Mixed and Mastered
Mixed and Mastered is the podcast where the untold stories of the music industry come to life. Hosted by Jeffrey Sledge, a veteran music executive and former VP of A&R at Atlantic Records and Jive Records, each episode dives deep into the journeys, challenges, and triumphs of the people shaping the sound of today. From label executives and producers to artists, songwriters, and managers, Jeffrey brings you behind the scenes to meet the minds driving the industry forward. There’s a gap in the marketplace for these voices, and Mixed and Mastered is here to fill it—one conversation at a time. Because the best stories are told by those who lived them.
Mixed and Mastered
Datwon Thomas: Part 1
From Brooklyn to Tokyo and back again, Datwon Thomas’ story is as global as it is deeply rooted in hip-hop. In Part 1, he shares how growing up during the crack era, moving to Japan in the mid-’80s, and facing both culture shock and racism shaped his worldview long before he became an architect of music media.
Datwon walks us through his early hustle—interning at VIBE, boldly cold-calling XXL’s Reginald Dennis, and turning deep knowledge of the culture into paid opportunities that launched his career. Along the way, he reflects on the golden era of hip-hop, the mentors who opened doors, and the relationships that would carry him through XXL, King, and eventually to producing some of the biggest stages in entertainment.
Mixed and Mastered is produced and distributed by Merrick Studio, and hosted by music industry veteran, Jeffrey Sledge. Tune in to the discussion on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @MixedandMasteredPod to join the conversation and support the show at https://mixedandmasteredpod.buzzsprout.com/
Today, on Mixed and Mastered, we're joined by Daytuan Thomas, an architect of hip-hop and R&B media. Starting with launching XXL's freshman issue, founding the iconic King magazine, then becoming editor-in-chief at Vibe magazine, daytuan has spent his career shaping culture. He then brought that vision to Dick Clark Productions, producing television and live events, including the American Music Awards, Billboard's Music Awards and New Year's Rockin' Eve. This is Mixed and Mastered with Daytuan Thomas. Welcome to Mixed and Mastered, a podcast where the stories of the music industry come to life. I'm Jeffrey Sledge, bringing you real conversations with the people who have shaped the sound of music. We're pulling back the curtain on what it takes to make it in the music business. These are the stories you won't hear anywhere else, told by the people who live them. This is Mixed and Mastered Mixed and Mastered with my man. What's goody? Daytuan Toms? I ain't seen in a minute man.
Speaker 2:I know, man. It's been a while, bro.
Speaker 1:It's been a while we see each other pretty much every week when I walk down to the king offices Exactly have our debates Right up the block, right up the street, right you know what's so crazy.
Speaker 2:Do you remember what they used to call that block? Nah, they used to call it Shotgun Alley, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:That block had the Harris publication, which is King Magazine, and XXL.
Speaker 2:Slam everything.
Speaker 1:Slam. They had Jimmy Hinchman. Peace to Jimmy Hinchman. His office was there. Had Violator slam everything slam that jimmy hitchman, piece of jimmy hitchman, right there had violator, yep yep. All that was going on but all that one little block between, uh, what was that?
Speaker 2:56 yep, I remember one time when jimmy came out his building. Jimmy hitchman and his crew came out. Jimmy came out his building, jimmy Hitchman and his crew came out and Chris. Lighty and his crew came out and that parking lot, at that parking lot man and I was about to walk to my car, I was like, oh no, no, no. It looked like a Western showdown.
Speaker 1:That was, that was. That was I've had a lot of, um, I've had a lot. I mean I that was. I've had a lot of, I've had a lot. I'm going to start expanding more to the West Coast, but I've had a lot of New York guests so far Talking about like we always talk about, like how it was da-da-da-da back in the day. It was different times. Let's get going, let's go.
Speaker 2:Yes, indeed, you want to raise the.
Speaker 1:Brooklyn.
Speaker 2:Yes, indeed, brooklyn kid man. This is wow. It's funny that we're talking about that. Now there's this author that just put a book out called the Gods of New York, Jonathan Mahler, and he did it on the years of 19, 1990, and how those were the most crucial years in New York City because of the crack epidemic and Bernard Goard, getz and tawana broadly, and you know, central park five, the exonerator five now and um, I bring that up because I was born in brooklyn and raised there until 1986 and then, which is where the book starts, and he starts there because he said that was the beginning of like the end of the old new york. It started to become, like, you know, drug city and crack and epidemic and all that.
