A staple in the hip-hop community, DJ J-Love has seen it all, from the super lyrical 1990’s to the mainstream successes in the later years.

Having accomplished everything a hip-hop DJ can from radio shows, to winning Justo awards, to radio shows, to practically inventing the “Best Of” mixtape, J-Love has decided that 2008 is the year where he will step out from behind the Technics and step in front of the mic and behind the boards, lifetime dreams of his.

As Ghostface Killah’s official DJ, having hosted Tru Life’s breakout mixtape, Tru York, he’s already a busy man but never too busy to chase his passion.

With J-Love Enterprises and his first artist Mayhem in place, J-Love is ready to take over the game in a different way. Sixshot.com caught up with the legendary DJ to discuss his dislike for today’s music, why he waited so long to start rhyming for the public, and what he has in store for the fans.

Sup man, what's good?

I been good man, just recently released my LP featuring my artist Mayhem, Acknowledge Greatness, it’s in stores and iTunes right now. Basically just staying busy and keeping as much product out as possible, making real hip-hop count in thi s bullshit game. 

So tell us man, what was your relationship with Jam Master Jay like?

A lot of people think I worked with him more than I did. I only met him a few times so we didn’t have a real relationship like that but he was a real cool brother.

When did you start spinning?

I would say I got into it real heavy like around 1993 or 1994.

What made you get into production?

That’s what I always wanted to do. Producing and rhyming, those were my dreams. Things didn’t go exactly as planned so I capitalized more on the DJ aspect as the years went on but now that’s about to change because I plan to put all my focus on the production and the rhyming and really make it my top priority. I also plan to develop my artist and things like that and kind of make DJ’ing secondary.

You were raised in Queens, when did you move to Staten Island, and is there any difference in the hip-hop scene between these two spots?

A lot of people think that but I never moved to Staten Island. I think it’s because I run with Ghostface and a lot of the dudes from Wu-Tang. People just make up their own things as they go along, but me I’m Queens all day. I think Staten Island is a lil' suburbish in comparison to Queens but hip-hop is hip-hop. Now everything is computers anyway so the whole world is connected.

When did you become Ghost's official DJ and how has that experience been?

Right after he dropped the Fishscale album. It’s been a real good experience for me. I got the opportunity to travel the world and see different states, different countries, and meet new people. Plus, I get to work with one of my favorite artists of all time. At the same time his stage show looks even better.

His old DJ, who was Mathematics, was juggling DJ’ing for all of Wu-Tang and as a crew. There’s no way one man could handle everyone’s career so Mathematics does Method Man and Wu-Tang mainly and I filled a void where Ghost needed a DJ so when he dropped Fishscale being that I was around a lot everything kinda just fell into place and worked out.

You were signed to Freeze Records, what was that experience like?

That was a disaster. I had an album deal with these people and it never got released and this was in 1997. It was a compilation LP where me and two of my peoples were producing the whole album and getting guest artists.

We had Brand Nubian, Large Professor, Inspectah Deck, Guru, Cormega, OC, Masta Ace, Kool G Rap and that’s just to name a few. Shit was official but as we were bringing in artists to guest appear they snatched up Group Home and put out their album before ours. I was fed up at that point, when that decision was made. So in 2000 I took all my reels, my contracts and I just left. I’m not the type to be boxed in so I just went my own way. It goes deeper but that’s a quick version in a nutshell.
 
You've won a lot of awards for your mixtapes, is that an honor for you?

It’s most definitely an honor, it shows recognition for all the hard work that gets put in and trust me, I definitely put in a lot of hard work so it feels good to get some gratitude and respect. Also, it keeps my man Justo’s legacy alive at the same time so that’s a plus.
 
You're on Sirius radio now, how do you like it?

I like it; it gives you the freedom to do what you wanna do. It’s an outlet for more than just the top 40 and bullshit radio records.
 
You hosted Tru York not too long ago, was the buzz around that mixtape as crazy as it seemed?

Man, it definitely was. Ironically, that wasn’t the original joint we were gonna do. It was gonna be more a Tru Life cd, that’s what I committed to. I was away on tour and when I got back it was Tru York so we did what we did. The buzz was retarded though and it was bootlegged extremely heavy.

What was the creative process like for Better Your Life?

It was just me doing me, the same thought process I use everytime I go in the studio, which is to created bangers, and at least I try hard everytime. With everything I do I’m really just tryna make good music.

What was it like working with Big L?

I never got to officially work with him, he was gonna be on my album I was doing with Freeze but then he got shot and that kinda squashed that song. I remixed a few of his joint after he passed though. 

Would you say you invented the "Best Of" style of mixtape?

Maybe not invented it but definitely perfected it. I could honestly say no one could compare to me on that level.

So you decided to step behind the microphone we hear, how did you make that decision?

Like I said earlier, that was always my first dream but when I was young I was still learning and lyricism was at an all time high so I had to take my time and really develop my skill and now the state the game is in, J-Love of 1991 is better than the MC’s of 2007 and 2008.

Besides that, I feel like I’m sharp with it and I have a lot to say through my music. It’s not the typical fuck mad bitches, I got millions type of shit we hear everyday now. 2008 is gonna be a big year for me and people will see everything I’m coming with right now. It’s J-Love and Mayhem LP called Acknowledge Greatness out right now. I have my own mixtape also called Rise 2 Greatness.

Also, I have an album featuring my crew called Outdoorsmen called The Way We Like It and by they end of the year I’m trying to drop my solo LP called Greatest Man Walking as well as the debut album for my first artist off J-Love Enterprises, Mayhem, that’s gonna be called Mey-Day. So everybody be on the lookout in 2008, we got a lot coming out.

How do you feel about the DJ Drama situation?

It’s a foul situation, it’s like these labels use you as a guinea pig when they need to get to an outlet they can’t reach but then when their sales are down from the wack product they put out they say it’s the DJ’s fault, it’s insane, but the world of hip-hop we live in. I’m just glad everything worked out okay for Drama. 

Anything you'd like to say to the fans at Sixshot.com?

I’d like to thank Sixshot.com for having me and go support my projects Acknowledge Greatness out now and support real hip-hop if you want to survive the next coming years. Keep checking my website too, WWW.J-LOVEONLINE.COM, one love.