TMC Presents


Any fan of rap music in the Phoenix metropolitan area between 1994-2007 knew the "TMC Presents" brand when they saw it. Tyree Michael Carter,or "Ty" to those closer to him,was the one who finally put Phoenix on the Hip-Hop tour circuit, establishing himself as a national level player in the process. I moved to Phoenix from Milwaukee in 1998 and met Ty immediately. Laid-back and soft spoken, he told me he was looking for a dj for a new rap group he was managing called Know Qwestion. I agreed to join his group and would later go on to become a regular dj and host for many TMC concerts,after-parties,and in-store artist appearances. I got a chance to reminisce with Ty about the "old days" and pick his brain about a classic time in hip-hop music.  


Darrell-How did you get started?

Ty-I got started in 90-91 doing backyard keg house parties. I soon got a reputation for throwing huge illegal warehouse parties with the Phunk Junkeez. It was a crazy time because those parties always got raided. I would have to unplug the generators and get out of there because they could always trace the generators back to me. The Phunk Junkeez would still be playing "dry" instruments while yelling "F*#@ THE POLICE" while 30 cops are walking across the field with flashlights. Insane! The Junkeez and i worked a LOT of shows throughout my career.
     I then worked for Brad Loftland of Loftland Entertainment just long enough to learn the basics of the trade before i started TMC Presents in 1994. 


What was your first show?

My first official show was called Skate Phest with the Pharcyde and the Phunk Junkeez. That was january 1st 1994. That was the show that put me on the map. I worked with the Pharcyde more than any other group or artist in my 17 year career. Years later, The Plain Rap tour was the first show they did without Slimkid and Fatlip. That show was sold-out because the fans knew how timeless their music was. 



Back in 1998 you did a show with Big Pun and Xzibit. What do you remember about that show?

I did a small tour with those guys. In fact,that was the first show i did in Albuquerque,New Mexico. I chilled with Pun for 3 days. It was great but sad at the same time. To see all of that weight he gained. I remember sitting next to him on the tour bus. I was paying him and watching how heavy his breathing was. He even needed help getting dressed. It was sad.
 Xzibit on the other hand was actually from Albuquerque and this was his first homecoming show. His entire family was backstage, his parents,cousins,everybody. It was a sold-out show at the Sunshine Theatre.






What are some other artists you've worked with?

Gang Starr, Outkast, Atmosphere, Living Legends, Black Eyed Peas before Fergie, Erykah Badu, Cash Money Millionairs, Fugees, Immortal Technique, Nas, Common Sense, the Roots, Rakim, Sugarhill Gang, Prince Paul, Beatnuts, Camp Lo, Run-DMC, X-Ecutioners, Alkaholiks, Biggie, Ice Cube, Dj Swamp, De La Soul, Hieroglyphics,  too many to name.

What was it like working with the entire Hiero crew?

Actually, I worked with them as much as i worked with the Pharcyde. They alwyas brought in good numbers. Hiero is like family.




Tell me about the show with Nas.

Another sold-out show. That's the night Know Qwestion got jumped on stage. A riot broke out. I had to pay Nas in full before he would even get out of the van because of all the kaos.





What about the Biggie show?

I brought Biggie to Club Rio in 1996. That was the only time he has ever been on Phoenix soil. He died a year later. After his performance, he went out into the crowd with no bodyguard, and shook every fans hand until the building was empty. He was a nice guy.





  




Back in 1997, before i moved to Phoenix, you did a show with the Wu-Tang Clan and the Alkaholiks. Tell me about that show.


Yeah, that was single-handedly the craziest night of my career. It was the biggest show i've ever done,the most money i've ever made on a show, it was the best and worst night at the same time. the Wu called me at 8am that morning from San Diego to ask how long it would take to fly to Phoenix and how long it would take to drive here. I didn't hear from them again until 10 minutes before showtime. The crowd was restless because it had been 2 hours since the Liks finished their performance. I was just about to write a cancellation speech to 7500 people. I was standing outside in the back when i looked over and saw like 8 SUV's pulling up. The doors opened, huge puffs of smoke came pouring out, then out comes the Clan! I was almost forced to cancel the show.

Working with the WU was always crazy. I remember doing a Raekwon show and it was showtime but Rae was still at the hotel. The club is going crazy at this point. I called Derek,my runner, and told him to bang on Raekwon's hotel door and tell him to get his *#@! to the venue! Derek knocks on the door and Rae opens it wearing just some boxers with a blunt in his mouth and his hair half braided with some chic in the back waiting to braid the other half. "we need you on stage right now", Derek tells him. Rae replies,"i'll get there when i get there", then shuts the door.  Fans love them but they were always drama.





So what happened to TMC?

