with me forever. That's been like my mantra forever. Now it's like, he basically said again, he's like, you know, it's your call, but if you don't want to do it, I got to get somebody else to do it and I can make it happen right away. And I was like, okay, well, I'm going to do it. Like, don't count me out just yet i'm gonna do it i have to figure out a way to do it and we did it and it's just a shame that you know to me by the time i got finally rolling was kind of at the end of the tour because it was only like a two-month tour so it took me a few shows to get into it and then like it was very hard for me too because i'd been i'm a i'm a lone wolf so i've been a lone wolf forever i've been a lone wolf since 89 and you know now i have to you know play the same thing every night

and do this thing every night repetitive do it at this time and only for this long and you know don't deviate from the program so it was a lot of things that i've never been used to and um at the end of the tour i just you know i waited for him outside his dressing room and you know i just kind of shook his hand gave him a quick hug and i just you know i told him i said you know thank me thank you for not only taking a chance on me which he didn't have to uh give me such a big role but you really he he kind of he changed my music life and he made me a stronger person i mean it's still stuff obviously i can't control a lot of things i still struggle with but that's an ongoing process but he definitely he shook the hell out of me basically in a sense like he without grabbing my grabbing my body and

shaking me he grabbed my body and shook me to the point where i now realize that you know i'm here for a reason people put trust in me for a reason you know what i mean i have i'm made it this far for a reason and you know i was on tour with him for a reason so he told me that kind of stuff and and it's just it's really been instilled in me and really whenever i doubt myself i just think of those words like if you're not going to do it somebody else well do you really want somebody else to do this you know you know you're capable of doing this you know you'll probably do it better than than most will so just do it so it i mean it's not as easy as it sounds but he definitely like changed changed my view on life and and and music and he definitely changed my music life well the way i look at it is uh russell peters is clearly

a very loyal guy absolutely goes way back with you. Absolutely. But Usher just saw you for the first time, right? And he saw something he wanted to be a part of his tour. So to me, it's very different. Whereas you can say, Russell wants quality on his tour. He's a big, big fucking deal. But there is a loyalty aspect and you're his guy.

Meanwhile, Usher says, I want that guy because he's good and he selects you and he puts you on the tour and usher's a big fucking deal yeah and i mean he's had he's had djs ushers had djs on on tour with him before and stuff and and like yeah like you said he didn't know who i was you know what i mean um he just liked what he heard. Yeah, he just felt it. Everything felt right for him at the time. It was right for him. I think had he been doing maybe like an arena tour and stuff,

maybe he wouldn't have went with me. But because of the nature of the tour he wanted to do at that time, which was the ladies only tour, it just, everything felt right. And I mean, the difference with Russell also, keep in mind, is like I learned a lot from the Usher tour tour even though I had already toured with Russell um like with Russell's friends so it's like we have our rules and stuff but it's still friends and not to say that there's no consequences it's a business at the end of the day there's consequences but it's still we're friends we go out to eat together you know what I mean we spend time together he, when we go on the stage, like I say,

he doesn't tell me play this or play that. He just like go have fun and he trusts that. Do your thing. Yeah. So there was never pressure. The only pressure was like I'm still standing in front of, you know, 15,000 people staring at me, but I can just put my head down and go to work

and not really focus on the crowd is not my focus. It's different than playing a party. You can lone wolf it, man. Absolutely, still. But the Usher thing was like, be downstairs at eight and if you're at 801, you're late and do this and be here.

And even though I was still, as much as I was part of the band, when you're in that kind of world, those guys all know each other. The dancers all know. They danced with this tour and this tour and these players play with this guy and this guy. I was still, in a sense, a lone wolf.

But I just had to follow rules. But even to the point where the band would go. It was a bus tour. So there was a bus tour. But when we had a couple of days in between, I would fly myself away. I would fly myself out to go do gigs. And I would fly myself. I flew to Russell's house for a week because we had a week off.

