Lowbudget Interview

posted by snackmaster on August 3, 2011

we caught up with Philly DJ extraordinaire Lowbudget recently for an episode of TTL Radio, but PH took it further with the official interview below. take it away PH…

what have you been up to these days? where have you been DJing?

I’m back in Philly now, just tryin to rock parties. The best times of my DJ career were spinning wild parties in Philly. Thats really what I love to do. I love to travel and all but I got kinda burnt out for a little and had to fall back. I’m also really into finding new music that might be a little more on the surface than flavor-of-the month blog stuff and exposing peeps to it.

i was listening to your TTL Radio and was wondering how you keep up with club stuff / philly / south? you just don’t hear that stuff on the radio around here.

I never stopped being a street mixtape freak. I still approach hip hop now with the same enthusiasm I did was I was 16. I’m always on datpiff.com or whatever downloading new tapes and listening to whole albums to find that sleeper cut. A lot of people complain that hip hop aint what it used to be, but I’m just as excited as ever. Yeah it sounds way different beats and lyrics wise, but as long its new and relevant I’m into it. As for the club stuff, thats just part of livin in Philly. Just like with bmore club back in the day, you HAVE to be up on that stuff to spin around the way. Thats what you hear at block parties, on the radio mixshow, etc.

what stuff should we be looking out for these days?

EVERYTHING! There is so much new and creative music from all over the world thats so accessible because of soundcloud and what not. In particular I’m still really into the Bmore/Philly/Jersey club sound. These young kids are really pushin the sound and doin crazy stuff. I’m also really into a lot of Indie Dance stuff, of course TRAP MUSIC!!!!

always liked your DJ style, who influenced it? who do you like currently?

Prob my biggest Influences aside from the obvious Philly greats like Jazzy Jeff and Cash Money, was my boys Major Taylor and Cosmo Baker. The whole idea of taking the party to a certain level and then “going for the juggular” and just murdering it is somethin I don’t see as much anymore.

how has DJing changed since Hollertronix days?

I guess now people just make there own edits and remixes and play them instead of live mixing. Also I feel like since we have access to all our music now when we play, we don’t have to choose a certain amount of records and maximize there impact thoughout the night, which kinda leads to the sets not really being formatted as best they can be. On the positive side, the possibilities are endless in terms of what you can do during a set.

what’s the best thing about being a professional dj?

Getting to expose peopel to new music and connecting with them through music they already know. Oh yeah and the whole “Getting- paid- what -the-average-person -makes-all-week -for- a- few-hours- of- making- people- dance” thing.

worst thing?

I guess its just tough when what you love doing is your job. Everybody get frustrated with their job at times so when that happens it kinda sucks.

5 favorite places to eat?

John’s Roast Pork (best cheesesteaks in the world)
Almonte Market (corner store, $3.50 Cheesesteaks, gift and curse)
Steve’s Prince of Steaks
Pat’s King of Steaks
WAWA