There's not a lot of good rap music or quality acts like there use to be. I'm not going to invest money on these one-hit wonders of today. I gracefully bowed out in 2007 and i haven't seen that void filled since.

Merry Christmas?



Why judge what someone else does, when God is judging you? The celebration of ''birthdays'' and Christmas are both of pagan origin. No one in the Bible celebrated a birthday except pagans. Did you ever read of Jesus parents or the apostles celebrating Jesus' birthday or theirs? Your 'birthday' is the day you were born. When one marries, a year later it's not their wedding day, it's the anniversary. Christmas, if it were Christian would most definitely be about you, not the children, These children don't have the slightest notion of Jesus. '' For the children'' is an excuse for all the office parties and all the drinking, gluttony and festivities that are common.. God didn't tell us when Jesus was born because it was only important to his parents. Two years ago Twenty inches of snow was dumped on Jerusalem in the first week of January. Bethlehem is six miles from Jerusalem. Does it seem likely people would be ordered to travel, many on foot in that season? The sheep are brought down from the highland pastures no later than Oct 15th, to be put in shelters for the winter. Hence, no need for shepherds in Dec. The wise men, aka astrologers were hundreds of miles from Bethlehem on the night Jesus was born. A camel can travel about 35 miles in a day. The scriptures tell us that they found '' the young child in a house'', and not in Bethlehem. They gave him their gifts but got nothing in return, as was the custom when honoring an important person. There were no trees, holly, mistletoe, brightly colored decorations or any of the trappings of a pagan holiday, at that time. God did give us the exact date of his death, and we were told to observe it. Man saw fit to change the date so it always falls on a Friday, so there can be another day off from work. This is as senseless as celebrating Thanksgiving. Do we really need the government to set aside a day for us to be thankful for all our blessings? We don't need to be thankful on the other 364? In addition, Do we need to lie to our children by telling them that Santa brings them gifts and covers the whole world in one night powered only by flying reindeer. Or that a rabbit who gives live birth, lays brightly colored eggs for us on Easter, a word not found in the Bible? Before criticizing others examine yourself. We all have an accounting with the Supreme Judge of us all, in the not too distant future.

Some Recent Digs

                             
                                                  Copped this classic for .50cents.





 
                                 This is some serious old school random rap from out of Ohio.
                                                    A compilation of pure heat!











                                           More old school random heat from Ohio!


Mixtape Spotlight-Tony Touch-50 Live MC's


Tony Touch is the man! Who else is bad enough to get 50 ill mc's on one tape! This was an instant classic when it dropped even though a lot of New York dj's were known for featuring exclusive freestyles from various mc's. Tony set the bar pretty high when he got Grandmaster Caz,KRS-ONE,Heather B,Jeru the Damaja,Kid Creole,J-Ro,Kool G Rap,Guru,Freddy Foxx,and lots of your other favorite mc's all on one tape. MC Search and Dinco D are two of my favorite moments. If you are all about freestyles and lyrics you need to rock this in your walkman asap!


The Blunt Club

No,this is not a "weed party"(I don't get high),it's just the longest running hip-hop party in Phoenix y'all! Rocked it with my brothers SHINING SOUL!

Vinyl Spotlight-The Headhunters


I finally got my hands on this classic and yes,if you were wondering,this is the song i named this blog after.  It's actually titled  God "Make" Me Funky not "Made" but i've always said "Made".



Harlem World


The History Of Harlem World

gangstergee09Today, the old Harlem World Club building is a Conway’s on 116th and Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue), but it was also the place for the drugstore chain Woolworth. But more importantly, from 1978 to 1985, it was the home of legendary disco, The Harlem World Club.
Harlem World was a three-story club with a lighted dance floor, chandeliers, wall to wall gold shag carpeting, mirrored walls, and a one of a kind, one hundred foot lightning bolt-shaped bar.


Because of a loophole in the zoning law, Harlem World could not be listed as a nightclub. It was officially called, the Harlem World Cultural and Entertainment Complex but everyone called it “The World.”
harlem world club
The visionary behind the space was the “Fat Man!” Fat man was one of the owners and some say the visionary behind the Harlem World Club concept.
Charlie Rock, who worked at the club, said the “Fat Man” was a “master of people.” “He could talk a dude into bathing himself in gasoline and stepping into a fire, and tell them that they were freezing cold, and they’d believe him.”
Later, Chuck Foster became co-owner of the Harlem World, now at 75 years of age, he is Archivist the New Amsterdam Musical Association, a historical jazz organization in Harlem. Mr. Foster first worked at Harlem World, as one of the men that was responsible for building Harlem World before becoming an owner. 
Anyone that was anyone in hip hop came through Harlem World, Busy Bee, Love Bug Starski, Grand Master Flash & the Furious, Fantastic Romantic, Lady Smiley, Cold Crush, L. A. Sunshine, Treacherous Three, Doug E. Fresh, and Kool Moe Dee–who also worked as a Harlem World DJ.
Rap duo Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde (below), recorded on the Harlem World label, Rojac and Taystar Records owned by “Fat Man” in 1980.
Legend has it that Rojac and Taystar gave Sylvia Robinson (who had her own hit “Pillow Talk,” who passed in 2011), a successful Harlem recording artist and executive at Sugar Hill Records, the idea to puthip-hop music on records.
The story goes that at a one night at Robinson’s birthday party, the crew were up on stage rhyming and she was sitting in a balcony in front of the stage with Fat Man.
He told her his plan to put his group on wax and make history by releasing the world’s first rap record. Shortly afterwards, Robinson released “Rapper’s Delight” with the Sugar Hill Gang, hip hop’s first record. The song went on to become a music classic.