So I did different things like that where I was still able to kind of be a lone wolf when I didn't have to be. You know what I mean? But again, the learning experiences were so big at that time that it really showed me that there's other things. And it was the same reason. I know you're going to get to radio, but it was the same reason I never did radio for the longest time i've been offered radio you know since the early 90s but

i just didn't want to do it because i didn't like the feeling of being under chains i didn't like the feeling of you can't do this you know what i mean and you can't do that you have to kind of do this and yeah you can't lone wolf it when you're on a, not in this day and age anyways, if you're on a radio station, right? There's parameters you have to follow. I think I broke that mold as well when I got on radio. Okay, let's do that. Let's do radio now then, okay? Because to be honest, that's where I, I believe that's primarily where I would always hear your name was on radio. I think that's most people now.

Yeah, I think I would assume so. So you mentioned you started at Flow. Is that what I heard you say? So back in 01? Yeah, they're called The Move now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Blake Carter's been on this show.

She does the morning show at The Move. Okay. So yeah, I mean, that show, like back in the day, it was supposed to be, it's gone through a few iterations, if you will, like they kind of massaged their format

or whatever, but this was Toronto's urban station, right? Yeah, the first of its kind. The first of, I mean,

we've always had, I mean, yeah, we grew up on the 89.5s and the 88.1s, which were college stations, but we treated them like that's all we had,

right? So, yeah, the way my flow thing went, I mean, I had done guest spots on, like you said,

Ron Nelson. Fantastic Voyage on CKLN. No, not on that show. He had, he was doing mixes for BLK at the time. Um, the master mix, I believe it was called on Saturdays. So I had done some guest spots for that. And then I had done, you know, occasional spot, spot drops on, on, you know, 105.5, 89, but on all those stations okay at a k but i never had a show um a lot of my friends like king turbo and and jester and them they had shows and i

would do guest spots in there and i did a few for blk as well because we used to do a lot of work with blk um and it was only really because of farley flex that i ever even considered it in the first place because i had known farley who was maestro's manager uh and we used to do a lot of work back in the early 90s and so forth so i had known farley for years and years and years and he was a big part of the station being put together um and he called me and he's like you know i really think you should do this and i was like well i don't know you know i'm already you know at that time you know i'm still living with my mom i'm making good money you know what i mean i was like i don't really need to do radio you know i don't want to wake up at this time and ah it's a job you know

you know i was making i was making way more money doing what i was doing already than i would on radio and i knew that so it took me a while and he's like please just do me this favor just come in see what it's about see if you like it now. Now, at the time, they had a PD with Michelle Price. She wasn't from here. She was from the States. So she didn't know anybody. And I had a bit of an ego with me being that, well, you're not from here. And you don't know who the hell I am.

But I'm a big deal here. You know what I mean? Sure. So we butted heads right off the bat. I didn't like it and i walked in and at that time they already had the air staff hired and so far and they were all my friends so she's like well you got to come in here and you know basically you got to audition for me and i was like no i don't you know what i mean i was like no i don't why and she's like well you

know i need to hear what you can do and i look at at Farley, and Farley just, he knew what I was going to do. He knew, I mean, he knows. He's like, I already told her, but she knows. He's like, listen, just go in there and do what you got to do. So we were all in this room, and I basically said, you know, F this, and I walked out before I even had to do it.

I said, this is ridiculous. You want me to just sit here? And all these guys were in there who are my friends, and I said, you want me to stand in here and play for these guys? I said, that's ridiculous. You're just, to me, she was just kind of, I said, this is ridiculous. You want me to just sit here? And all these guys were in there who are my friends. And I said, you want me to stand in here and play for these guys? I said, that's ridiculous. You're just, to me, she was just kind of, you know, she trying to show that she's the big dog. So I was like, you know, screw this. And I walked out the room, Farley followed me down the hallway and he grabbed me by the arm. And he's like, listen, please just go in there, close your eyes. You know what I mean? Face the wall, do whatever you got to do to make it happen.

close your eyes, you know what I mean? Face the wall, do whatever you got to do to make it happen. Just go in there and do this. And I was like, you know what, Farley? For you and because you're so passionate about this, I'm going to do this. So I went back in. I literally turned my back to everybody

and all I literally did was mix in one song to the next and she's like, okay, that's cool. So she literally just did it. She needed to show you she was the alpha dog. Yeah, and that didn't last too long. But the beauty of it all, what happened is, like Farley's initial vision was to have what I was doing in the clubs on the radio.

