PAST & PRESENT: PF CUTTIN
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK | PF CUTTIN
INTERVIEW INNOCENT?
“It's very important that each new artist goes back and listens to what was hot 10 years from ago. Listen to what was hot back then and do your homework on this music, man. Don't think because you just did one album that you're the best shit ever. There's been thousands of albums and thousands of artists better than you. Yeah, you’ve got to do your homework as an artist.” - PF CUTTIN
VALIDATED: I'm a fan, first and foremost, I grew up in that era, but for those who aren’t familiar, let the people know who you are.
PF CUTTIN: My name is DJ Phil Fresh, also known as DJ PF Cuttin, that's what the PF stands for. I'm one half of the group called Blahzay-Blahzay. I got my start back in the early 90’s. I started out as a DJ first, and we recorded many demos and shopped them around, got a deal on Mercury and the rest is history.
VALIDATED: So, being from Brooklyn, New York, what's your earliest memory of hip hop culture?
PF CUTTIN: My earliest memory of hip hop culture was—well, even before just being from Brooklyn from just buying records. I used to ride my bicycle from East New York, all the way to 34th Street, believe it or not, I would go to Rock and Soul and buy many records. I’ve got tons of records that I bought from them. I started with two records, “Sucker M.C.’s” on one turntable, and the whole “King of Rock” album on the other. That's how I started DJ’ing. And it used to be me, my man, DJ 3D, who was DJ Doc Dre back then. We used to have one Mickey Mouse splice turntable into a Gemini mixer with a straight on Technique, and that's how we used to practice, hours and hours in his basement.
After that, I used to play drums. So, I got bored playing drums. I played drums for five years. Sold my five piece clear fiberglass drum set, and I bought an S-950 and a drum machine and that's how I started making beats. A little bit after that, I met up with a rapper called MC Watchout from the projects over here, Linden Projects, and he was the first blind rapper, and I had played drums on his record “On The B Side”. At the same time, he introduced me to Daddy O from Stetsasonic, and we established a relationship, a friendship. Daddy O used to sneak me into Latin Quarters. I remember hearing Red Alert playing, “It's A Demo” for the first time by G Rap for like 40 minutes—blew my mind man, blew my mind. So, yeah, those are my early memories of hip hop.
VALIDATED: You mentioned you're a DJ and a producer, which one did you do first and how did one lead to the other?
PF CUTTIN: Well, I started DJing first, at the same time, I was a musician, I was a drummer in high school, but even before high school I used to go to drum school every Saturday. My pops put me in drum school to keep me away from the streets. So, every Saturday I would go see my drum teacher and he would teach me bars, notes, how to read, how to write it, he would have me practice by playing drums to everything on the radio, put your headphones on and play drums to whatever you hear on the radio. I was a DJ first, but I always had that beat-making shit in me so, you know, I got bored of playing drums man and like I said, I sold my drums and bought a drum machine and bought an S-950 and started making beats.
VALIDATED: When your pops signed you up for drumming lessons, was that something you wanted to do, or were you against it initially?
PF CUTTIN: I did not. I wanted to hang out with my friends at an early age or play baseball and do kids shit, you know what I'm saying? My pop was like, “Nah, you're gonna go do something constructive”. And I'm glad he did that man, word up.
VALIDATED: So, “Blahzay Blahzay”, a hip hop group that consisted of you and MC Out Loud, shook up the world with the record “Danger” in 1995, what do you remember most about that point in your career?
PF CUTTIN: Shit, I remember just fucking being happy that somebody acknowledged my music and said it was dope. You know what I'm saying? Me and Out Loud used to spend lots of money in studio time. I'm talking about lots of money. Towards the end we used to go to a studio in Staten Island, we started going to D&D studios as well, and that's where we played “Danger” at. We let Guru hear it and he lost his mind, you know what I'm saying? Then we re-recorded the song there for Mercury when we got signed.
VALIDATED: Yeah, I still listen to that song, and play it on the radio show too.
PF CUTTIN: I appreciate you, brother.
VALIDATED: It's just one of them tracks that kind of like, you know, you got certain records that are timeless, like you put them on and automatically they put you back in that era, and to me, that's definitely one of them records.
