Sup yall, meant to post this sooner but wanted to Xplosive Magazine issue to get out there a lil bit, but anyway, the interview that I did with Big Von was great, a LOT of the info and facts didn't make it into the magazine due to space limitations, so I'mma let yall read the whole thing now, start to finish un-cut, so everybody bitchin about radio or lovin it, here's everything u wanna know from the inside out......
BIG VON (KMEL)
If you have listened to any urban radio in the Bay Area in the last few years, chances are you have heard on air personality Big Von Johnson either on 106 KMEL, or Wild 94.9 KYLD. Von also happens to come straight out of Pittsburg Cali. People know Von these days from KMEL every night from 6-10pm, and his shows “The Hip Hop Chop Shop” Fridays from 10-2am and the show dedicated to local Bay Area music “On The Block” Sundays from 11pm-1am. He got his start in the game by DJing throughout his high school years, then working in San Francisco, he met a General Manager from Wild 94.9. He worked at Wild 94.9 for about 5 years and then made the transition over to 106 KMEL in 2001, along with his DJ Scotty Fox. He says while at Wild 94.9 he learned a lot about other styles of music, but when the stations were bought by the same company, they decided to put Von where his love was primarily, with Hip Hop at 106 KMEL.
What do you think about what gets played on the radio these days? “People always complain about the songs that get played on the radio, but if they was here all day and hear the phones ring and hear people request the sh*t, they would know. People think we sit here and think ‘let’s pick the most f**ked up song we could play, just to piss everybody off.’ NO! People seem to think that since I work inside the radio station I’m some sort of like corporate white suite type dumbf**k. NO! I’m from the same place everybody else is from, I just happen to know what goes on in here. Don’t think that I like the sh*t. I’m not a fan of a lot of the sh*t that goes on. Then you go ‘Okay this song sucks,’ but ain’t this the same song you watched on TV? Don’t blame the radio. MTV playin’ a thousand times, BET playin’ it a thousand times. He must really suck, there’s only a million people that bought his record.”
So does it really come down to requests, most stations have a playlist they have to stick to right? “Most radio stations will have a playlist but out here we don’t have a playlist because I figure we got the best DJ’s in the country. I’m real positive about my DJ’s. You ain’t gonna hire somebody who can’t do the job. They better know what’s hot. There’s different levels of it, there’s the momma’s, the kids, and there’s the high school kids. You gotta be able to balance your records from, you wanna play a record that’s hot enough to get the kids dancing, but also be able to listen to it with their momma. I can’t play ‘p*ssy, p*ssy, f**k me, f**k me, f**ky, ass, ass, ass,’ for the kids and their momma’s sittin’ there. As much as they’re singing it themselves, we need something that everybody can listen to. So ‘Step In The Name Of Love,’ your momma like, you like, you gone get it.”
How much freedom do you have to play what you want? “I’m music director of KMEL, meaning that I have to find the records that should belong on the radio. I don’t say I have free reign, it’s a choosing system between me and my program director, we talk about what should go on the radio. I don’t have full free reign, but I do have enough sense to pick the right records. I ain’t gone go on there and play country, I got some sense. I don’t hang out seven days a week just to meet chicks, I hang out to see what people like. Not only in the clubs, but I also gotta go to the high schools and see what these young kids want ‘cause they’re buying the records. A lot of people say that certain songs are trash, but I guarantee you there’s a kid that knows that word for word ‘cause they like it.” Do you feel like the music is purposely geared toward the kids? “Yeah it’s purposely geared toward the kids. That’s why they make it so bling blingy, and so big on television. The kids see it and think it’s the greatest. ‘Jay-Z got a Bentley, I need a Bentley.’ No, you need a bike, go to school.”
Do you feel that Bay Area music gets it’s fair share of airplay? “I hear that sh*t everyday, and it’s bullsh*t because I play Bay sh*t, when I’m on I put it up.” We all know that you do, but let’s say before you came to KMEL or outside of your shows, do you feel like the Bay is getting it’s fair share? “I feel like it’s getting it’s fair share enough. Understand it like this, there’s different times of the day. You got your young folks who listen to the radio late in the evening, you got people that keep the radio on at work, and then you got the morning show with people going to work. At night we wild out for yall. Let’s wild out together. I’mma give you that Bay sh*t.... your mom ain’t really ‘hyphy,’ you ain’t never seen her doin’ the fool in the kitchen. In the morning when mom’s listening we smooth it out. The Bay gets their share, but understand just because you come from the Bay do not make you tight. People always yell that we need more Bay, and they name some dude that they like, and I travel over to the other hood and ask what they like, and they name that dude, but they don’t like the guy that he named. Every hood got they own dude. It’s only a few dudes that run the city. San Quinn, Keak Da Sneak, E-40, Richie Rich, B-Legit. Around here, the legends still hold it down. Legends hold the most weight around here, so those are the records you gone get. Now, lately The Federation have come and taken it by the bulls horns and rode it out, they have become a factor in this. The Team is working hard. I meet most of these rap dudes on the street. It ain’t no whole deal to get your record played, it’s about having a good record.” A lot of people think that is a fact, even with the Bay getting a little bit of play, some people get a lot more play than others, and people think something is going on. “Ain’t nothin’ goin’ on. Understand, most of these rap muthaf**kas talkin’ that sh*t was raised on Quinn. Quinn been rappin’ since he was 12. Don’t tell me you don’t have a San Quinn tape. People call it ‘Sick Wid It radio,’ you was raised on Sick Wid It! I still got Sick Wid It tapes, not CDs, tapes! People just looking for something to argue about. Before it was no Bay, now when they get Bay, it’s only because of this that and the third. I was taught at a young age that you cannot make everybody happy. If you don’t like it f**k it.”