And there were mixed shows around and so forth at the time. In Canada, not so much. I mean, we had Jay Sw swing and flip out in vancouver and maybe you know some other stuff but nothing on a mainstream level nothing at that kind of level and they basically let me do whatever i wanted so i was able to do you know rock versus rap and i was able to play pretty much anything i wanted to at the time and at that time it was such a beautiful storm at that time because it was so needed in the city and you know they put so much faith in me i was literally doing like five shows a day on that station it was like a

dj takeover thing and then they brought in more dj programs and you know and it was just it was like a DJ takeover thing. And then they brought in more DJ programs. And it was a great thing at the time. They didn't know enough. On the back end of it, the business side of it is what essentially killed the station in the long run. But I mean, we had a great crew at the time. And then when Michelle left, we had David, who was from CFNY at the time. So he wasn't really keen on urban music

not say he wasn't keen he didn't know it as much i forget what his last name was david but he was from he came from cfny uh david marsden marsden that's it so he had come in from cfny greatest guy coolest guy in the world you know didn't really care you know he's a legend because he was david mickey yeah yeah 104.5 back in the day. But yeah, he was crazy cool. No, no, no, sorry. He was David Mickey on 1050. He was David Marsden on 104.5.

Okay. Okay. Clarify that. But he was on CFNY, right? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. He was a spirit of radio. He was the program director there. That's how I knew him to come over from.

And then, yeah, he was crazy cool. And then we got wayne williams who i had done worth with years ago who's a radio legend too and um when wayne came in it was the same thing we all knew what we had to do but they just they just really let me loose and i think the fact that they did that is what became so powerful and why they gave me so many shows it was just everybody had the feeling of of being in a party throughout the day and i mean i would have djs from all over the world hit me up all the time and be like how are you able to play this stuff and i was just like well they don't really you

know they don't really tell me what to do and you know i just have to use my judgment but we were pushing so many boundaries and sure playing all kinds of, you know, it was unheard of at the time. Like you have the hot 97s and all that, they had their DJs and stuff, but it was very rare. And I mean, we are from Canada. We're the nice ones. You know what I mean? We're the up North nice people.

So we're not supposed to have that. So I think it was great. And that, I mean, led me to so many things. It led me into, you know, being in Honey. It led me being into Featured and Vibe magazine. It led me into you know being in honey it led me being into featured in vibe magazine it led me into being all those opportunities came out of people coming into the city and hearing me on the radio and hearing me in the clubs and the radio was just it's a daily calling card to hundreds of thousands that's what it is awareness every day yeah and you can't beat

it and i mean i did that for 13 and a half years. I did flow. And so it went from originally me, you know, I used to drive. I lived in Brampton at the time. I would drive downtown in the morning to do the morning show, drive back home, nap, drive back for the 5 o'clock in the evening show. And that was my first two shows at the beginning. And then they gave me a 7 o'clock show. So I would just stay there longer. And I did this back and forth for probably like a good six seven years and then i just got more and more shows so what i would do is i would just come in in the morning do my show live in the morning and then record the other ones for later in the day

and go home but there's just a special interaction when you're there and the hosts are there and you can see them. It's a whole different dynamic. But then the inevitable happened and they got sold, bought out, whatever you want to call it. Is this when NuCap takes over? And then so they cleaned house. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. Oh, man. cleaned house. It was like, it was one of the worst experiences of my life. Just literally,

it was a literal slaughterhouse where everybody was sitting in one room and they would call you one by one, like a high school. This picture, like, you know, 30, 40 kids getting into a massive fight and waiting for the principal to deal with them. So that's exactly what it was. And they would go into the office and everybody came out shaking their heads and was getting let go. I think there was maybe three of us that made it through and um wow even when they brought me into the office it was you know they told me you know we're gonna put you on virgin at the time virgin had angry kids who was doing the radio shows and i mean virgin for me was like that's a humongous deal all right just so is this because uh owner before NuCap was Bell Media? Yeah.

Bell Media took it over. Okay, so Bell Media, and Bell Media, of course, owns Virgin, which we're going to get to. And then, so when does NuCap take? NuCap was after. After. Because when they basically took it and let it go. Gotcha. Well, they had to, right?

Because there's a CRTC rule. They already owned... Yeah. They already had Virgin and Chum. Yeah, and they couldn't own Boom either. Right. They can't have three FM stations in the same market. So they had taken it and they were letting it go.

