Interview w/ DJ Too Tuff (Tuff Crew)
By DJ PhilleBlunt (ill!)

We all find ourselves doing the air scratch when we hear classic Run DMC tracks like Peter Piper or Jam-Master Jay. Everyone from New York City to Bangladesh knows the unforgettable scratch hooks from Dwyck by DJ Premier: N N N.I…C.E. And a very respectable amount of true hip hop fans worldwide are more than familiar with DJ Too Tuff’s turntable wizardry on the Tuff Crew’s smash hit “My Part of Town”. A true Philly anthem, this track goes down in the history books as not only a classic hip-hop song, but also a very influential showcase of turntablist skill. It serves as a testament to the bubbling DJ scene that Philly is so famous for around the world. We caught up with DJ Too Tuff, right before he went to jail for violating his probation. He talks about the glory days of the Tuff crew and his plans for the future, which might not be the immediate future, but we remain hopeful.

We’re Sitting here with a legend in the DJ world & hip hop as a whole. So welcome DJ Too Tuff! Now the one thing I really want to get into is: How did the Tuff Crew legacy begin?

The Location we’re at right now is 5th & Thompson. A block down is a park called, Hart Park. This is around ‘87, the mayor, Wilson Good, is putting together break dance competitions to stop all the graffiti that was going down! This dude pulls up in a limousine on some roll the dice ish: “I’m putting together a rap group!” That turned out to be our manager, Tony Mitchell. He would give us $80 here, $100 there and so on. My first show after just meeting him was at the Spectrum! We opened up for the New York vs. Philly Battle. Our first record had actually already been made, and I wasn’t the DJ on it. It was a boy named Shiver! That’s actually a good trivia question; “Who was the original Tuff Crew DJ?” But his dad owned a limousine company, so that was his in, nah mean—free limo rides! But yeah, that’s pretty much how we got together, and just from the love of hip-hop, it grew!

How does it feel knowing that you were a huge part in making “My Part of Town” a classic record?

I learned how to cut by listening to Jazzy Jeff & Cash Money. I’m talking about cassette tapes that were popped and taping them together w/scotch tape and playing it back over & over again ‘til I got it. The person that taught me how to cut is a DJ named Yo-Yo! He got killed on his mom’s step just around the way, so I always got to shout him out whenever I can! When “My Part Of Town” was recorded, that was the last song we did on that album. I mean, so there was nothing for the breaks, the vocals were laid, the track was made. I went home looking for something to cut, and I ran into a Kurtus Blow record. And what can I say? To be silly: The rest is history!! It just fit together but it was surprising that it fit together and the chemistry worked so well on that one song. When we finished the track, the rhymes, and the cuts, we just knew it was a hit. And the funny thing was, we didn’t even know what a hit was, at that point, but that was a hit!!

Can u talk a little about “Detonator”?

“Detonator” was the B-Side to “My Part of Town” which was a decision made by Warlock! Ya know, I was never egotistical! Actually I was a ‘lil self-conscious at that point! Self conscious about being a white DJ, in a time where there was no white DJ’s or any white rappers, or anything. But I grew up, here, in an all Black and Spanish neighborhood. “Detonator”, I really don’t know what to say about that, I was flattered that it would be the B-Side. So I’m thinking “don’t Ego trip”… People saying “Yo the cuts on My Part of Town, are just off the hook” But just told myself to fall back and take my success with a grain of salt!

A lot Of DJ’s really look at Detonator as one of the classic DJ cuts. You’ve influenced a lot of DJ’s especially in the Philly area. But who influenced you?