So does it come down to requests, or that the music isn’t hot? “You can put out a record and sit in a room and have your homeboys call me all day, have four homeboys call me 200 times, but I’m not a computer and I’m not stupid. I know the same voices. How about we do it like this, let’s go to a party and play your record, and when the crowd splits and the dance floor clears, we can go ‘hey maybe this is not the one.’ People might say, ‘oh they don’t want to dance to it ‘cause they don’t know it.’ I don’t wanna hear that sh*t, if it’s hot it’s hot. No matter how much perfume you spray on sh*t, it’s still sh*t.”
Now that the Bay is receiving a little radio play, is it because the sound is becoming more radio friendly? “No, I was raised on Bay Area music. When I was at Wild, we played it latenight. We was a little too wild for that crowd. My boss came and put us where we could play it, and we gave it back. KMEL didn’t have it at that time, they played a little bit of it, but it wasn’t getting the full focus. I just played records that I like. I like ‘Sideways,’ ‘Mr. Flamboyant,’ ‘Come On In.’ When I was comin’ up they didn’t play none of that sh*t. Rap is a full contact sport, and just because you rappin’ hard, if you wanna get in a battle, and I don’t mean Hip Hop sh*t word for word, we gone go song for song. If nobody’s moving, singing your song, or dancing, basically it’s crap.” Do you see the sound as more radio friendly? “I don’t take it as radio friendly, I play a record that’s good. Understand I’m trying to appeal, I don’t ever wanna be old and outdated.” Do you think the Bay is trying to cater to the radio now? “I think some people are trying, and I tell them ‘if you really feel like you want to make this record, go ahead, but this is not you.’ You can’t be MC killy kill, kill a million muthaf**kas and f**k all the h*es ten albums, and then try to come back with a love song, that’s not you buddy. When I put down that $10 to buy your album and you’re singing love raps, that’s not you. I bought the record because you was the hardest most killinest dude out there.”
BIG VON (KMEL)
If you have listened to any urban radio in the Bay Area in the last few years, chances are you have heard on air personality Big Von Johnson either on 106 KMEL, or Wild 94.9 KYLD. Von also happens to come straight out of Pittsburg Cali. People know Von these days from KMEL every night from 6-10pm, and his shows “The Hip Hop Chop Shop” Fridays from 10-2am and the show dedicated to local Bay Area music “On The Block” Sundays from 11pm-1am. He got his start in the game by DJing throughout his high school years, then working in San Francisco, he met a General Manager from Wild 94.9. He worked at Wild 94.9 for about 5 years and then made the transition over to 106 KMEL in 2001, along with his DJ Scotty Fox. He says while at Wild 94.9 he learned a lot about other styles of music, but when the stations were bought by the same company, they decided to put Von where his love was primarily, with Hip Hop at 106 KMEL.
What do you think about what gets played on the radio these days? “People always complain about the songs that get played on the radio, but if they was here all day and hear the phones ring and hear people request the sh*t, they would know. People think we sit here and think ‘let’s pick the most f**ked up song we could play, just to piss everybody off.’ NO! People seem to think that since I work inside the radio station I’m some sort of like corporate white suite type dumbf**k. NO! I’m from the same place everybody else is from, I just happen to know what goes on in here. Don’t think that I like the sh*t. I’m not a fan of a lot of the sh*t that goes on. Then you go ‘Okay this song sucks,’ but ain’t this the same song you watched on TV? Don’t blame the radio. MTV playin’ a thousand times, BET playin’ it a thousand times. He must really suck, there’s only a million people that bought his record.”
So does it really come down to requests, most stations have a playlist they have to stick to right? “Most radio stations will have a playlist but out here we don’t have a playlist because I figure we got the best DJ’s in the country. I’m real positive about my DJ’s. You ain’t gonna hire somebody who can’t do the job. They better know what’s hot. There’s different levels of it, there’s the momma’s, the kids, and there’s the high school kids. You gotta be able to balance your records from, you wanna play a record that’s hot enough to get the kids dancing, but also be able to listen to it with their momma. I can’t play ‘p*ssy, p*ssy, f**k me, f**k me, f**ky, ass, ass, ass,’ for the kids and their momma’s sittin’ there. As much as they’re singing it themselves, we need something that everybody can listen to. So ‘Step In The Name Of Love,’ your momma like, you like, you gone get it.”
