The year was approximately 1983, even though 1985 was the year I consider to have technically started collecting. I’m in a local record store around my way and decided to pick up a couple of the latest hits on wax (record). For all my old school-ers that would be around the time when Pack Jam was out and Soul Sonic Force was bangin’. In fact, “Pack Jam” was one of the first records I considered to have really collected. Taking it back even before the RUN-DMC days, right after the Sugar Hill era, but still had some Sugar Hill records in my small collection. At the time wax was basically the best thing to buy. 8-Tracks were becoming obsolete and cassette tapes were making an impact. Now that the world is fully introduced to the Compact Disc market, tapes are becoming obsolete and wax is becoming very scarce. If it wasn’t for DJ’s, wax would probably be extinct.
I then began to play my selections over and over on my pop’s stereo. So much that he would always tell me, “Turn that hip-hop jungle sh.t off. It’s just a phase, it won’t make it” (little did he know). “You need to get up on Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, etc “. This is basically what I grew up on besides early disco and soul classics. As you can see, my pops was a jazz fanatic which I give much credit to for the birth of Rap and Hip-Hop. For all those that don’t know, a lot of samples for Hip-Hop records come from old jazz records. My true Hip-Hop heads and old school-ers know where I’m coming from. Without Old School, there would be no New School. History has a way of repeating itself.
While staying up late listening to Mr. Magic’s Rap attack, P-Fine on 89.1 and other underground radio shows, I began to start trying to bring the record back and forth trying to create that scratching effect that Grandmaster Flash introduced to us. I damn near destroyed my pop’s stereo system that consisted of only an old Pioneer receiver and Glenburn turntable. I still continued to try and master this scratching technique on the sneak tip through headphones so he wouldn’t hear. Before you know it, all my monies that I could possibly save was invested into a mini record collection and some very inexpensive second hand equipment.
After being inspired by so many Rappers and DJ’s, I then began to practice hard. This is when I really decided that I wanted to become a DJ. I regretted that for approximately a year I stopped collecting records due to other interests and financial difficulties, but when I started working and hustling a few bucks again, I was right back in the game. I began using the name “DJ R-TISTIC ” making little local tapes for my crew and peoples in my building and around the way. Before I knew it, people were asking, and I was doing little local parties for free or next to nothing, letting everyone know who I was and what I do.
After a few years of practicing and mastering new techniques of mixing and scratching, I decided I didn’t like the name I chose and started using the name “DJ R-SON.” Many ask me all the time, “Why R-SON?” Well, when I was younger in my teenage years, some of my peoples used to always call me “R.” Just like they call “The Great Rakim. My Pops and close family would always refer to me as “Son.” I thought about it and liked it. It meant something to me. Knowing this, and the fact that Arson has something to do with fire, I decided to just join the two together. Since “R-Son” was kind of awkward and becoming a pronunciation problem, I combined everything and just made it “ARSON“……………….THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT.
IN LOVING MEMORY
OF
C.A.B. & J.P.B.