And then they basically told me like, you know, you're going to start on Virgin in a few months. So I had like three months full pay. I'm not complaining. Yeah, no complaints. Where I wasn't allowed to be on virgin in a few months so i had like three months full pay i'm not complaining yeah no complaints um where i wasn't allowed to be on the radio so i just basically got paid to rest um and then you know coming over to virgin was a whole new ball game for me because now i have rules and now i have you know limited playlists and all this stuff but the beauty of it was to me was i'm now able to mix music that technically shouldn't be mixed and you know at that time like a pop i mean

there there are pop of course there's pop mix shows across the board and so forth but i just love that for me personally i just love that challenge of being able to take you know a taylor swift and yeah like an a an Ariana Grande or something. Yeah, and all that stuff and just incorporate it and play it in a mix show. And same thing with them. They love it. You know what I mean? And we have a great relationship together.

You know what I mean? And because I'm with that company and Orbit Media and, of course, iHeart. The relationship is just amazing for me. And I'm nationally syndicated now. I have my own channel in the iHeart app. There's just so many things. I get to do all the jingle balls with iHeart and all these things. It's grown into a whole new beast.

And obviously, my listenership has gone from great numbers to astronomical numbers now. And it's absolutely incredible. I love where i am right now i love i love my virgin family i love i love my iheart family um you know i had done flow for so long and i just got to the point where i was like how long can i play this music for the same people for it just i just grew tired of it i mean it took me 13 and a half years to do it i was never tired of doing my job i was just tired i just felt i needed to grow and you know i'm a firm believer in everything happens for a reason and there's a reason that these things happen as

crappy as it was for me to go to lunch with everybody right after that slaughterhouse and literally people are like oh did you make it and did you make it? And did you make it? And I'm, you know, I was shy to say yes. Yeah, you almost feel guilty. Yeah, you feel guilty. Survivor's guilt. That's a thing.

And then as soon as you say yes, they're like, well, of course you, of course you got it. You know what I mean? Of course you did. I was like, oh, I don't know. But here's the thing. So you survived that slaughter

flow there and you're a survivor. But Virgin just had a slaughter, right? Yeah, they did. You know what I mean? They did. I think I read- It's the business it's right it's the radio business well the business yeah the bit's always tough radio for sure but i think i think 75 percent of the on-air talent at virgin were let go in that one flail swoop yeah because that whole morning show the uh tucker and a few more i know uh mora grierson and uh andy wilson and there are others but you survived you survived that one too yes i'm still here you're like a cockroach yeah yeah yeah i mean that's the nature of the radio and i think i think

you know also i mean my job is a little different different than being a host on radio and stuff. You know what I mean? I'm still a background player. You know what I mean? Even though it's my show and so forth, they don't hear me talk. They just hear the name. Do you never talk? No, I don't.

I mean, I'm not opposed to it now. I think now. Because I'm listening to it in my headphones for now an hour and 20 minutes, and you can talk. Yeah. You could. It should be required. I would think you'd be pretty comfortable talk. Yeah. Like you could, should it be required, I would think you'd be pretty comfortable talking.

Yeah, now I am. I mean, I had been on, when me and Devo used to do the show on Flow, we'd do a lot of, you know, he'd say, come in here and come in here in the studio. And we'd talk like friends. But yeah, I think now, and this has a lot to do with the Usher stuff.

I think now I've definitely grown more comfortable, especially in an environment like this where I know I'm not being stared at and so forth like that. I'm much more comfortable. I'm just staring at you now. You can do that. I'll just turn my head.

But yeah, I mean, I actually really love this dynamic. I love the fact that on podcasts, you can be as open as you want to be. You can kind of say whatever you want. And there's no clock, right? You don't feel the stress. I've got like 32 seconds left before the ad break.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Hit the post. You know what I mean? So I think it's great. I mean, a lot of the guys from Flow have gone on, like Mark Strong and these guys have gone on to do incredible things.

Mark Strong's a G80. He's on G98, but he's the voice of the Raptors. You know what I mean? He's the voice of the Junos. He's gone on to do great things. Well-deserved. A lot of the guys, I mean, a lot of the people that were on Flow have gone on to do either G98 or other radio stuff as well, like Dr. J and Specs, and they've gone on to do great things.

