IN CONVERSATION: DJ Jaffa
The next full-length ‘in conversation’ from HEADZ-zINe features DJ Jaffa, unarguably the longest serving hip hop DJ in Wales, who this week celebrates 40 years in the game, spinning and representing since 1985. It gives me enormous pleasure to bring this conversation to you ...
Born in Cardiff, DJ Jaffa moved to South London in 1988, returning to Cardiff in 1990, and has been a staple DJ in Wales and one of the hardest working, well-connected DJs in the hip hop underground since the late eighties.
(Adam) How did you first get into hip hop culture?
(DJ Jaffa) The ‘Buffalo Gals’ video was the first time I saw all the elements come together; I remember as a kid hearing ‘Rapper’s Delight’ on the radio, but didn’t know what it was, I thought they were speaking over disco, basically! The main thing was really ‘Buffalo Gals’. A mate of mine, we were in the same technical drawing class at school, and he came over to me and said, “Oh I hear you’re into rap and hip hop,” and he said, “I’m into breakdancing.” We basically clicked at that point, chilling on the school field trying to do the caterpillar and stuff. Yeah, it was ‘Buffalo Gals’, but I can’t remember what year that came out.
The ‘Buffalo Gals’ video was the end of ’82.
Yeah, that sounds right, ‘cause I was in high school, so yeah.
That’s interesting that you say that about ‘Rapper’s Delight’, when you say it just sounded like they were talking over disco, was it something about how they looked compared to the ‘Buffalo Gals’ video?
Well, my mother was into disco and Motown, so I reckon I recognised the genre of music they were rapping over, then I saw them on Top Of The Pops and they looked like a disco group, I’d got it in my head, they’re a disco group but they’re talking not singing. Rhythmic, but talking. It intrigued me, but that was the only think then I remember. I liked it, because I liked disco anyway, so I guess that was the first thing I saw. But what made me want more of this, was definitely the ‘Buffalo Gals’ video.
That makes sense, because Sugarhill Gang looked like they were wearing disco band outfits, didn’t they?
Yeah, they could have been singing! The only thing was the difference in vocals.
So apart from the disco and Motown, was there any other genres of music that you were into?
Basically anything that was in the charts. We used to listen to the Top 40, me and my brother, what everyone else was into. At the youth club there would be mates of mine into Motown but also ska and stuff. It wasn’t util I got into hip hop until I found my identity. This is me, this is what I am going to be listening to. The first record I ever had was ‘Ghetto Child’ by Spinners, that was because of my mother, she had it and I loved the record, when she put it on I’d be dancing ‘round the house to it, so she gave it to me and that was my first ever record. I’ve still got the 7” somewhere. But hip hop was where I found my identity, the whole thing, breakdancing, graffiti, everything. I got into breaking first of all. In our technical drawing class, there was a massive space at the back of the classroom, and we asked if we could practice at the back of the class , and our teacher was like, “Yeah OK, as long as you don’t disturb the class,” so we ended up breaking at the back of the class!
That’s amazing, because around the same time at our school, there was a space under the main staircase, it was a modern school with loads of open space under the staircase, funnily enough next to the technical drawing classroom and we used to break under there in lunch times. They just left us to it, they didn’t know what we were doing. We got a lot of piss-taking from some of the older kids that were into The Jam and stuff like that, what was it like for you?
Oh same, big time. At the youth club, it’d be me and my mate Chrissy, he was into the mod sounds but was also into hip hop, he was left alone as he knew all the mod kids, but if I was on my own I’d get it all the time. It didn’t help that I grew up in a very white area, and there was me and then another mixed race kid, then a Black kid, so there was only three of us in one of the biggest schools in South Wales. So when Chrissy wasn’t around, I’d get a lot of that because of the breakdancing, but a lot of racist jibes as well. But I was like, “Nah, this is my thing, I don’t care about you!”
Right! So if breaking was the start of it, what did you move onto after breaking?
Well I kind of started DJing in ’85, breaking kind of fizzled out, but I was still into the music. We started a crew called Street Crew, bit lame but …
… we all do something like that to start with, don’t we! Ours was The All New Crew, how corny is that?
Haha, yeah, it was me, Chrissy and another guy, a few more crews started popping up, Street Snakes, Electro Force … if you were into hip hop everyone knew each other in Cardiff, you gravitate to each other. Some of them went up to Bristol, and they bumped into the guys from Youth Force, saying, “Oh yeah, we got wicked breakers in Cardiff, if you come down we’ll take you out …” Well, the following week, they turned up in Cardiff! There were only three of us there and we got our arses kicked. They wiped the floor with us, every move. But then they were like, “Is there anywhere we can go?” Well there was a place in Newport called Maskell’s, a roller skating rink, and every Saturday afternoon they turned it over to breakdancers, so there was boys from the valleys, Newport, Cardiff, and there was a guy there just playing music, whatever hip hop was available, there was a shop in Newport which actually did imports, and this guy would play them. So we went there with these boys from Bristol, and it was Cardiff and Bristol against everyone else in there, so then I was on the winning team that time. But after that, they invited us to Bristol, I was about 14 and I’d come home from school on a Friday, head to the train station and to go Bristol, and come home Sunday afternoon or Monday morning.
