Hip-Hop Made: Kid Capri Hip-Hop Made

Switching it on 'em last minute with a brand new list of questions he doesn’t usually get asked instead of the ones he had planned, Mike Street caught up with DJ Kid Capri to talk about everything from the struggle of carrying crates of vinyl back in the day to events and places he wants to perform at in the future, and more.

After expressing how the new era of entertainers would never know the struggles of the old school way of doing things, Kid Capri recalled, “I carried 15 crates around the world man. I was the first dude to own two tour buses… in Hip-Hop. Because of traveling with 15 crates of albums on airplanes, paying for all the weight, paying for all the extra baggage, I just said you know what I’m gonna buy me a bus.”

"When I went to go buy me a bus, they laughed at me, like ‘people don’t buy buses, the album come out they go on tour for three or four months, they send the bus back,’” Not concerned, Kid bought his first bus and eventually another even bigger one.

Learning to embrace the new wave of using Serato instead of vinyl on turntables after a push from DJ Jazzy Jeff, these days Kid Capri is back to traveling on planes for gigs. But, as he explained, the conversion wasn’t easy.

“As many things as I innovated, I like to keep things lookin’ a certain way. And when I had all the records behind me, it just made it look like a big production. Running to get the record, catching it at the last minute, dropping it, you know, it amazes the crowds. So I thought that once we get on the Serato it was gonna take that feeling away from it, but it just got even more crazier… my shows they be nuts.”

While Serato has made its way into Capri’s scope of skills, he has no plans of making the switch to controllers any time in the future.

Speaking of future, when asked if there are any events or places he has yet to but wants to DJ at, Capri didn’t really have anything in mind, and focused his answer more on appreciating the amazing places he’s already been and the incredible crowds he’s been blessed to perform for. “I’m sure there’s lots of places I haven’t been, plenty events I haven’t done. But I’ve done so many it’s kind of hard to like think of it,” Capri expressed. “Because everything that comes out they either call me first to do, or do the last of it, or do the main event of it, and it be in every city, every state.”

He continued, “I’ve been to every state, every island, all through Europe, and to get that kind of love for as long as I have, it’s truly a blessing. Because they got people in they own city that can entertain them, and for them to call me… they don’t have to do that… but that’s what we work for.  As long as you work and you really work hard and you really care about your fans, it’s gonna resonate with them and they always gonna wanna feel that energy… so I’m grateful in that way.”

Listen to it all plus more, including questioning the common list of Top 5 GOATs, wondering why Twista is never brought up, and wanting to be viewed in Hip-Hop history for doing it “the right way.” Press play on the interview above for all of it.

Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Mike Street