Tim Westwood

Tim, I think everyone has a radio DJ who they hide under the bed sheets with a small radio for. You were that DJ for me.

I really appreciate that, man. Back in the day of cassette tapes, y’know, blasting off in London only on Capitol FM, people out of town checking us that was the labour of love, so I appreciate the support and thanks for keeping with it. And y’know know it’s gone full circle now, from being under the bed sheets to interviewing us now… it’s a beautiful thing.

It’s a priviliage. So, you’re a DJ on top of your game right now, what advice can you give to local and upcoming DJs who are trying new things, and trying to raise their own game?

I mean, if you’re starting out now it’s all about MP3s, so you should jump onto Serato, that’s just a straight industry standard now. There’s a lot of DJs in this country who are mad late on it, but in the States, every DJ is on Serato. CDs? Don’t bother with… Vinyl is a wasted format.

My advice is that it’s all about that Do-It-Yourself ethic, of putting on your own parties, trying to get some heat and energy around you. Then off the back of that, promoters might start to book you, and when you develop that movement behind you, y’know, then you can travel the country, then maybe radio stations will pay attention. But in this game you gotta be on all levels, man. You gotta pay attention to Myspace, Facebook, y’know you gotta pay attention to what your audience wants and all that good stuff, man.

You seem to be pretty heavily involved in hip-hop. Where has that came from?

I mean back in the day we used to play in these street clubs, and when hip-hop first came, it was the street in there, y’know, it was real hood. They really wanted that, and I could just the energy and the power of the music. And then I went over to New York and spent some time there to really try and understand what was going on, doing radio shows with people like Marley Marl, y’know, Funk Master Flex and Hot 97, and it was off the back of that, y’know, it just became my passion… it became my life.

What do you prefer; doing your radio show, or DJing up in the club?

I mean I love it all, man. I love the radio blasting off real crazy, doing it big up there. I love the clubs ‘cos that’s where the people are, y’know what I mean? The interaction, that’s like the meeting point. I don’t know, man, I love it all. I love YouTube, I love TV, y’know, I live for this, man, this is my dream.

Yeah, but if you had to give up one…

I think it’s all interconnected now, it’s all become one. What you do in the clubs you should film and put on YouTube… what we do on radio we film and put on YouTube… our channel has had seven million hits in the last ten months, so it’s a real powerful thing out there.

I figured most people would ask you about your cars, so instead, if you were to have a film made about your life, who would you have play you?

Man, I’d feel sorry for anyone who had to play me, man. It’s been a struggle, man. I don’t know, man….. probably my man Dr Dre. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a black dude, but yo, he’s been with me for a lot of this journey, man, he’s a good guy.

Like Lethal Bizzle, who is here tonight, has crossed over genres into ‘grindie’, have you ever considered doing anything other than hip-hop?

I… I don’t really see it myself, man, because I’m really trying to promote and pioneer hip-hop. So I respect those artists who tap into different fan bases, holding it down with the grime crowd, holding it down with the indie crowd, Lethal has got to hit those bases. But with me, I keep it straight hip-hop, y’know what I mean? Yeah, I play R&B and Reggae and that, but I don’t see the need to cross over. I don’t really see bands as competition, I’m just trying to do what I do.

Tim Westwood

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