This was the days with no mobiles, my mum would be having a heart attack, you know … they’d take us to Wild Bunch parties, we’d go Tropics in St Pauls to practice, all over the place. There’s a guy called Dennis Murray who went on to become DJ Easy Groove, Nathan from E Force, they were much older than us, but they’d look after us.
Dennis had started getting into DJing in summer ’86. At St Pauls Carnival he was the first person I saw back spinning two copies of the same record, I was blown away, he was back spinning ‘Headlines’ by Midnight Starr. There’s this bit at the start, “Extra, extra, read all about it!” before the beat kicks in, it’s almost like a go-go beat, and he was just cutting that back and forwards, I was blown away. That’s what I want to do. I want to be a DJ. That same year, Wild Bunch had a grant for a sound system in St Pauls, and they had just come back from New York, and that was the first time I’d heard ‘Eric B. Is President’, they’d brought it back from New York. I’m like, “What is this!” To this day, it’s my favourite hip hop record of all time.
I totally hear that, it sounded so different to anything else at the time, and I don’t think we realised Marley Marl had mixed it, it had these amazing echoes and reverbs, typical of Marley’s dope murky sound …
As soon as they played it, everyone stopped, looked, lunged forwards to see what it was, but they’d covered the labels up with bits of cardboard. No-one knew what it was. It must have been months trying to find it, then, it comes out on 4th and Broadway. From that, I went on a mission to get turntables and a mixer. My mother bought me a turntable for my birthday, my ex-girlfriend got me a turntable too as she was working, they were the cheapest ones you could get, direct-drive, but well cheap. I mean, I didn’t know anything about belt-drive or direct-drive, I just knew I wanted turntables. I had no idea about pitch control, but luckily these did have pitch control, it was like a tiny little dial. I’d have to try to match up the dots, and that was it. I bought myself a Phonic mixer, one where you needed a sledgehammer to move the crossfader. I used to go through cans of WD-40. Then years later, you hear about all these aspiring DJs who used to walk around with cans of WD-40 and I’m like, “Oh yeah, I used to do that!”
It’s interesting, isn’t it, because we used to use a Tandy mixer at the same time, and I don’t know how they kept working, we used to pour in litres upon litres of white spirit to loosen up the faders …
… and it never used to evaporate, just congeal, haha. Back then there were no replacement crossfaders, if it began to bleed you’d just have to wedge the tiniest bit of card in, it was terrible the things we did haha. I basically locked myself away for a year practicing.
I’d go into town to buy records and people would see me, and not understand why I’m buying two copies of the same record, I’d try to explain, but people would look at me as if I’m wasting my money. Then around late ’86, a friend of mine’s dad had a donut stall at the end of Queen Street, and he said to me, “Oh come down Saturday afternoon and set your decks up and we’ll have a party!” You know, a bit of promotion. Oh man, this was my first gig. I hired a PA, set up and I didn’t know any rappers, I didn’t even know if there were any rappers in Cardiff then, but I got a crappy microphone and took that just in case. So I’m spinning tunes, and then all of a sudden someone picked up the mic and started rapping, it was a guy called D.K. Oko and he was the first rapper I saw in Cardiff. I didn’t know what to say to him, didn’t get his number or anything, I was just on such a high; first time someone had rapped while I’m DJing. Then I was at this youth centre project (Grass Roots) in town where there was a jam we organised, and the guy D.K. turned up, and another guy, Eric (Martin) – who years later went on to become MC Eric from Technotronic, another guy, Richard Smith, and a few others; there were quite a few rappers there. We’re still in late ’86, then we did three or four into ’87, kind of like at regular intervals.
Remember the kid’s show Get Fresh? There was one episode, it was from Cardiff, and it was in the old ice rink. It was on July 4th, and because of that they wanted like New York graffiti and stuff, so they had some kids who were graffiti artists, and my crew, there were long boards with outlines of trains on, and they were all painting on them. Right at the end of the board, I had my decks set up. D.K. and Eric were there, but I couldn’t play any records so I had my Roland 606 drum-machine there, so I plugged that into the mixer, played some beats and scratched over the top while they were rapping. Then afterwards, we invited everyone to come down to Grass Roots. We didn’t think anyone would come, but there was like 150 people there, and it was a small venue. It was the best jam we did, there was such a vibe in there it was amazing. Because I was the only DJ as well, it was incredible.
