The X-ecutioners

Interview with Rob Swift

By David Friedman

How has life changed for you, Roc Raida and Total Eclipse since your major label release, Built From Scratch?

Life definitely has changed a lot, man. I can tell more people notice me in the street. When I’m walking, they actually point at me or stop to talk to me. I feel like now, when we go out to do gigs, people pamper us more. We’re staying in better hotels, people are treating us better. It’s just bugged out. But I’m trying not to let all the attention and all the good fortune that’s come get to my head. I’m trying to look at it all with a certain perspective because, you know, it could be taken away at any time.

Your album is the first on a major label by a turntable crew. Did you expect it to do as well as it has in terms of popularity and sales?

Yeah. I knew in the back of my mind that it had the potential of reaching this kind of success. I still pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming it. I knew it was possible, but now that it’s actually happening for us, every now and then I have to remind myself that this isn’t a dream. This is really happening. All the attention that we’re getting, all the good treatment we’re getting, the point that we’ve reached as musicians, is all reality. Recently, we were part of the MTV ‘Icon’ for Aerosmith. That was a tribute show that MTV put on paying tribute to Aerosmith. They asked us to open up the show performing using different Aerosmith records and cutting them up the way we would at a regular show. We were there in front of people like Janet Jackson, Cher, Kid Rock, Aerosmith, Pamela Anderson, Jay Leno. All these people that we’re fans of, that we’re used to watching at home, now we’re sharing the same stage with these people, sitting in the same seats that they’re sitting in. It was kind of a nice awakening to the fact that, ‘Yo, we’re finally touching the level that we aspire to be at.’ I wouldn’t say we’re necessarily quite there yet, but we’ve got a foot in the door right now.

Linkin Park has sold more than eight million copies of their [Hybrid Theory] album. Still, does it amaze you that a relatively new alternative-metal band — of all people — helped one of the top turntablist crews make it into the mainstream?

Anytime you get three guys in a group and their main focus is manipulating turntables and you try to project that to the mainstream audience, it’s gonna be a challenge. People aren’t used to seeing that. And maybe, to some degree, it did take a song like ‘It’s Goin’ Down’ with Linkin Park to help people understand that we are musicians the same way that Brad, their guitar player, is a musician; it’s the same way Rob, their drummer is a musician. We’re musicians, too, and seeing us onstage with those guys helps kind of reach that point. So maybe it did take that to open people’s minds up, but now people’s minds are open and the next single could be just us.

You’ve been quoted recently as saying that it’s important to focus on what the crowd wants to hear more than on showcasing your most complex skills all the time. Do you think that’s watering down turntablism or is it a good thing?

We’re making music. And you don’t make music for yourself; you make music for the world. I want people all over to understand and know what we’re trying to do with turntables. And, in order to do that, you have to simplify things. Now, you’re not reaching the same deejay audience that used to come see you at the deejay battles. Now, you’re reaching people in places like Iowa, Idaho or Nebraska that don’t even know deejays like Rob Swift, Roc Raida exist. If you present them with too much, it’s hard for them to let that register, for them to understand. So we figured out new ways of toning down what we do depending on the kind of crowds we’re performing for. When we’re in front of those hardcore, hip-hop, turntablist fans, we’re giving them the technical shit, the most craziest shit. But when we go to somewhere like Montana where they’re seeing us for the first time, they know, ‘Oh, there’s an affiliation with Linkin Park. Let’s go check these guys out.’ For those kinds of crowds, you have to try to tone it down so when they see you for the first time, they understand what you’re doing, why you call yourself turntablists, why the turntables are an instrument. You’ve gotta spoon-feed people. You can’t give people that never saw the art form too much information at once, or else they’re not gonna understand what’s goin’ on.

Could you tell me how the turntablism movement started and who was at the forefront of the movement when it began?

It started, basically, with Kool Herc–the founder of hip-hop, man. Kool Herc is the original hip-hop deejay. And back in the ’70s, when Kool Herc started this whole hip-hop thing, the focus was just (that) his sound system was so loud. He had the top of the line equipment of the day. The way he would compete against other deejays in the neighborhood was a deejay would bring his sound system to the park and Kool Herc would bring out his sound system to the park, and whoever’s sound system was the loudest won. Like with anything, you have people that you inspire to do the same and take what you do to the next level. That’s where people like Flash came in, Grand Wizard Theodore, Jazzy Jay, Red Alert. All these pioneer deejays came after Kool Herc and added their twists to what Kool Herc was doing. Whereas Kool Herc was emphasizing his music being loud and his system being the best sound system, Flash came and was like, ‘All right. Look at the kind of music I’m playing, though. I’m playing my music a certain way.’ Then you have someone like Grand Wizard Theodore, who invented the first scratch … adding the jigga-jigga to enhance the sound. And it went on from there. So to me, those were the forefathers of this whole movement. It started reaching more people when organizations like the New Music Seminar and DMC started having worldwide battles where they would invite deejays from around the world to compete against each other. People would videotape battles, and the tape would leak out and reach people in Idaho or people in Japan. And that’s how the movement really started to launch, to reach more people.