It just wasn't a fit for Virgin, and Virgin couldn't take that many people on. So I get it. I mean, I'm grateful that I made it through. I felt like a little kid when I saw it. It was literally a golden ticket. It was like a goldish kind of paper, you know what I mean? Yeah grateful that I made it through I felt like a little kid when I saw it It was literally a golden ticket It was like a goldish kind of paper You know what I mean? And it's a great opportunity I mean I'm in a sense under manners

But they still leave it to me They don't tell me what to play But they just say be wise of your audience Which I've grown to know I would assume it, like I would think, and I'm not in radio, but I would think at Virgin, for example, that you would have a playlist you'd have to pick from.

So I don't have a playlist per se. We have categories. So we'll have, you know, spin categories with your A, B, C, D, E categories. And it's just, you know, they don't tell me you have to play this except aside for obvious reasons cancon you got to play your cancon i was going to ask you even back at flow when you're playing whatever you were you always conscious that you better get some cancon in

the mix or i didn't have to because they would play it around me right but i also had a ton to play with you know i mean this is pre-drake but we had you know the cardi's the glenn lewis's and there was a lot of groups back then that I could play with. And a lot of the artists that I gave opportunities to, I would play their stuff too. And so I wasn't forced to meet it. Not to say I met it on every show.

With Virgin, yes. You know, I do have to fulfill my obligation, but it's not hard when you listen to all the, I have my Alessia Cara. Well, now I would think it'd be kind of easy now. Like this is kind of a- Well, it is and it isn't. Like a lot of artists like Shawn Mendes and stuff

are not CanCon anymore. Is that right? So I know there was that whole, I go way back with the Brian Adams situation where that wasn't CanCon, but I thought, okay, so there's a criteria and you can theoretically be a canadian and just if you're just singing it's produced by non-canadian right there are a lot of the stuff

but i mean we still have you know magic and the weekend is always canadian drake is always canadian right um because they have their whole team which is canadian which is amazing so but there's a few that that are can't and their songs are monsters so you just you still figure out a way to do it and there's lots of remixes out there for everything, which is, which is fantastic too. Now, let me ask you if you're willing to give us some insight to what I believe to be true,

but I, I'm still putting this under, I believe it to be true, not fact or whatever. New morning show with Adam Wilde. I don't know, to be honest. I just know there's a new morning show being launched in January.

I don't know details. I thought we could get a little exclusive there. If I knew and I was able to tell you, I would tell you. That I really don't know. Okay. I don't know who Adam Wilde is either. Where does he come from? You know who his mom is? Marilyn Dennis. Oh, okay. So that's Marilyn

Dennis' son. Oh, the connection's there. The connection's there. Oh, yeah oh yeah yeah so anyway we'll see I'm pretty sure that'll be announced and we're losing

Roger Ashby after all these years yeah he's gone now because December 5th was his last show

and he's gonna get a station on the iHeart app I think he's gonna play oldies or something like

that to have a 50 year career is incredible he actually I don't possibly

because this is early stages of development but he might come in with john donabee to tell old radio stories on this show in the new year that would be awesome so he's been on before but he might now that he's kind of free from the shackles the stories get better when you're free from the shackles i mean i can only imagine the stories he must have

last two points here even fantastic almost at 90 minutes here, but you were the 2014 turntablist of the year from the prestigious Global Spin Awards. Oh, yeah. Is that a thing? I was international DG. It was at the time because it was the first one. And I mean, they had me. I still don't know how it all happened

or the politics behind it or why it happened or whatever but it was like me mark ronson tim westwood oh wow these are big names yeah it was big names and and um when they originally told me about it they emailed me and they said you know are you able to make it to new york but at the time i just had my daughter um okay cool so in 2014 you had a daughter yeah Yeah, she was just born. I had a, well, I was going to say I had a son in 2014, a daughter in 2016. Just trying to track it. Okay, close enough. Oh no, my daughter's 2013. My son's 2014. That's right. See, I get mixed up too. Yeah, they're 14 months apart. Okay, so we both have sons born in 2014 for what it's worth. Yeah. So

your kid's in kindergarten now. Yeah, he's in JK now. She's in SK and they're in the same class. Oh yeah. Cause they merged. Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. So you didn't wait too long between the kids there. 14 months.