I was going to ask about that, so you were the only one holding it down at that point?
Yeah, to this day, people say those Grass Roots jams were their first experience of hip hop in Cardiff. There were people playing hip hop in Cardiff, DJs like Paul Lyons, he was playing hip hop in Lloyds (like an R&B club in Cardiff), and he put on another night in Nero’s where he played all electro tunes, but he was mainly a soul DJ. He played the music, he wasn’t into the cutting and mixing, he saw it as an extension of the music genres he was playing. I was one of the first to be cutting up and mixing two copies though. My main thing was I always wanted to be a DJ for a rapper, I’m quite an introvert, I didn’t want to be up front, I just wanted to be behind the rappers! So we wanted to keep doing these jams, and wanted them to get bigger. There was a club called The Ritzy, the biggest in Cardiff, and they had a funk and soul night on a Monday. They asked if we wanted to do a PA, we were only about 17, 18. We agreed, we were in the big time now! We turned up, me, Eric, D.K. and I was back spinning ‘Impeach The President’ and they were doing their thing like at Grass Roots basically. That got us on a high, but Eric was looking to that as a career. I didn’t hear from him for a while, then I got a phone call saying he was in London. His brother was a boxer, and his brother’s manager wanted to get into music. So, he phoned me up and said, “Jaff, come to London,” I was like, “OK, fuck it why not.” So I stayed with his brother’s manager, who got us studio time in New Cross, we cut a demo and his brother’s manager shopped it around and – the demo we did had a reggae hip hop part in it – and Jive were looking for reggae influenced tracks, and they signed us for an album. There’s this album called Def Reggae (The Best Of UK Ragamuffin Hip Hop), they signed us, they signed Family Quest, Wee Papa Girl Rappers had a track on there, basically it was a two-year contract, and two tracks for this album. So we made ‘Special Request’ and ‘Ease Off’ which were the tracks, they didn’t really publicize it much, but luckily we got on Word 4 too alongside Skinny Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, basically the Jive roster at the time, it was incredible.
I can see why the hip hop reggae sound was attractive to Jive, that was the time Cutty Ranks, Asher D and Daddy Freddy and DJs like that were beginning to be played at hip hop jams.
Yeah that was it, they had the budget and they wanted to do a hip hop reggae album. It was good because we got to work with Mastermix, but it was also a funny time. We were in one writing room and Wee Papas were in the other. We got chatting and they found out we were from Cardiff, course then the jokes came out, the sheep thing, you know, here we go. It was a weird situation. Now, people don’t see it that way but back then, Wales was like so distant to them in London.
So tell me about these writing rooms?
Well, they were like little studios, places where you’d try out ideas. There would be a small mixing desk, a box of records full of breaks, a sampler, you could make a demo in there. Then you’d pass the demo on and if they liked it, they’d work it up and put it out. We must have done about 5 or 6 demos. Some were pretty good, we made one with the ‘Got To Get Your Own’ sample on, then M.C. Duke’s album came out, with his ‘Got To Get Your Own’ on it, so no, same time, but that never made it.
Interesting, in that era everyone was chopping the same breaks up, it was almost like a race to see who could put something out first.
Yeah, I was amazed; like, when I heard ‘Live At Union Square (November 1986)’, how was Jazzy Jeff flipping those records so fast? Then it turns out the three records are on the same side as an Ultimate Breaks & Beats album. I’m like, “Ah that’s it, that’s how he did it.”
And some of those other invisible tricks, like the ‘Ashley’s Roachclip’ break is looped on Ultimate Breaks & Beats …
… Yeah, it’s extended, and the Lyn Collins break as well …
… Ah the maddest one is the ‘Amen’ break, suddenly it switches and pitches right down …
… Yeah! It’s like all of a sudden slowed right down…
… It’s like the instrumental of ‘Straight Outta Compton’ has kicked in!
So yeah, when I moved back to Cardiff, a guy called Paul Durant had got a grant for a proper studio, do you remember the ET scheme? You’d get an extra tenner on top of your dole, basically our ex-manager ripped us off, I was getting a royalty cheque every six months or so for like, twenty quid, the rest of it … well, he started his own popcorn factory. Anyway I started working in the studio, from the ground up really, there was this grant to buy equipment and I helped them wire it all in, wired the desk; I learnt a lot about recording demos, a few of my old crew came in to do bits and pieces. I was learning to make music properly, because in London, we didn’t know what we were doing, but we had a good engineer. But back in Cardiff, I learnt it all properly. You know Kosheen?
Yeah, the drum ‘n’ bass group?