PF CUTTIN: Word, I appreciate that.
VALIDATED: So, how long had you guys been grinding prior to that?
PF CUTTIN: Me and Out Loud… by the way, his name now is Blahzay. The group “Blahzay Blahzay” is still a group, but he's now the rapper Blahzay because more people gravitated to that name opposed to Out Loud, so it makes sense. So, to make a long story short, me and Out Loud who is now Blahzay, would spend countless amount of time in studios creating demos from the studio in Queens with the famous Paul C, from Staten Island, Laughing Dope Studios where many Wu-Tang members recorded at, to D&D studios. Yo, many studios, you name it, we were there, Firehouse. We used to save our money, because he was my childhood friend who lived down the block from me, we saved our money for studio time and would go create. We used to do that like every week, word.
VALIDATED: So, you’ve also worked with a long list of mc’s including Sean Price and O.C., to name a couple. Who else have you worked with or produced for, that fans may not be aware of?
PF CUTTIN: Chuck D, Afu-Ra, Masta Killa of the Wu-Tang Clan, the honorable H Stacks, who else… man it’s been so many, but yeah, that's the ones that come off the top of my head right now, as for big names, you know what I'm saying?
VALIDATED: Sadly, Sean Price passed in 2015, but his memory will live on forever, partially through his music. What was it like working with such a talented mc?
PF CUTTIN: I mean, it was a great experience, man. Sean was my friend more than anything. We formulated together at a time of need where I needed him and he needed me. It was a time where he wanted to show people that he can be Sean Price by himself, and one day he gave me a call like 4 in the morning and was like, “Yo, PF, I'm tired of this shit. I want to record some songs”. So, he came to my studio, and that's how we started the “Donkey Sean” mixtape and from there, we just continued to work, man.
VALIDATED: So, are there any artists that you’ve spun or produced for, early on in their careers, that later blew up?
PF CUTTIN: Action Bronson… uh who else blew up? I mean, what would you consider blowing up because when I first started with Masta Killa, he got bigger as he went on. I mean he always was a Wu Tang member, that was big, but as a solo artist, I was there from the first project all the way to his last project. So, that's another one. Yeah, there has been many artists that I've worked with, you know, blowing up, it depends what you call blowing up. You know what I'm saying?
VALIDATED: You mentioned Action Bronson. What was it about him initially that gave you the push to say , “I'm going to go ahead and work with him?”
PF CUTTIN: I mean, to be honest with you, I'll be perfectly honest, when I first heard Action, Mayhem Lauren introduced me to Action. He was like, “Yo, my friend wants to record some songs, I'm going to bring him by”. I met the kid and he got on the mic, and he sounded like somebody I never heard in my life. When I first heard Action, he didn't sound like Ghostface to me, he sounded like a white boy with some hot shit. And it blew my mind, to be honest, you know what I'm saying? He seemed like a good person at that time, and we worked for like a good two months, then he broke his foot, and that was the end of us working because I couldn't bring my studio to him, and that was it.
VALIDATED: Which producers and dj’s influenced you and what if anything did you borrow from them?
PF CUTTIN: Producers that influenced me, man… Hank Shockley, the brothers that produced Ice Cube joints, which is the same people I believe, Public Enemy, Rakim, Marley Marl, those are producers and dj’s that influenced me a lot. On the radio, Latin Rascals, I remember taping Latin Rascals late night on 98.7 Kiss. The Awesome 2, I used to spend countless nights just taping them. Teddy Ted, Special K, Chuck Chillout, all of them brothers, they all influenced me as a DJ.
VALIDATED: You’ve definitely got a sound that’s like no one else’s, it stands alone. How would you describe your sound?
PF CUTTIN: Well, exactly that, when I make music I try not to sound like anything that's out there but yet still stay in what I like to do, which is always drum-driven. My shit is always heavy drums, funky, soulful. Yeah, it's not like I have a sound like Premier has a sound, but definitely when you hear a PF beat, you can tell my shit is different than everybody else's, you know what I'm saying?