How old were you when you got into working the turntables and how did you originally start learning how to be a turntablist?

I was lucky enough to have a father who was a deejay, and my brother was a deejay as well. My father always had this state of the line equipment–two Technic turntables, dope mixers, dope speakers, amplifier, the whole nine. My brother would buy records and use my dad’s equipment. So I’d watch this. My father would take me to weddings and birthday parties where he’d play at. My brother would take me to parties that his friends were throwing. He’d take me into the deejay booth and I’d be there watching deejays spin. I naturally was just a product of my environment. This was me at eight, nine years old. When I was 11, I was in the sixth grade and I decided I actually wanted to be a deejay as well. So I asked my brother to teach me and he did. I took it real serious and the rest is history.

What did you find so interesting about being a turntablist that led you to not only learn the craft, but also to stick with it?

I liked being able to control a crowd and make people have fun and create an energy amongst people. That, for me, was like the best thing. I also used to breakdance, I used to write a little bit of graffiti, I used to write rhymes. So I was a fan of the whole hip-hop movement in its entirety. But deejaying, for me, was just a natural magnet.

I know you’ve released a couple turntable albums. Have you ever rapped on a track?

On The Ablist album, my first solo album, I have a song on there where I kicked a little rhyme. A lot of people don’t know it’s me rhyming (on) "I’m Leaving." I’m the first guy that rhymes. There’s two people rhyming on it. In no way would I consider myself an emcee. Rhyming is just something that’s fun to me. I respect rappers. Sometimes I bug out a bit and drop a little freestyle. I wouldn’t actually take myself serious in that way. It’s something that I just do for myself, for love for the art.

Emcees can make their messages clear through lyrics. How do you, as a turntablist, communicate to your audience?

The same way. Some scratches might be aggressive; other scratches may be more smooth and mellowed out. And depending on the kind of beat or the kind of vibe that the song has, it helps me project that vibe. So it’s the same thing. One guy’s picking up a microphone, I’m picking up a mixer and a turntable. But it’s all creativity and it’s all expression.

Were you one of the original members when the group formed in 1989?

The original situation was Steve D, Roc Raida, Sean Cee and Johnny Cash all lived in Harlem, N.Y., and had a mutual connection in that they were all friends and they all were deejays. At the time, there was another crew out called the Supermen. And they felt like the Supermen were getting a lot of attention. ‘We’re just as good as them. Why don’t we step it up? Why don’t we battle them?’ So they, in turn, decided to call themselves the X-Men. They were their counterparts, their opposites–the archrivals to the Supermen. They started entering battles just to make a name for themselves. Each year, depending on what competition came around, they’d meet up with different deejays that they felt, ‘Yo, let’s induct this guy into the group. He could bring something to the group.’ I, myself, was put down in 1991 along with a good friend of mine, Dr. Butcher, who helped me prepare for the 1991 DMC battle. And Steve D, one of the co-founders of the X-Men, saw me in that battle and was like, ‘Yo, he’s real dope and we should put him down.’ In 1993, Mista Sinista got inducted into the X-Men. And in 1996, Total Eclipse got inducted into the X-Men. When we caught our record deal with Asphodel Records in 1997, our lawyers advised us to change the name ’cause (of) the whole Stan Lee comic book thing. So that’s how we came up with the name X-ecutioners. But we still represent X-Men to the fullest. The other members are still around. Like Sean Cee is the A&R at Loud Records. He’s the one who signed us to Loud. It’s funny how everything came around full-circle. Dr. Butcher, one of my mentors, produced like three songs on the new X-ecutioners album.

How would you describe your turntable style compared to that of Roc Raida and Total Eclipse–the other two active members of The X-ecutioners?

My style is more soulful and mellow. My mood is a mellow mood. I’m not really an amped kind of person or loud, in-your-face or flashy. I’m more laid back. And that’s how I portray myself on the turntables. I’m myself, you know?

How would you describe the other X-ecutioners’ styles to people that may not have heard their work yet?

I think that Raida is really visual. You could turn the volume all the way down on a routine from Raida, but still enjoy it because what you see him do and how he does it, visually, is real impressive. You know, with his body tricks and how fast he is on the turntables. Total Eclipse, I think, is a mixture of funkiness (with) the speed that Raida has. You can enjoy watching him as much as you can enjoy listening to Total Eclipse. Watching me is just like watching a Miles Davis or watching a John Coltrane.

How would you compare your first album X-Pressions with Built From Scratch?

The difference is night and day. We’ve grown so much in the last three, four years. There’s really no comparison. This album is blowing out the first album. We’ve gotten better as deejays, we’ve gotten better as recording artists and we’ve been blessed to work with some real dope artists, too. So overall, the new album is just light years ahead of the first one. But I think X-Pressions is an important album. Even for people out there that don’t have it, I think they should go buy it to see just where it’s gone from there to now with Built From Scratch.

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