Success is a big step each time you get one foot above the ladder. Even though there are times when the obstacle is tough, you can’t give up if you want to reach the top bad enough. A lot of times if your in a situation that you feel is a problem, sometimes it’s best not to just talk about it, but be about it. Eventually when you do solve a problem, if it was in the community’s best interest you’re a glorified leader. In the case of the Detroit hip-hop scene you can sure say DJ Young Mase is the messiah.

The mixtape scene in the city of Detroit is a tough market. One major problem is the lack of support from the city’s local DJ’s and artists. Many agree that it comes from the D’s self-proclaimed “Top Dogs” having too much pride to bring unity. When you get sick of something it sometimes best to be an example and show how it’s done.

DJ Young Mase whether you like it or not is the 313’s biggest if not best DJ in the town. He loves where he comes from and does whatever he can to show that. Your not a real DJ unless you got love in your hometown and this is why DJ Young Mase is Mr. Detroit. Now due to his respected grind he’s ready to start it all over again. The reason why is now he’s ready to take it to a higher level being the newest member of The Aphilliates.

Last week I was reading about La Da Darkman and he mentioned his youn ger brother Willie The Kid and AMG. During the interview he also mentioned your name being a part of the Aphilliates. How did that come about and why La gave you a chance to be a part of the crew?

First and foremost it’s an honor and I’m out in Detroit doing my thing. Ever since that I have taken my mixtapes uphill and try to match it to Drama’s Gangsta Grillz and create my own style. I follow the Aphilliates so why not join the biggest and heaviest DJ crew in the world.

We first ran across each other when I was trying to push my artist Trel Mack and you stayed on your mixtape grind. Now that you’re a part of the Aphilliates what you will do to take your mixtapes to a higher level?

Jut branch out and just plan, it was planned at the top of the year.  Now every thing that we doing from this day forward we just working harder and specifying things. Nothing changes, but if you’re a mixtape DJ your going to do everything you can. If you’re a part of a crew or not you always want to step your game up. Everything now is more official and one big leap for me. What we got to do now is focus more and not sleep right now. We got to do what we came here for and work as hard as we can to accomplish our goals. The Aphilliates movement is big for me right now and I’m just happy to be a part of it.

Since your from Detroit, would you say you’re a part of let’s say Aphilliates Midwest?

Yeah, you can say that. It’s nothing wrong with saying Aphilliates Midwest. Aphilliates the name is going to be all over the world you know. It’s something that reaches the streets of every hood. We gotta come to your hood and make sure you get a Aphilliates mixtape, it don’t matter what DJ it is.

Being from Detroit how did you become one of the biggest DJ’s in the 313?

I’m the biggest, it’s just how I work. You just gotta see what’s around you, Detroit is not a mixtape market by far. Detroit is the least place you go looking for a mixtape. If you from overseas you don’t come to Detroit looking for a mixtape. You go to New York, Philly, Connecticut looking for mixtapes, you don’t come to Detroit. It’s just consistency and working with everybody. In Detroit it’s not a whole lot of mixtape DJ’s and it’s not a lot of DJ’s period putting out mixtapes monthly, every two month, or whatever. For me I just have taken it all right now.

But Detroit has a pretty strong hip-hop scene. Eminen, D-12, Slum Village, Guilty Simpson the whole nine yards. What you think is the main problem why it don’t have a strong mixtape scene?

Basically a strong mixtape scene comes from mixtape DJ’s, that’s it period. You got a strong mixtape scene in New York where you have a 100 mixtape DJ’s, you got mixtape DJ’s on the radio, you got mixtape DJ’s that need something. For me it’s simple I have to hear something for the city of Detroit to be big. When you get something from your city then you can go out for your city and apply bigger things. Until that you can’t do anything, so other mixtape DJ’s that are only concerned with certain things in the city you can’t really branch out. Any DJ can go out and grab any Dipset record.

It’s different when you can call and say “Yo I need a drop, I need this” and you making an official tape with the whole crew. That’s not here, that’s not what we see in Detroit, we only see certain things. Detroit is blue-collar and we always will be blue-collar as long as one man fights everybody else. It’s no togetherness no matter what anybody says it’s no togetherness. Everybody wants to be on top in Detroit and people are not working together. That’s why you see no mixtape DJ’s or artist come out as strong as other cities.

Why you call yourself DJ Young Mase, where did that come from?

Originally it was DJ Mason as Mason is my last name. That was years ago when we was doing radio and we cut it short like “Let’s make it Mase”. My man one time asked me what did I think of a record Young Mase and that was it from that day forward. That was the thing that stuck with me since then. That was like early late ’04, early ’05 when he called me Young Mase.

Doing my research I read that you were Obie Trice’s DJ, how that go down?