In the mid-1980’s Harlem World evolved with the times and became known for “Wild, Wild Wednesdays” and Eddie Cheba’s “Terrible Tuesdays” and the big hip hop “MC Battles.” Rap history was made again with Kool Moe Dee and Busy Bee famous “Battle at Harlem World.” The club also included “Disco Night” and “Kiddy Disco” on Sunday’s where you could bring your kids in ages 2 to 12 for 4-5 hours.

As part of this evolution, Harlem World had R&B shows in between the hip hop shows with groups like Atlantic Star, Blue Magic, Jerry Butler, Arthur Prysock, Eartha Kitt, GQ, New Edition, and Reggae acts like Mighty Sparrow, Yellow Man and a local group calledJahmila, that featured a very young keyboard musician named Teddy Riley, and Keith Sweat on vocals.
As Charlie Rock said in an interview with Tha Foundation in the Fall of 2003 about the historic Harlem World Club, “…in 1985, I walked to 116th st. and Lenox ave. and the joint was closed tight, that’s when I realized that it was really over for good, and I would never walk back into those doors...”

Dj Spotlight-Drunk Jeff




How did you get into dj'ing?
I started collecting records because of the 12" mixes not available on the LP. My boy Rudy down the block had this little turntable receiver all in one thing. I used to go to his crib and he would try to scratch using the volume as a fader. When I brought over my Paid In Full Coldcut 7 minutes of Madness 12" it was over. My life changed. We beat the hell out of that record.  

Any other hobbies/interests?
Reading as much as I can. I like to hike. I'm still trying to make the perfect burger.

Share a cool digging story.
Back in Bakersfield in like '94-'95 I was walking downtown and noticed a storefront full of books. As I got closer I realized it wasn't open yet as it was a brand new store. I looked in the window and saw thousands of records. More then I could imagine at the time. I found out there opening date which was a few days later and went down there without telling anyone but my homie Dan because he had a car. I lost my mind in that place. I was so broke in those days but still managed to grab about 200 pieces for $1 each. They had tons of crazy heat. If I would of known then what I know now it would've been over. I kept it a secret for a few weeks till I got what I wanted out of there.

If you could be someone else for a day,who would it be?
So many people come to mind. Right now today I'm going to say Quest love. It might be someone completely different tomorrow.

What was the first record you ever bought?
The first record I ever bought was Joan Jett And The Blackhearts "I Love Rock 'N' Roll. I bought it at Sears when I was like 10.


What dj/record collector do you admire and why?
Way too many to name. If I have to mention only one I will go with Z-Trip. He's my favorite DJ ever. His collection is ridiculous. His knowledge is unfathomable.

What are some "holy grails" in your collection?
I have this Latin Soul record by Mike Adame and Barrio called "Chicanita" It's a super raer! I have a nice minty OG Lymann Woodard "Saturday Night Special" LP. I have Dilla's copy of Eugene Mcdaniels "Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse".

What's the weirdest thing that has happened to you while dj'ing?
Some chick bringing me a drink onstage and then sticking her tongue down my throat. That hasn't happened since....lol.

What else do you collect besides records?
I'm huge into movies. I have a pretty decent collection. Probably 600 - 700 DVD's and Blu-rays. Mostly Horror, Blaxploitation, B-Movies and Cult flicks.


If you could meet anyone,living or dead,who would you meet? 
James Brown without a doubt. I cried when he passed. I bawled like a baby. I've never done that before unless it was a family member or friend. His music changed my life.

What's the best gift you've ever received?
My daughter Jazzmine Sky Walker


What makes you different from other dj's?
I spin vinyl. I don't know how to use Serato and don't care to learn. I'm straight to the point when I spin. I just want to rock the crowd. I don't double up much. I love to take chances and play some off the wall s*** that not everyone knows. I love mixing up different genres but keeping the same energy.


VINYL ONLY!

Had a great time rockin an ALL VINYL night with some of the homies before dipping off to Sweden.