Yeah. So it was that, it was, it was actually that, yeah, it was at that, right at that time. And I was like,

well, I can't go. And then she, the lady emailed me back and she's like, you really need to come. And I was like, well, I can't,

I can't leave my wife with two kids and whatever. And so I wasn't able to go. And then a friend of mine who's a DJ there sent me a picture and she's like, well, I can't. I can't leave my wife with two kids and whatever. And so I wasn't able to go. And then a friend of mine who's a DJ there sent me a picture. And she's like, you won. I was like, what do you mean I won? And she's like, you won. And she sent a picture of the statue. And I was like, holy moly.

So it was amazing. I mean, it was great for what it was. But yeah, I mean, I think any anytime you get acknowledgement in any capacity, I think it's a great thing to be honest with you. All right. I'm going to leave you with this. Um, now that I've been listening to, and you mentioned you're comfortable with this vibe and stuff, have you considered starting a podcast where you play, let's say you play

a song, I don't know, you can play a song from Eric B and Rakim or whatever, and then you, you break it down in terms of where the samples are from and stuff like that like uh where you kind of break down the song and you'd be like this this came from I don't know this is from James Brown track whatever and you can play that bit of the source material like and this is just my with my personal wish list but like someone like yourself kind of diving into the origins of the the beats that are kind of repurposed and remixed and reused in uh in hip-hop yeah i definitely podcast is definitely on my radar i've taught i've spoken with cardi a bunch of times about this because you know we have our collective together called celebrity marauders um and there's a few

radio people involved in that so uh it's definitely on our radar and it's definitely going to happen with me um in some capacity. Again, it's just me figuring out time. And because obviously, as you know, consistency is everything. So I have to be able to make sure I can do it properly and deliver a top product. And just be, you know, it's hard to be entertaining on a weekly basis, you know, when it's just Sonics. It's crazy. So, I mean, I applaud you and other people that can do that and can pull this off.

But it's definitely, it will happen for sure. Yeah, well, I can only pull it off because I have interesting people like yourself over here. And you said this quickly earlier in the podcast, you mentioned about competitors. So I don't know, you probably get this a lot, but I'm always naturally curious. There seems to be a,

not a rivalry, but it's interesting that there's DJs starting from scratch on Virgin, the Bell Media station, and then on 92.5, the Rogers station,

Kiss, you've got DJ Climax. Climax. Is there any natural rivalry there? No, not at all. I mean, Climax and I have known each other for years and years and years.

And we used to do a lot of parties together. I'm so happy for him. He's such a good guy. And it's different styles. I mean, he suits exactly what he's doing. You know, there was a time Kiss tried to get me for a few times. They tried to get me for a few times, but it just never happened.

It was just never the right fit. It wasn't working out. I wasn't able to get what I want out of them, and it wouldn't have made sense at the time. So the fact that he's there, I love it. The way I look at it, if there's another DJ show on a major station, have it. The Z-103 has their DJs on there and so forth.

And, you know, I just think it's awesome that as long as it gets out there and as long as there's good DJs doing it and doing it properly, I want to see more guys out there doing it, especially on the radio and in any platform, really. Climax is a lawyer, right? Yep, he is.

Mocha told me that. Yeah. I'm like, yeah, really? Oh, wow. Listen, Scratch, I'm just going to keep calling you Scr you scratch i'm digging it big time but uh that was amazing we just that was 90 minutes and uh is there any final thoughts you wanted to share anything you want to tout before i play us out here just look out for me i'll be somewhere in in front of you or on your radio or on your internet at some point.

Yeah, it's just been a great ride and I'm looking forward to more challenges. You know, you can always podcast here. I do other people's podcasts here too. You can always podcast here if you dig the vibe. Noted. You'll have to duck when you come down here. No tall guests. Cardi won't fit in here. And that brings us to the

end of our 408th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. DJ Starting From Scratch is at DJSFS. You can figure out what that stands for. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthe6.com is at Raptors Devotee. Tough loss last night.

Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair is at Fast Time WJR. And PayTM is at PayTM Canada. See you next week. Everything is kind of rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the snow wants me today. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Because everything is rose and green.