Obie called me, I was cool with him, and he did a record for me. I’ve been getting some exclusives from his manager through email and I need him to do something for my project which was “Detroit Takeover” which I do every year. It’s the biggest mixtape in Detroit and he did the intro for me. He just kind of saw the hard work in me and we see eye to eye. I want to work hard and he wants to work hard. Obie’s a really genuine person so when he came at me I understood where he was coming from. We understood that we can’t get anywhere unless we work together. As long as I’m a DJ and as long as he’s an artist I’m a be there for him.

I remember checking out one of your tapes and you had that “Short Distance” track on there Obie did. That track was crazy!

Oh yeah, that “Short Distance” will be on Obie Trice’s new mixtape coming first week of July.

Who do you see blowing up right now as an upcoming Detroit artist?

Everybody, I see everybody blowing up Detorit. Everybody blowing up Detroit, but I see everybody not working together. I can say Guilty Simpson, Black Milk, Tone Tone, K-Deezy. The economy right now is either you work or you don’t have a name period. It don’t matter if you doing the the DJ’s intro on the shows you not getting paid if you don’t got a name. It’s a lot of things, management, marketing, it’s everything from our artist that were lacking in the city. A lot of guidance is not here, but like you say we got Slum Village, Guilty Simpson, Obie. People forget that D-12 sold 8 million records, it’s no one in the city that sold 8 million records. D-12 sold 8 million records worldwide and it ain’t no other rap group in Detroit that I know sold 8 million records worldwide.

The problem with us in Detroit is that we don’t think of the outside. We just think about being hoodstars and being the man in the city. Look at D-12, Eminem, 50 Cent those guys have marketing, they have a plan. Everything they touch is marketed and it’s always a plan with them. The thing with us is we get some music to the radio station and boom we done. We wait for somebody to pick it up, you got to get it out to these DJ’s. If it’s a new record out and I don’t have it I don’t want it. That’s the first thing that these artist should do is get to these DJ’s, go to the radio station, get that marketing on, get them flyers, get everything you can to make a name for yourself. It’s the same thing I have to do to make a name for myself. Just because you got a little buzz, someone calls you fam, or you part of a crew doesn’t mean you made it. It’s a handful of artist out here in Detroit that actually tour. We need to step up and do it a little different. We need to go to Amsterdam, Guilty Simpson is in Amsterdam right now getting money. That’s what we need to be doing.

Well at least you doing what you got to do to hold your city down right?

Of course!

Guilty Simpson is my favorite artist in Detroit right now.

Yeah, but it’s like I can go to the hood and be like “You heard of Guilty Simspon?” and they will be like “Nah we never heard of Guilty Simpson”. Now I see it’s a different picture. If I’m the only mixtape DJ that wants to promote local artist and put out mad mixtapes in Detroit it’s like now you got the hip-hop community and the street community. That’s how hip-hop and rap is based in Detroit. It’s not a community it’s sectioned off with hip-hop and street cats. You gotta find a medium of what side you play on and then you go from there.

How will DJ Young Mase stay on top of the game in Detroit, worldwide, and for the Aphilliates?

Consistency, hard work, dedication, and that’s it. I’m a continue to feed the streets like Drama, Cannon, Sense, La Da Darkman, Willie The Kid. I’m a continue to grace these streets with Obie Trice mixtapes, D-12 mixtapes, and just do the thing. The biggest thing for me is I’ve done everybody in the city, everybody. It’s time now to do bigger and better projects. For a while I was doing the same thing, but you gotta be able to recreate yourself. With the Aphilliates push right now I’m able to recreate myself. Look out for Detroit Takeover”4. We had the first DJ in Detroit to shoot a music video, that’s me right there. That’s last year so imagine what I’m gonna do for this “Takeover”.

One day you need to do a “Philly to Detroit” mixtape with Q The Question, Trel Mack, and DJ Young Mase!

Yo we’ll see what we can do man, because you know I mess with Trel. It ain’t no thing I understand how it works, all I want to do is work hard everyday and make sure I can help who I can help. I gotta stay focus man and if I can’t stay focused doing it I’ll stop, I can’t hold anybody up.

DJ Young Mase appreciate you for getting down with your boy Q The Question for Sixshot.com. Throw out the myspace where fans can find you?

The official place to find Young Mase is Youngmase.com and myspace.com/djyoungmase go to either one. See everything that’s out, Willie the Kid Prince Among Thieves is out, you know what it is. Detroit city that’s where I’m from. Trel what’s poppin, my man Q, The Source, Sixshot.com, from ya boy Young Mase AKA Mr. Detroit City.

This interview was conducted and written for Sixshot.com by Quinton Hatfield.