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BlackBooksCafé of Baltimore
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Our beloved and often mis-understood DJ Pope gives his insight into his life, career, and the Baltimore House scene.
Let me preface this audible interview for you. The BBC originally did this interview about a week before this one and it got accidentally deleted(cleared from recycle bin). I was so disgusted that I paid for a software program that searched the sectors of my hard drive for deleted files. It grabbed files as old as the year 2000. But I could not find the interview. The company refunded my $69 back to me. Anyway, there was some incredible ambivalence and insight that came out in the first interview that didn't necessarily come out in the 2nd that I want to share with you. DJ Pope explained how he definitely feels he represents Baltimore. He says that even though he is originally from Chicago, that most of his skills, especially producing, were honed right here in Baltimore. Being here for well over 15 years, It's where his claim to fame came from.
In our conversation we talked about how some people outside of Baltimore think there is a viable scene here. He explained that dj's/producers who come from out of town trying to settle in Baltimore should not wait for anyone to help them. We observed how the Baltimore House scene is very "cliquish". As such, one might need to take things into their own hands as far as having parties, gaining residencies, or gaining popularity goes. He explained how he and others threw a Morgan State vs Howard After party and one popular Baltimore dj, at the time, didn't get off of the turntables until about 4am so that he could play. This was just one of the hurdles in breaking through a scene that didn't see him as a local yet. He also went on to say, when asked about the circulation of new music in Baltimore, that he felt that he or Oji needed to be on the air now.......to help make things better, they need to be home and on the airways.
The show did so much for area dj's as it allowed them to play new music because the House headz usually were kept up-to-date as far as the new music is concerned. He pointed out that even I fell victim to falling behind. I have a list of songs that I listen to when working...Not a new track listing but what moves me at the moment(old or new). I had a track done by Pope featuring Una and put a side note that somebody remixed it. This was actually a POJI remix of their own work. He announced, as he did in the 2nd interview, that he would be playing House music on Morgan State University again (WEAA) on Thursday nights from 12am-3am. This is good news for insomniacs like me.
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