In the great traditions of DJ Uncle Al, Disco Dave, and Milton "Butterball" Smith, DJ Roliboy is a Miami street DJ known for dropping tremendo bass.
He was posted at the Graffé Cafe in Wynwood during Art Basel Miami Beach throwing his "Rollin Balls 7.8: Booty Monster" mix straight onto N. Miami Ave. off some old-school big-box speakers that were stopping traffic.
With 2015 almost here, Roliboy has a new album on deck. Here's what he had to say about Miami bass, the origins of slow-down music, and making Baja Panties tapes.
See also: Miami's Top Ten Hip-Hop DJs of All Time
Crossfade: How did you start DJing?
DJ Roliboy: I went and moved away to Orlando to go to school and couldn't find my own music that I liked so I just started doing it myself. I started making mixes on my own and collabing with different people through time, dropping a couple mixes every year to stay relevant.....well, underground, but still relevant to those who know you.
Where you from?
Allapattah, 14th Ave.
Did you grow up around dfferent radio stations?
There was a underground radio station off 17th but I rememember it being called the Sunshine Station or something like that on top of the car wash.
What DJs influenced you growing up?
Everybody, man. DJ Uncle Al, Diamond D, everybody on Jam Pony. Everybody from Sugar Hill DJs. All the radio DJs like DJ Laz. Luke back in the day. Luke used to go crazy. Mainly all the old school people. Disco Dave! Disco Dave used to slow everything down. I used to slow music down too, called it Crunk and Drunk style. I still have links up on Dat Piff of that.
Crunk and Drunk?
Yeah. I got mixtapes on it with Young Breed from Maybach, and Deuce Poppi from Maybach. Orlando or wherever I was at the time, no one was doing good shit, so I had to make mixtapes that I thought sounded hard slowed down. After a while of knowing people and making friends I started getting drops and shoutouts from people and stuff like that little by little.
See also: Miami Booty Bass: Ten Best Acts of All Time
What music did you grow up with?
The music I grew up with is crazy. My mom is Hondureña and my dad's Cuban so it'd be fuckin' slasa, bachata, merengue, lot of Spanish shit goin on. I actually am the one that dropped the Baja Panties mixtape series of all Spanish shit around 2006. It was an all Spanish mix with a lot of crazy fuckin' perreo type of hype dancing. But Spanish music is crazy, it's really difficult to control. It has so much more drama and emotion.
Anybody ever tell you anything about giving away your music?
I put out music that you're supposed to pay for, but I'm underground so I don't give a fuck. Pa la verga.
What is your setup?
Two turntables, a mixer, and Serato. I can work with whatver, but that's what I use.
How'd you come up with using that Otis Day and The Knights "Shout" trapped out?
I had that Thriller up under there and just needed somethin' to come in and take you away and immediately start dancing. And then, BASS. My boy Tripp at Miami Recording Studio is the engineer. He does the mastering and makes eveyrthing sound clean and drop right.
How'd you get down with Graffe Caffe?
That's hometeam. That's hometeam. 004 Connec is the #1 graffiti supply store in the world. They have their own Evolve Paint. Everything is hometeam. We're gonna set up another block party. We had a block party in October. Fat Joe was there. He came and performed. We blocked off 24th street from N Miami to NW 2nd Ave, and we had a stage in the middle. It was 004 Connect's 10th year anniversary.
How'd you get your style mixing all these different styles of music united by bass?
That's just me. That's the DJ Roliboy sound. I got 7 mixtapes in that series already and I'm workin' on 8 right now. Rollin' Balls 8.9 comin soon. No subtitle or cover yet, but will be shortly here dropped.
How did you come up with Booty Monster 7.8?
78 is my birth year. Booty Monster is because of everything coming out at that time. Ultra was on some fruitcake shit, so we had to bring it back. Why do we got parties? Why even bother with all this shit? To see the girls dance. So if you ain't got the music that makes the girls dance, you ain't shit. And if the girls don't wanna dance, I'ma make em' dance, cause I'm a booty monster, and I bring it out of them with music.
How did the bass music get to you when it first came to Miami?
Bass didn't first come to Miami, we're home of teh bass. You gotta reword that. Miami is home of the bass. We made all this shit up in the early 80s. A lot of people think Shy D was from Miami, but he was from Georgia. There were a couple of acts like thatf rom Louisiana. Everybody stole our swag. You know how many fights I had cause people say that slowed music started in Texas? Screw wasn't doin shit till the 90s. I used to listen to slowed down music in Miami in the 80s, here at home, in the streets, in the flea market, at parties, DJ's like Uncle Al, Disco Dave, those DJs they were jamming, they were real, they would play that slow down miusic, but they didn't make it famous. Screw made it famous, he set it off, but there been millions of motherfuckers hearing that shit in the 80s in Miami.
Twerk is just another word for bootyshake. People come down for Ultra and WMC and think they trying to show us something? Down here, we have all kinds of music. And if you ain't making the girls dance, why make music, why mix music? They spending they hard earned money to party with you, so we gon make em sweat it out. Rollin balls.
Any shoutouts?
@djroliboy on twitter, @px05 on ig@robdade, mixing & mastering by
@miamirecstudio, @mixbytrip, and of course @004connec.
Crossfade's Top Blogs
-Ten Best Miami Rap Anthems Ever
-Miami Freestyle: 13 Best Acts of All Time
-King of Diamonds: Ten Best Rap References to Miami's Most Notorious Strip Club
Follow Crossfade on Facebook and Twitter @Crossfade_SFL.