VALIDATED: So, in your opinion, what will hip hop be, specifically the art of dj’ing in say, 10 or 15 years?
PF CUTTIN: Shit, man, look how technical it is now. Motherfuckers are not going to be touching turntables or controllers anymore, they're going to be touching screens with their fingers and doing shit like that, man, that's the way I see it. Word.
VALIDATED: Do you feel like the more technology gets involved with dj’ing, it kind of takes away from the original mechanics of it, or do you think it’s good for dj’ing?
PF CUTTIN: I mean, it's good because it's progressing, but it definitely takes away from the original art form. You dj in Serato, you've been dj’ing in Serato for 10 years, now go try to do the same thing you did with two records, and you're going to see what it is. It's a big difference, man. You done forgot how to put your finger on that record, that needle is jumping every five seconds. So it does take away from it a little bit, man.
VALIDATED: Are there any up and coming or veteran indie hip hop artists you'd recommend people check out?
PF CUTTIN: Yeah, my man Illah Ghee, check out Illah Ghee, Al Scratch, I've been working with Al Scratch, I've been mixing and mastering a lot of his music. A young artist by the name of Double AB, he’s pretty dope. Of course, new artists like Rome Streets, I think he's incredible. Another artist by the name of Madhattan that's pretty dope. Yeah, I mean, there's a few dope new artists out there, man. I have the pleasure of listening to new music every week. I sit in front of like, 200 emails, because I do a show every Thursday called East New York Radio, so I have to go through a bunch of emails to listen and pull out the best songs I can.
VALIDATED: Dope, what can you tell us about the show?
PF CUTTIN: Oh, East New York Radio is 8 years running. I started with Sean, it was me and Sean. Before that it was a mixtape series that I did. I turned it into a podcast with Sean. We started at BeatMinerz, then we branched out by ourselves. I just continued the show since then and it's basically all new hip hop every week—that boom bap shit, in the tradition of that 90’s sound but new artists.
VALIDATED: Nice, and I'm one of those people too, like I’m diehard 90’s, early 2000’s, and before that matters, of course, but I'm biased when it comes to the new stuff but bars are bars. I'll admit it.
PF CUTTIN: It's okay, man.
VALIDATED: Well, how important is it for cats to understand where this thing came from, hip hop?
PF CUTTIN: Very important. It's very important that each new artist goes back and listens to what was hot 10 years from ago. Listen to what was hot back then and do your homework on this music, man. Don't think because you just did one album that you're the best shit ever. There's been thousands of albums and thousands of artists better than you. Yeah, you’ve got to do your homework as an artist.
VALIDATED: I feel like there's a difference between hip hop culture and the industry. How do you feel about that?
PF CUTTIN: I would say the industry would be more of the commercial music that you hear today, that's what I would think you saying, right? The culture is more of what me and you love, where it came from all the way up to now.
VALIDATED: I speak to some people, and everybody's entitled to their opinion, not to say whether I'm right or whether I'm wrong, I just feel how I feel, but I spoke to some people, and they say that they feel the industry is more in control of the culture than the culture itself is. I mean, the industry does influence the culture, but for me and maybe it's my age group, I can step away from the industry, and I still see the culture by itself, cause if it wasn't for the culture, the industry wouldn't have picked it up in the first place.
PF CUTTIN: Right. I agree with that, but also the industry is what controls what you hear 100 times a day on the radio. Being a young rapper, who is hot, wants to be played on the radio. Unfortunately, for the music me and you love, that's not happening, unless it's really late, late night, or it's a college station somewhere that you can barely catch. It’s everywhere on the internet, though.
VALIDATED: Do you think part of the reason why NY hip hop has changed is due to the dj’s?
PF CUTTIN: I wouldn’t say due to the dj’s, it’s due to the industry and due to what these young people want to hear when they are in the clubs. A lot of these new young cats… I'm talking about young 18, 19, 20, 21, all they want to hear is that trap shit son, straight up. They don't give a fuck what or who PF is, they don't care about that shit. They want to hear that trap shit, pop pills and get drunk, and yeah, that's what it is.
VALIDATED: Ever since I met you, you've been grinding. How do you keep your momentum with the mix tapes?