Speaker 2:And my mom, I think she felt it and, uh, she was, um, she was a secretary at one police plaza for the police commissioner, yeah, and she had met my stepdad and he was in the Air Force and he was like yo, I'm being deployed to Japan. She was like I'm with it. I got to bring my son. He was like bring him, and he was out. And they got married and we was out October 86. And we went to Tokyo, japan, like just just outside of Tokyo, we went to Yokota Air Force Base, which is actually in Fusa, and I lived there for three straight years, man and enjoy the luxuries that my family here in New York.
Speaker 3:It was going to do it.
Speaker 2:That was a you know getting all these letters from my cousins telling me who got shot and what happened to this one, who got locked up.
Speaker 2:This felt like a nod song you know what I'm saying and, um, as much as I miss being home, it wasn't until I got back home at the end of 89 that I realized what she had taken me away from. That probably saved my life, because you know the guys that I was running with before we left and we were young. We was young, we was like what was I? I was 11 and it was still popping at 11. It was crazy. You know what I mean. And the main guys that I was with during that time. I hate to say it, but you know what I mean. And the main guys that I was with during that time. I hate to say, but you know, yeah, jail or dead. And and it hurts, because it's always like that survivor's guilt or remorse or whatever. And you wonder, like what, if she didn't do that, what would happen to me? Yes, I was with them every day.
Speaker 1:Even if you wasn't super wild and just being with them. You would have been involved in something just by being there.
Speaker 2:Involved in just my block. I remember growing up one time and I'm still trying to find this article. It was in the New York Times and they had called Lincoln Place, which is where I'm from. I'm from Lincoln Place around the corner from the Brooklyn museum and prospect Heights, lincoln place between Washington and under Hill. They called it wild, wild West or crack kingdom.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 2:Call it crack kingdom and I was like damn, and I used to just see you know, you see the vows and everything. You don't think about it because it's a part of everyday life, but it was like it was excessive where we were and I knew all the hustlers. We knew all the dudes, all the fly drug dealers and everything. We knew all of them. They used to look out for the, for the young kids on the block like us, so it wasn't like we demonized them, we kind of looked up to them. You know they coming through with with the cars and the gear, sneakers and outfits and chains, and they got the gear. They send you to the store. Keep the change, yeah, all that. You know what I mean. So I think about those times. It was a beautiful time growing up before then though yeah, even though we don't realize you're broke you know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2:you ain't realize, you don't realize it. You don't realize as long as you can get a quarter water and some cheese you're good money Cheese dude with the cheese dude.
Speaker 1:Were you a crunchy dude or were you a puffy dude? I was a puffy dude.
Speaker 2:I was a crunchy dude. I know most people like the puffies, but I would have ate them joints if you had them.
Speaker 1:That's funny, so wait. So tell me a little bit more about Tokyo because I didn't realize that you lived there for three years. Tell me a little bit about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, it was beautiful man when we got to the base and I had a very, very unique experience in Japan because for some reason somebody in the in the housing department did not mess with us. You know, like, imagine if you had over there, but it was for the, it was for the base. It was like when you first get there they might not have like an apartment or a home for you yet. So you live in something called Billiton for like a month or maybe at the most three months, while they're trying to figure out where they're going to place you. And if they don't find a spot for you in in those three months, then you have to go. You and your family have to go live off base, like right outside the gates of the base. So now you're in japan proper, like without any americanized yeah, yeah, anything or marketing or whatever. It's all Japanese.
Speaker 2:So we ended up living in a housing complex. Looks like the projects, it was called Caesars and it was right over the gate of the flight line for the Air Force planes to come in. So I used to wake up to C-130 big planes with the two propellers or a C-5 big, that's like 747 size planes flying right by my window every I don't know 10, 12 hours, whenever they was coming in and hear these engines roar and see the fire come out of them and stuff. It was crazy. So we used to live across from that, whereas most of my friends live further down and they were, as we're talking about the planes that's a helicopter.
Speaker 2:most of my friends lived on base and they were able to look at like american tv. They could catch the cosby show. They phones. I had a phone for three years in my house. I had no American. Three years I had no phone in my house because we was just like. It made no sense. What were we going to call? We was going to call our Japanese friends. It was crazy. It wasn't no internet or nothing like that.
Speaker 2:If you went to school and you wanted to hook up over the weekend, somebody told you where they was going to be at one o'clock. You had to be there. Yeah, you know what I'm saying, because if not, you're going to miss them. You know, and I used to ride my bike everywhere. It was so safe. My mom went from not wanting me to be outside in Brooklyn on the block to go ahead. And I'm in like Shinjuku somewhere. I'm hopping trains, I'm riding mad far with a group of American kids we stealing all types of stuff, just being dumb Americans coming back, you know, like showing off what you got. So did you learn?
