Words/Photography-Art Jefferson
Sometimes it is the silent being that strikes the hardest. When meeting DJ Mark 1, he comes off as a humbling, somewhat low key type of person. Athletic in build, one would be somewhat hard pressed to figure out exactly what he does, with the exception of the conclusion that he does “something”. Maybe that is due to the gentleman nature that he walks around with. Perhaps it is strategic. When getting behind the DJ booth however, actions began to speak louder than words and the tiger begins to strike. The fact is Mark 1 is a battle DJ and a showman. He is also a musician and producer of Hip-Hop and Soul. The dots began to connect and less skilled deejays who put on a braggadocio persona begin to slowly humble themselves and realize it’s time to go back to the lab.
Growing up in Durham North Carolina, Mark 1 has witnessed the many stages of Hip-Hop in NC and has been in intricate part of it’s scene since the nineties. Although having learned various musical instruments since a kid in grade school, deejaying and Hip-Hop has always been a first love. “I started deejaying like 1984. There was a radio station back then, D103 FM and I would listen to the cats playing Hip-Hop and old school breaks at that time. I was like “how are they doing this”, especially when I heard them deejaying and cutting. Around that same time, the movie Beat Street came out. I was like, “I have to see this movie!” I was breaking and all of that. I was a young cat. (So), I go and see the movie. I was all about the breaking but then they get to the scene where my man is deejaying and I am like “Oh my god! That’s what they’re doing on the radio station. That’s what I want to do”. So I leave the movie, it was a summertime, and from then until Christmas day I’m bugging my mom to get me turntables. She got me turntables for that Christmas in 84 and that’s where it all started.” Mark 1 would eventually go into “training” mode as a young DJ, practicing hours on end and studying DJ legends such as Grandmaster Flash, Jam Master Jay, Jazzy Jeff and later turntable heroes such as DJ Scratch, Daddy Rich and DJ Miz. The then named DJ Mach-1, because of his speed, began to become known as a local DJ and started spinning in the clubs before he was even old of enough to be in them.
Since the “glory days” of Hip-Hop, the state of North Carolina has always had a chapter in that history. “The cats that really kind of blew us up around 91, 92, was Yaggfu Front. I was homeboys with my man Jingle Bel. He was talking about how he had this group and I was like “I want to hear what you guys got”, the next thing I know, they signed to Mercury Records. To me, they were the first real Hip-Hop group from North Carolina to really get props. Of course with Black Sheep, they’re not from North Carolina but they used to live in North Carolina. I was good friends with Mr. Lawnge. To me I see them as being from North Carolina because they do give North Carolina props in a lot of their songs. So, Yaggfu Front and Black Sheep are the premier Hip-Hop groups from North Carolina.” The influence of jazz and soul has always been a huge part of Hip-Hop music coming out of North Carolina. DJ Mark 1 later partnered with singer/producer Erik Rico and pushed to continue that legacy. After performing on big concerts with groups such as Escape and more, Mark 1 decided to experiment with production. “I was deejaying for a group called Black Where We Started From, and Erik was making all the tracks for the group. When we would be in the studio, I would actually watch him make beats on the MPC-3000. I was blown away at the way he approached producing tracks and how he could make tracks sound like Tribe or De La Soul. Erik started showing me stuff but I didn’t have my own MP at the time to practice on so I would have to watch and try to remember what he did. My boy Darryl had an MP at the time as well and he went out of town at one time, so I just got on his MPC and made up a beat. The beat was pretty dope for my first one. Darryl and Erik were shocked. They were like “Wow you did this?” After Erik Rico moved to Los Angeles and following shortly afterwards, Mark 1 relocating to the west coast as well, the mission of spreading that soul sound would capture the attention of many artists as and producers alike. “I think the soul aspect comes from listening to my man Erik Rico because his stuff is really soulful. But then also I love Pete Rock, Premier, Dilla…to me that stuff is crazy soulful. Plus I just love soul music. I don’t just listen to records to sample. I listen to records because I love music. The soulful stuff just hits you.” With the soul and legacy of greats such as John Coltrane and Nina Simone hailing from North Carolina, the musical richness is as deeply implanted in the N.C. tradition as with the history of Blacks itself in the state. “I remember back in the day when Erik and I had the whole Soul Brothers movement, we would bring that up. He mentioned how he wanted to keep that tradition going of those people. So I do kind of feel that I have to kind of keep that tradition going. I feel like I have a certain standard that I have to live up to.”
Nowadays Mark 1 has not stopped working to keep the spirit of Hip-Hop alive. He’s been working with Kevin Nottingham of Hipnott Records as one of their in house deejays as well as contributing production to many of the artists on the label. He’s worked with New York emcee Ryan O’Neil on a track for his up coming album and even sparked the interests of emcees such as Sadat X and A.G. Mark 1 has recently completed a mixtape sampler for Hipnott Records, a showcase of Hipnott artists ranging from K. Sparks, singer Dasha, Cymarshall Law and others. He has also been working with a few new R&B acts that are ready to release records soon. If DJ Mark 1 is strategically plotting his soul invasion, then domination is definitely looking like the result in 2011.
Get the Hipnott Records 2010 Takeover Vol. 2 mixed by DJ Mark-1 here
Get the Hipnott Records 2010 Takeover Vol. 1 mixed by DJ Mark-1 here