Definitely Terminator X…until I saw him cut live. I was a little worried that Terminator X might dig in my ass, if I would ever have to battle him or whatever. BUT I saw him at the After Mid-Night club when we performed with Public Enemy, when it used to be at 12th & Cherry! And X got crates and crates of stuff that you would never find, but when it came to cutting, I found out that I would smoke the shit out of him! So it boosted my confidence crazy! Not to say he was wack, cause he did his thing. There was a record called “Joyous Pleasure”, and X is cutting up two of them off the horns, PE come out with the S1W’s, and we were like “damm, what da f**k!” And after they went on, I went on, and people are like “who the fuck is this white boy?” So I put on the rhythm track, and I used to do this little trick where the rhythm tracks used to play backwards. You can take a ‘lil spool of thread and put it on the table, put the record on top of it, turn the needle upside down and take the weight off, so the needle comes up! So the record would play backwards. Now you can just by a Numark table to do that, but at this time, this is what I had to do! People were like “look at this guy, f****n DJ MacGyver, taking shit apart. And they just started chanting “Soul Man, Soul Man”, through the whole thing! And I was like “is this really happening?”. Ice Dog Came up to me latter and said “You killed it dogg”, so after you taste it, you chase it. The good thing about hip hop is, it doesn’t leave you feenin’ after you get it, and you’re satisfied! It ain’t like crack, it’s like weed.

Real quick, run down the members of the crew, let people know who they are!

Tuff Crew consisted of five members: Deuce Ace Detonator, myself DJ Too Tuff, the Over-Lord Ice Dog, and Ice used to write everything, like 80% of the lyrics. I mean musically and on the dj and scratch tip, that was my job, and the lyrics were Dog. So the heart of the tuff crew was me & Ice Dog. We were both from the same neighborhood, from little kids up to grown men, and I still ride with him! TL The Teacher, Tone Love, he was like the front man, he would get bitches to throw their hands in the air, and go crazy! He would come out rockin the brightest outfit he could find, that’s what Tone was about. He played the middle; he would get up and lead the dance routines! LA Kid, was the “behind the scenes production specialist!” He would sit at home late at night smoke L after L just making tracks, and we would come back and just perfect it. I would bring him some ancient wax, and he would flip it crazy. Then of course you have the Fox 29 employee, Monty G, who you may or may not see in a big flower dress early in the mourning. But Monty was in a group, called the Big Boys, which was a Fat Boys spin off! This is real good info you’re getting right now, cause heads don’t know bout this! Now his partner was named Cool Chef E, and he had a heart attack on stage, because these dude’s were like 560-480 lbs type of boys. They were performing at Broad & Master, and he had a heart attack/semi-stroke on stage, so he didn’t rhyme no more, his career was over after the 1st show, so Monty kind of got incorporated into our group. And if you listen to “North Side” you hear “And along for the ride/Monty G on the sound/comin’ with the dope beats if the system breaks down”. Because a lot of times back then, u didn’t have a good system, so Monty would come onto the stage beat-boxing, and we would be like, “okay let’s fix this shit, so we can get this guy off the stage”. But he played his part, so we got mad love for him. So he fell into the group, just how we all fell into the group, so you can only accept what God has given you, because you really have no other choice, and when you grab it, your like “Good looking out GOD”.

As far as official release’s Tuff Crew did, there was the EP “PhanJam” and 3 LP’s after that, so if you could…take us through that ride from So Def to Warlock, and that whole experience.

