Tachelle: Tell us about where you grew up? 

Red Alert: Where I grew up is Colonial Housing --I grew up next to the Polo grounds – the upper part of Harlem – raised under my grand parents. 

T: Being a legend in the game how did you get started with the art of DJing? 

RA: I first got inspired by watching a guy in the neighborhood -- used to listen to a guy named Otis who had a sound system that everybody heard cranking and it was crystal clear.  I used to just go up to his house and was amazed by the sound system.  Later on when I was in high school up in the Bronx I started hearing so much about this guy named Kool Herc – so the guys from the Bronx would invite me to go to a Kool Herc party.  At the same time I was going to the Kool Herc party I was also sneaking downtown to the discos.  I wasn’t supposed to be there at the time I was young. 

T: How old were you?

RA: I was maybe a good eighteen, nineteen.  You know at the time being in a disco you were supposed to be a certain age. So I was sneaking in there checking out a disco dj and then on Saturday I would go and check out Kool Herc – so that’s what inspired me back and forth. By the time I graduated high school and went to college I took communications engineering – ‘cause I went there on scholarship -- and about a year and a half later I came back and there was a new wave of people that extended from Kool Herc – You got Flash, DJ AJ, The L Brothers – the youngest Grand Wizard Theodore and the list goes on– so then I started working on my own, saving my money and bought my own equipment. 

T: What type of equipment did you have back then? 

RA: I had a pair of Techniques,1800 direct turntables, Clubman 1-1 mixer  – had it hooked up to my stereo set.  I used to go around the corner from my job to the store and pick up the latest record --I used to have a crate of records built all around my bed. I had three crates upside down and put my turntables on it -- that’s how I used to do it.  I took the platform off my bed -- put the box spring and the mattress on the floor. 

T: Do you remember the first hip hop record you ever played? 

RA: It got to be a break beat – Ooh had to be like ‘I Can’t Stop” or “It Just Begun” – my cousin Jazzy J and I used to collect records all the time. 

T:  How did you and Uncle Ralph McDaniels first meet up? 

RA: It was strange – the first time I think we met up was when he interviewed me.  We met up at City Hall.  It was around the mid to late eighties and we found out that we had something in common. He started his video show the same time I was on the radio at Kiss FM and we collaborated and became real close friends. 

T: What are you up to right now - being in Atlanta and all? 

RA: Back to Kiss FM – full circle. Celebrating twenty five years in radio -- Fridays I do a live broadcast from the Shadow Nite Club, Saturdays -- I do 12-2 am and on Sundays I do a show on radio station Magic 107.5 down in Atlanta, Georgia -- I do a live broadcast from a club down there. Besides that I am the voice of Back Spin at Sirus Satellite Radio -- MC Mixtape. It’s a collaboration with 39 other djs from across the country and traveling all around the country and world – when they hire me as a dj I go. 

T: Where are some of the places hip hop has taken you? 

RA: I must have been around the world maybe four, five, six times – many countries – Japan, Asia, France, Germany, Holland -- all parts of the Islands. There’s a lot of different places where people respect me. 

T:  What is their response to hip hop – those places that you have visited? 

RA: It’s bananas because what I learned is in other countries they just don’t embrace the music, they embrace the culture and study it.  The average teenager, 18 or 19 knows more of my history than the average teen where I come from. They embrace and study every aspect of hip hop. 

T: What’s your most memorable experience in hip hop? 

RA: Ahhhh man – it is so many – I come up under Afrika Bambatta.  I consider him the father of music in my eyes because he bought me and my cousin Jazzy Jay under his wing.  We have seen so many things.  I got in radio from there then I got involved with all various people such as during the Roxanne Roxanne craze I was the DJ for the young lady Sparky D who was going after Roxanne Shante, then Later on Scott LA Rock “R.I.P.” led me to be a part of Boogie Down Productions -- then that led me to establish my own company Red Alert Productions that branched out groups such as Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest – the list is long – being a member of the DMC Disco Mix Competition where I was the major host for about fifteen years straight.  There are so many things I have experienced through out the years. 

T: How has the digital age changed hip hop? 

RA: The digital age has changed hip hop – it is a gift and a curse – there was always structure in how to start something off, but things can become an easy aspect for the next ones that comes in – they don’t have to work as hard.  We knew as djs and emcees we had to struggle.  In the beginning of hip hop culture -- trying to find a record – trying to find equipment and articulate our talent – our style, but in the digital age – they just go in there and put pieces together like a puzzle – with everything there right in front of them. 

T: Do you think Obama being president has influenced hip hop? 

RA: I feel it has helped influence hip hop a great deal – I honestly feel that he may not say it directly, but he grew up on part of the hip hop culture even through he had to walk a straight line to get to where he’s at right now, but he has been touched by it. The way he goes – he has a certain way with his movements and his style -- how he articulates and presents certain things.  The culture of hip hop can identify with that – we know that he’s up to par and that’s where the connection comes in at.  The swag – he’s been having that swag and he goes about it gracefully, but he knows that he has to not only represent for us, but the whole entire country.   He’s learned how to combine those elements into one.  We’ll with him, but we understand what he has to go through. 

T: Many people are having I hard with the economy right, so what words of wisdom can you share? 

RA: I can say a percentage of those like me from around the country – around the world – learn to do and do with out -- we know that once you get involved with the industry – the entertainment world – you have the luxury, the lifestyle, but from what I learned to do with it and do with out it.  When it came to this crisis something I never had before is something that I’m not going to miss.  As opposed to some that are so accustomed going about themselves for what they buy, what they have, what they do -- it just hit them and set them back. They don’t know how to adjust to it and it’s like saying “hey you are right back to ground one.”  Otherwise, if you knew from growing up taking that train and then making it to where you had to go and then getting used to a certain lifestyle and not having to touch the train -- you go and buy yourself a nice vehicle and there it goes -- a situation hits, economy hits, a crisis hits with the finances and you have a family.  Instances hitting you in the head – you have a family to look after and you can’t move around like you used to with that car. Whatcha gonna do? You gonna struggle with that car? Or you gonna put the car to side and jump back on the train? Reality hits. 

T: Any closing words? 

RA: I would like to say to every person that’s been knowing me or knowing of me -- I thank you for supporting me throughout the years and for believing in me and I’m keeping it going from here on. 

For more info on Kool DJ Red Alert go to: http://www.kooldjredalert.com