PF CUTTIN: Yo, I'll be honest with you, I fight myself every week, man. Like I was telling you earlier, I sift through 200 emails every week, trying to pull out 30, 40 best songs for an hour and a half show. And sometimes, man, I don't even have enough dope songs to play my brother. See, because what I like to do is play new records every week. I could always go back and play Innocent?'s hot shit from last week, but I feel like I'll do the culture more service if I provide the dopest, hottest new shit that I just got. If you want to go back and listen to what I played last week, just go back to my show and listen to what is posted. It will always be there, but I like to bring new music to the table every week. So, sometimes, I'm sitting there and I only got 20 songs to play. I'm like “I'm not doing the show today. I got to wait for some more hot shit,” straight up.
VALIDATED: I ain’t gonna front my brother, it’s you, it’s dj’s like you that keep me on my toes. It’s like you said, you want to keep fresh and you're known for that. At my job I know white boys that know PF Cuttin for playing exclusives. They be like, “Yo, he be playing some shit”.
PF CUTTIN: You know what? You keep it super fresh, my dude, straight up, man. Your shit is banging, baby, straight up. I get excited when I see an Innocent? feature or record in my inbox. I can’t say that about everybody, but like you said it, it's not that I want to play the records I played last week, I would love to, but I feel like I'm doing an injustice to the people. My job is to bring you the hottest new shit that I just fucking got this week. And I’ve got to sit there and suffer through all these wack songs, but fuck it's worth it. Because what I'm going to give you is the hot shit. And if I overlooked your record, I'm going to play it the following week. Straight up.
VALIDATED: You mentioned having to deal with COVID, how have you continued to maintain producing, dj’ing and putting together your show though that?
PF CUTTIN: Well, because of COVID it kept me still a little bit, there's no dj gigs, bottom line. So, I'm in my studio more. I guess I have more time to listen to music, compared to before, my time was limited. Also too, I became a home attendant to take care of my mom's who's 93 years old, especially during COVID, and I'm the only child so it's my obligation. So I made it official last year, right before COVID hit and I'm glad I did that my dude because look at the madness that these old folks are going through. So, yeah, COVID has kept me still a little bit.
VALIDATED: You know what I wanted to ask you, have you ever done one of those parties where it is just headphones?
PF CUTTIN: No, no, I've seen it but I've never done that, it’s called a deaf people’s party. That's what you're talking about?
VALIDATED: Right.
PF CUTTIN: Or the parties where they don’t want to hear the music, they only hear it in the headphones. I never did that man, that shit is crazy to me.
VALIDATED: So, it’s just a bunch of people in a party with headphones on?
PF CUTTIN: Yeah, and some of them got different colored headphones, that means they’re listening to another dj. So they’re dancing mad fast and other people are dancing mad slow.
VALIDATED: That’s crazy. So, what does the remainder of 2021 look like for you?
PF CUTTIN: Well, I'm continuing to produce and make new music, I been just banging beats out, I don’t know what I'm going to do with it yet, probably going to put out a project this year. Working with, like I said, Illah Ghee, Al Scratch, mixing and mastering their music. Also Ruste Juxx, and Skanks the Rap Martyr, they’ve got a project coming out with UG from Cella Dwellers, I’m mixing and mastering that as well. I'm taking sessions online, meaning people send me a PayPal, I mix and master their music, send it right back. Stacking beats and yeah, man, I'm here doing the show every Thursday, and just grinding brother, grinding.
VALIDATED: You mentioned people send you music to possibly be played on your show. What's the email address?
PF CUTTIN: It's pfeastny@gmail.com. Feel free to send me music. I listen to music from Saturday to Wednesday.
VALIDATED: Where can the fans support you on social media and the web?
PF CUTTIN: Alright, well, I'm on Instragram @PFCuttin, catch me on Facebook, same thing, Twitter, same thing. The email, I just gave it to you, that's for music or whatever. Catch me on every Thursday night on Mixlr, it's an app that's downloadable to your phone for free, or you could just press the link and you can hear me every Thursday, I do “EastNYRadio”, all of the new hip hop shit.