Yeah, so the lead singer I used to go to school with, and before Kosheen she came in and did a track with the Bob James ‘Mardi Gras’ sample, and I really wish I still had that!
So do I! So, then what happened?
I started doing the odd DJ set here and there. I got a flat, which became a bit of a hub for people. I didn’t have a TV, the sofa was pointing at the decks, and there would be like, kids around would come by, have a go on the decks, there were two guys who were the two that stuck around and made a go of it, I took them under my wing. It’s weird thinking back on it now, they’d learn their stuff on the decks, then we’d have like a break and beat quiz, I’d play them a beat or break and they’d have to work out what it was. One of the guys, Paul, stuck to it and ended up being the in-house DJ for (Welsh label) Associated Minds Records. The other guy, Andrew, became a really good drum ‘n’ bass producer, now he’s returned to graffiti as part of Cruel Vapours, they’re amazing. So yeah, they came up from when I had my flat. You know, we had the odd party, then I got involved in a youth project called The Underdogs.
Tell me more about The Underdogs?
It was a youth project, dancers, rappers, DJs, teaching them really like workshops. We ended up on the news, and we got grants for production equipment teaching these kids how to produce beats as well. Johnny B started out in The Underdogs, and another guy, Sparky, who still makes hip hop purely for the love of it. There was Nathan who was in the group I produced, and a few other rappers. Then there were others who didn’t carry on with the hip hop, but carried on into youth work.
Oh, that’s interesting, so they got into youth work through hip hop, rather than the other way around?
Yeah, so their full time work is as youth workers, really from The Underdogs.
So what developed then with your music career?
I was involved with some other groups, but there was one called Manchild, basically like a cross between The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers, and they wanted a scratch DJ. At the time everyone wanted a scratch DJ! So I ended up touring with them, and they were looking for a front man. Also I was working with Nathan in a group called Erban Poets, and I said, “Look, we can go on tour, this is a good opportunity,” so Nathan became the front man for Manchild. We were managed by Mike Champion, The Prodigy’s manager at the time, we played festivals everywhere. It was through that Nathan got more confident in his stage presence. We were taking everything we learnt from that experience and putting it into Erban Poets.
There was a Kool Herc gig in Newport, and at the end was an open mic. All these rappers were going up, and this singer went up, called Carrie, and she’s like a jazz singer, and she started singing over these breaks. Next thing I know, my mates are jumping on my back shouting, “You gotta work with her!” So I got her number, and told her about the project. Nathan is a Rasta, and a lot of it was based in Rastafarian ideology, but it was hip hop. I thought a singer would fit perfect. We ended up cutting a 5-track E.P. At the same time, I put out an instrumental album, you know, these were really short runs. I’ve just, you know, worked with a lot of people over the years. I’ve supported anyone from Ghostface to Talib Kweli to UK artists; I did The King Dem Tour.
I know Rodney (P) from back in the day. I supported Wu-Tang in Newport, and their DJ Symphony had a radio station called Radio Invasion. Me and him did the afterparty, swopped numbers and he got in touch and said, “Look, do you want a mix show on my station?” I hadn’t been on the radio for years, so I ended up doing that for a while, then that ended when they were taken over by a big corporation. Then I went to Spin FM, then I did a mix for Pots & Pans Radio in Canada, the main guy there, Gareth, his family are originally from Wales and he wanted a mix of Welsh hip hop, and through that I’ve been on www.raptz.com with my show This That & The Third since then. Underground hip hop. I don’t get the mentality when people say, “Oh new hip hop’s crap,” because everything I put out, every two weeks, is new, 99% of it is nineties influenced, and it’s proper boom bap. US, UK, all underground. A lot of Welsh hip hop as well, local artists.
DJ Jaffa started DJing in 1985, since then he has played every major festival in the UK. Internationally he has played throughout Germany, Spain, Belgium, Hong Kong, Italy and mainland China. He has played alongside and supported artists such as Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Grandwizard Theodore, Cash Money, Snoop Dogg, Jungle Brothers, Kool Keith, Masta Ace, Biz Markie, Ugly Duckling, Blade, Blak Twang, Public Enemy, A Skills, DJ Yoda, Ghostface Killah and the list goes on and on. 2015 marked his 30th year as a DJ, and in December 2015 won the best DJ award at the Cardiff Music Awards. Currently, he has a Bi-weekly radio show on Raptz Radio broadcast out of Paris on www.raptz.com, playing underground hip hop.
For bookings email- djjaffa2@gmail.com
www.mixcloud.com/djjaffa for DJ Jaffa mixes
This article was originally published in HEADZ-zINe 2.1 Spring 2023.
Loved reading this. First time reading the story start to finish. Andrew will be buzzing to get a mention too! Jaffa is a Cardiff legend, end of. Big ups.