Green Lantern talks Obama, Million DJ March and Rocking With a Band

Green Lantern’s power ring could use a charge. The sleep-deprived mix master is barely audible over the phone but with good reason. He’s been bouncing from city to city moving the crowd as Nas’ DJ on the Jones Experience Tour. But if anything can perk him up it’s the prospect of the first African-American President of the United States.

“This is a historic time we live in,” says the New York native who produced the track “Black President” on Nas’ latest CD. “If I can indirectly have a hand it in that’s really crazy. He’s come a long way and fought for a whole lot of things his whole life and I’m just shocked and amazed that we’re at this point with it.”

Green Lantern was originally scheduled to make a trip to Washington D.C this past weekend to attend the Million DJ March, but scheduling with the tour made that impossible. However, he is still in support of the march’s mission.

“I support the idea,” he says. “Get some health benefits and organize to a point, hold people accountable. There’s strength in numbers.”

Green Lantern is also putting the finishing touches on a Barack Obama mixtape but has taken his time putting it out for obvious reasons. His friend Ludacris was lambasted in the press for calling Hillary Clinton a “bitch” in a pro-Obama mixtape song.

“The Republicans have their agenda which is to test [Barack] ‘That’s your homey, right? That’s your man?’ So he has to go ‘hold up.’ I think it would have been taken lighter if he was already in the office,” says Green Lantern. “Right now he’s under a lot of scrutiny to be the perfect person. But in hip-hop we use aggressive language. By saying stuff like that to a hip-hop audience they’re not flynching. But to larger society where everything is so proper they go ‘oh my God!’”

Nevertheless, Green has made the appropriate adjustments for his own collection of pro-Obama songs.

“I just wanted it to be something that he could stand behind all of the songs,” he says of the delay in making the tape. “I was getting verses from people and had to go back and say ‘yo, this is a little over the stop,’ so I was waiting for the revisions and a lot of them never came. I gotta keep it movin’. I don’t want to put anything out that he can’t be next to.”

Green also talked about the hurdles in rocking a show like Rock The Bells with a live band, as Nas has done at certain stops on the tour.

“I was just a little worried about the sound at the venue,” he shares. “Having all of those different acts and then a band, it’s so hard for a soundman to setup and get a sound check, that’s why it took so long. There was a big gap before we came on. Rock The Bells for the most part is two turntables and a mic. So when you have a bass player, keyboard and drums, all these different inputs have to be leveled before you start playing or else you’ll sound crazy. I was concerned with that but we pulled it off. We’ve been using the band sporadically. We did a show at Webster Hall in New York with the band it sounded better than at Jones Beach.”

After the tour Green Lantern will be promoting shows for the Grand Theft Auto soundtrack that he has produced, but you can check him every Monday night on his “Team Invasion” show on Sirius Satellite radio with host Sharon Divine.

A Million DJs To March on D.C. This Weekend

Washington, D.C. - This Friday, August 29th will see the beginning of the two days of activities that make up the inaugural Million DJ March event. Consisting of a day of panel discussions and an evening celebrity basketball game on Friday at the D.C. Boys and Girls Club, and ending with the March itself on the lawn at National Mall on Saturday, August 30th, the 2 day event is expected to attract DJ’s from all over the nation.

The event will not only be an opportunity to protest unfair compensation practices but will help DJs organize their businesses, sign up for health insurance, and learn about the legal issues mixtape DJs face.

Saturday’s schedule, which begins at 11AM will consist of a day of speeches by the likes of The Wondertwinz, Jazzy Jay, Jeannie Jones (WKYS), Superstar Jay, Chuck T, CL of Digiwaxx, B Mack of Foundation Magazine, DJ Nabs, DJ Reg West, Roger Toussaint, the owners of RapMullet.com, members of the D.C. City Council and KRS One, tailored to issues pertaining to the DJ community with intermissions of live performance by artists and DJ’s such as KRS One, Dirty Harry, Joell Ortiz, Saigon, Keith Murray, Cory Gunz, Bang Bang Boogie, DJ Famous, Kia Shine, Gillie Da Kid and Nina B.

The entire event will be broadcast live on XM Satellite’s 66 Raw station (Million DJ March Mixmaster Weekend) and webcast live on http://www.thatshiphop.com

MILLION DJ MARCH TIME TABLE

Friday, August 29th - The Boys and Girls Club (2500 14th Street NW, Washington DC 20019)

4PM Panel Discussion with DJ Leggs

6PM Insurance Dinner with DJ Roz

7PM Celebrity Basketball Game

8PM - 3AM Official Million DJ March Red Carpet Media Kick Off @ The Felix (2406 18th Street NW, Washington D.C. 20009)

Saturday, August 30th - National Mall (on the lawn), Washington D.C.

11AM - 8PM Main event with special performances by: KRS One, Kia Shine, Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz, Cory Gunz, Saigon, Gillie Da Kid, Nina B, DJ Geometrix, Chuck T, DJ Self, Jazzy Jay, DJ Nabs, DJ Aaries, Joell Ortiz, The Dey with special unannounced performances planned.

Million DJ March Planned for Washington, D.C.

Washington, DC - This summer the DJ will take center stage. The economic plight of the deejay within the music industry is to be the focus of a three day event in Washington, DC with rallies and activities beginning August 28, 2008. Organizers are expecting the attendance of deejays from around the world to participate in a Million DJ March from the Capitol Building to the Washington Monument on August 30th and its message is attracting not only deejays and deejay organizations, but civil rights activists as well. Plans for an organized union for deejays to assist them with things like 401k’s and gig compensation security, is expected to be introduced at this time, which attending deejays will be encouraged to sign up for.

Founder of the Million DJ March, A. Shaw, a long-time sponsor of Justo’s Mixtape Awards, felt compelled to address the economic disparity deejays experience after many years of working with them through various channels. “DJ’s do not get fully recognized for the work they do, “she says. “Label and major businesses who reap the rewards of default publicity need to pay attention and give more recognition and financial compensation to DJ’s for the promotion they provide, without which music sales would surely suffer.”

The team for this event includes Sommer McCoy, who is responsible for booking talent and speakers and DJ Green Lantern, who is the main poster boy for the March. Sponsors and attendees will be able to watch artist performances and hear the speeches of music industry leaders and founding deejays, highlighting deejays’ decades of service to the industry. A. Shaw says ins closing, “I am calling upon the industry to show support for an event to unify deejays and help create future economic safety for those that have chosen this art form as a career.”

For further information, or to become involved, kindly contact Nancy Byron, OGPR (832) 220-6071 or nancyb@ogpr.net.