The 1st single we ever did was “Philly Style”… it was wack!! Our manager had connects with Lady B, so that single got mad, mad airplay. Why? I have no idea! It is what it is!! 2nd album we did was “PhanJam”; it was a compilation album we did with the Crown Rulers from Camden, 32nd St. Projects. Pooh was my man, an mc I was working with, on the production tip. He ended up signing w/So Def records, and that’s another story in itself! Where the f&*k is my publishing money at? But when I see Mitch, we’ll take care of that, he prolly got something in his wallet. Pooh then signed with them, and they became Crown Rulers. Ultramagnetic was on the scene, and that was how we were getting equipment and connections with N.Y, which is how we got connected with War-Lock, through Kool Keith & Ced G. We were dropping all our tracks on the sp 12, and they were simply the #1 influence on Tuff Crew. Because there wasn’t anybody in Philly that we could connect with, we were setting trends. We didn’t know it at the time, but I mean I know it now. But it was Ultramagnetic who gave us the trail 2 follow. So anyway Crown Rulers came out with “kick the ball & bboy document”. So at the time, Tuff Crew consisted of a white guy, black guy, Puerto Rican guy, and LA Kid who was ½ white & ½ black, they didn’t know what he was, he had green eyes, black straight hair, and dark skin. So we used to get B****s all the time, wasn’t a problem!! But it was really marketable to all ages, races, we didn’t curse, we didn’t talk about guns & drugs! It was just partying & hip hop, and we made it fun, wasn’t political, just dance! Something to take your stress away…it was party ish. Anyways, Crown Rulers blew up with “Kick the Ball”, so the label wanted us to be like the hip hop new edition, w/dance steps & routines’. We just went with what they said, and it didn’t work out…we felt kind of salty! So we ridin’ 2nd place, doing shows behind them, they headlinin’… so it gets us hungry! So that’s when we came in with the “Smooth Momentum” and “My Part of Town” & such. Off the sales of Phan Jam, we got a deal with Warlock Records. Our management signed with Warlock. We were signed with the management. We also were signed to his recording company, which is like putting on a pair of handcuffs on your hands, and shackles on your feet. At the time we didn’t know but he knew. “My Part of Town” comes out, we had complete creative control, it dropped, and it blew up to our surprise. The instant 250,000 record sales in the first 6 months, which isn’t anything now, but at that time, it was real nice. Also at that time there were like 30 rap groups period. If you were one of those 30 you were cool. Now there’s probably 30 rap groups on this block! So from there, we got cars, and such. I’m not going into specifics as to why we didn’t get more money during that time, but it lies under poor management and what not. It was very unfortunate but it gave me a chance to be a part of hip hop’s golden age, so I wouldn’t give it up for anything! Directly after that we dropped Wreck Shop and I’ll leave the full break up story for another interview, BUT I must say that me and Ice Dog are still family to this day, we grew up together so nothing gonna change. As far as Tone, I hear stuff, rumors & whatever. LA Kid is out in Cali working with direct live TV or some s**t. There really isn’t no issues within the group anymore, cause we all grown men!

What are you gearing up to do now with yourself?

Presently I have a few things on my plate. First is the DJ Butch Mayo documentary called “Phila.sophical”. They got Jazzy Jeff, Lady B, Cash Money, pretty much anyone who was big in the Philly Music/DJ scene at that time, is featured in the documentary. It should be out later this year or early next year. It’s really hot though, I’ll be one of the top 3 in the movie. As far as music goes there’s tons and tons of Tuff Crew material that’s unreleased that probably only I have heard. MC Mechanism, Ice Dog solo stuff, unreleased Crown Rulers, lots of s**t! Classic Tuff Crew tracks that were never released that I’m bout to drop very, very soon!!

So can we look forward to seeing you out spinning in clubs and more on the production side of things?

Yeah, I’ll be getting out more! So far some cats really showing love, like: Cosmo Baker, A-Trak, Foundation Magazine, and definitely DJ Z-Tripp out in L.A., and of course 215hiphop.com. Also I want to shout out everyone in Philly that remembers me, and supports me. Everyone on myspace, especially TOM! Cause it’s been a real blessing to me, to see how much I’ve influenced the world, and the love I’ve been receiving. Just in the 4 weeks after I created it, was getting like 100 friend requests a day, so it really opened my eyes up to see how many people have been waiting for me to come back out! ( www.myspace.com/djtootuff )There was actually a rumor gong around that I had died of a drug over-dose, so I got a lot of e-mails telling me “glad to hear you’re still alive!!” So I’m back!! And I won’t disappoint ya’ll. Giving you the raw, real old school Tuff Crew s**t

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