How much freedom do you have to play what you want? “I’m music director of KMEL, meaning that I have to find the records that should belong on the radio. I don’t say I have free reign, it’s a choosing system between me and my program director, we talk about what should go on the radio. I don’t have full free reign, but I do have enough sense to pick the right records. I ain’t gone go on there and play country, I got some sense. I don’t hang out seven days a week just to meet chicks, I hang out to see what people like. Not only in the clubs, but I also gotta go to the high schools and see what these young kids want ‘cause they’re buying the records. A lot of people say that certain songs are trash, but I guarantee you there’s a kid that knows that word for word ‘cause they like it.” Do you feel like the music is purposely geared toward the kids? “Yeah it’s purposely geared toward the kids. That’s why they make it so bling blingy, and so big on television. The kids see it and think it’s the greatest. ‘Jay-Z got a Bentley, I need a Bentley.’ No, you need a bike, go to school.”
Do you feel that Bay Area music gets it’s fair share of airplay? “I hear that sh*t everyday, and it’s bullsh*t because I play Bay sh*t, when I’m on I put it up.” We all know that you do, but let’s say before you came to KMEL or outside of your shows, do you feel like the Bay is getting it’s fair share? “I feel like it’s getting it’s fair share enough. Understand it like this, there’s different times of the day. You got your young folks who listen to the radio late in the evening, you got people that keep the radio on at work, and then you got the morning show with people going to work. At night we wild out for yall. Let’s wild out together. I’mma give you that Bay sh*t.... your mom ain’t really ‘hyphy,’ you ain’t never seen her doin’ the fool in the kitchen. In the morning when mom’s listening we smooth it out. The Bay gets their share, but understand just because you come from the Bay do not make you tight. People always yell that we need more Bay, and they name some dude that they like, and I travel over to the other hood and ask what they like, and they name that dude, but they don’t like the guy that he named. Every hood got they own dude. It’s only a few dudes that run the city. San Quinn, Keak Da Sneak, E-40, Richie Rich, B-Legit. Around here, the legends still hold it down. Legends hold the most weight around here, so those are the records you gone get. Now, lately The Federation have come and taken it by the bulls horns and rode it out, they have become a factor in this. The Team is working hard. I meet most of these rap dudes on the street. It ain’t no whole deal to get your record played, it’s about having a good record.” A lot of people think that is a fact, even with the Bay getting a little bit of play, some people get a lot more play than others, and people think something is going on. “Ain’t nothin’ goin’ on. Understand, most of these rap muthaf**kas talkin’ that sh*t was raised on Quinn. Quinn been rappin’ since he was 12. Don’t tell me you don’t have a San Quinn tape. People call it ‘Sick Wid It radio,’ you was raised on Sick Wid It! I still got Sick Wid It tapes, not CDs, tapes! People just looking for something to argue about. Before it was no Bay, now when they get Bay, it’s only because of this that and the third. I was taught at a young age that you cannot make everybody happy. If you don’t like it f**k it.”
So does it come down to requests, or that the music isn’t hot? “You can put out a record and sit in a room and have your homeboys call me all day, have four homeboys call me 200 times, but I’m not a computer and I’m not stupid. I know the same voices. How about we do it like this, let’s go to a party and play your record, and when the crowd splits and the dance floor clears, we can go ‘hey maybe this is not the one.’ People might say, ‘oh they don’t want to dance to it ‘cause they don’t know it.’ I don’t wanna hear that sh*t, if it’s hot it’s hot. No matter how much perfume you spray on sh*t, it’s still sh*t.”
Now that the Bay is receiving a little radio play, is it because the sound is becoming more radio friendly? “No, I was raised on Bay Area music. When I was at Wild, we played it latenight. We was a little too wild for that crowd. My boss came and put us where we could play it, and we gave it back. KMEL didn’t have it at that time, they played a little bit of it, but it wasn’t getting the full focus. I just played records that I like. I like ‘Sideways,’ ‘Mr. Flamboyant,’ ‘Come On In.’ When I was comin’ up they didn’t play none of that sh*t. Rap is a full contact sport, and just because you rappin’ hard, if you wanna get in a battle, and I don’t mean Hip Hop sh*t word for word, we gone go song for song. If nobody’s moving, singing your song, or dancing, basically it’s crap.” Do you see the sound as more radio friendly? “I don’t take it as radio friendly, I play a record that’s good. Understand I’m trying to appeal, I don’t ever wanna be old and outdated.” Do you think the Bay is trying to cater to the radio now? “I think some people are trying, and I tell them ‘if you really feel like you want to make this record, go ahead, but this is not you.’ You can’t be MC killy kill, kill a million muthaf**kas and f**k all the h*es ten albums, and then try to come back with a love song, that’s not you buddy. When I put down that $10 to buy your album and you’re singing love raps, that’s not you. I bought the record because you was the hardest most killinest dude out there.”
