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When asked about his first set he replied with two answers: his first
messed up set and his best set. Richie’s first set was “messed up”
Richie laughs and exclaims: “It was horrible; I had a ½ crate of records
about 20 and some mix tapes. The set was split between two floors.
Everybody was upstairs and I was down stairs. Nobody was feeling me.
Nobody!...But I did however get paid....I wanted to actually give the
money back it was so bad.” Richie’s best and longest DJ stint was at
Slicks on Sundays in 2002-03, the Soul in the Hole Matinee.
The best time in Richie’s life as a DJ is “Right Now!” he says. He
explains, “I wasn't inspired to become a DJ back then I was strictly and
still am a party head…I only started buying records because the clubs
closed and I still wanted to hear the music.” He frequented Frankie
Knuckles at The Power Plant, Ron Hardy at Music Box and Michael Ezebukwu
at Rialto’s.
When asked about the style of music, Richie labels it “All Music” and
goes on to say, “house incorporates a lot of everything: Fela, Tears for
Fears, Gwen Guthrie….”
Richie manages the crowd, he says, “Regardless of the crowd beat it
anyway. Beat it for one person. It’s easy to play for a crowd; you just
feed off their vibe. Moving 3 or 4 people is harder and it depends on
when and who you are beating for.”
He says, “I’m a party person who just happens to spin. If I ain’t
spinning, I’m dancing. It ain’t about me.”
He likes winter when everybody’s inside the party. “When its freez’n”,
he says. “They (party goers) are out to party and are serious about
theirs.”
During this interview Jarvis Mason chimes in with a couple of key
questions. He asks Richie to name three top artists he likes to listen
to. Richie’s reply: Chaka Khan, James Brown, Frank Marino and
Mahogany Rush.
Jarvis ended the interview with, “what do you want the people to know?”
“The music is bigger than me and I am just a spoke in a wheel, its all
about the music.” He goes on to say, “If it was ever about anything
other than the music…it never was about the music!”
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