Speaker 1:to speak any Japanese. There it was crazy.
Speaker 2:We was wild, but I did. When I was out out there it was way more fluent for me because not only was I learning the language off base and some of the kids that lived around the japanese kids that lived around the complex, they would teach you all the dirty words and how to say nasty stuff. You know this is regular kid stuff, but in in our school, in our elementary school, I went to sixth grade to ninth grade. There, in sixth grade you had to learn it and you had to do like calligraphy and stuff. We had to like write river as the symbol and then he'll be like river and you got to draw a river out and you pick it up like that. You know, just living off base, little things like ordering ramen, noodles or whatever. You want to speak it in the native language so they could understand you and get it right for you. You know what I mean. I used to live.
Speaker 2:Right behind me was a bus depot, so imagine like a Greyhound stop behind my building and they had like everything for people. It was like a rest stop for people and me and my boys that lived in the complex we would go outside, go downstairs on like Saturdays and Sundays and be break dancing for money, and the Japanese people would be coming from all over. They would be fascinated A lot of times. This is their first time seeing a black person in life ever like in person. Not looking, because out there the marketing was like three people, maybe four, the fourth one, the maybe fourth was eddie murphy, but the three majors that you was going to always see on like billboards and they was getting money out there in Japan on like candy bars and milk and all that. Mike Tyson, the three Mike.
Speaker 2:Michael Jordan, michael Jackson, three mics, the same biggie line, like it was them, and then Eddie Murphy here and there. And then I remember when Run DMC came, run DMC them, and then eddie murphy here and there and then, um, I remember when run dmc came, run dmc or like public enemy, I can't remember which one I think about, it was run dmc. Run dmc got to japan and it was like crazy, like it was all over the news, like they were just it was like what it was. Like the beatles came you know what I'm saying for them saying yeah, man, it was an incredible thing, like we used to break dance.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:They used to want to feel our hair Because we had, I mean, my flat part, was crazy. It was crazy. It was crazy. I had a crazy flat top. Yeah, People would be like excuse me, excuse me, that's the only thing they could say. They'd be like touch, touch, like they want to touch your head. Crazy, it was one, wow, wow, wow.
Speaker 2:Experience, though, we went on a class trip and I can share this with you, jeff man, this joint is crazy. We went on a class trip and, um, our classes were really diverse, man, like being in Japan and being on the air force base, you would meet the most amazingly create not even creative the most amazingly cultured mix of people Like you would have someone that was like German and Taiwanese, because the dad went to Taiwan, married the mom, you know, they have a kid and they they tie in German like it was crazy. So a bunch of my friends were like that, but there were only a few of us that were like full black kids, you know, and you knew it when you saw us, because they were also different. So we go on this class trip. We're like a little bit south of tokyo and we go into this one store and this store has like all the like black oppression, coon era, like all of the trinkets I'm talking, like the black face joints. It looked like you stepped into a scene of bamboozle. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2:It was spike lee joint and the people were looking at us and they started talking in japanese and we didn't understand it as much as one of my my boys out. He looked fully white, but he was. He was half japanese too. His mom's was japanese, so he knew it fluently. So he came up to me and my man mike, and was like yo, they talking heavy about y'all. He's like what? And we wondering why? You know, of course they're gonna look at us, but it's a bunch of school kids in there, it's a bunch of us. They were like he, he talking crazy about y'all. He was like what are you talking about? He's like yo, they wondering where your tail is at. I was like what that tail? It was like yeah, man, he's talking about, y'all got tails. Like he heard, y'all got tails. So that's why he keep wanting y'all to turn around, like they was looking to see if we would turn around and see if they could see our tails.
Speaker 1:Because he was like oh it was crazy.
Speaker 2:He's breaking down what they say and they don't even realize what they say. And so then they must have said something so off base I don't even know what they said. They must have said something crazy. He bugged out on them and told the teacher, and then the teacher went and spoke to them. It was like a little mini thing and yeah, man, it was kind of bugged out and it just shows you like the culture clash, you know what I mean? Like we went and think, yeah, this is the 80s, this is like 87. You know what I'm saying? I'm like 12. So it just shows you the culture clash and it also shows you like what is depicted coming out of America about black people during that time.
Speaker 2:You know civil rights era is just ended and you know a lot of the people over there during that time they still didn't like Americans for what happened to Hiroshima, especially the elders. They was not trying to hear it. They gave black people a little more of a pass, but it was. It was like wow, they did that. And that was just the one real kind of like negative thing that happened. Everything else was like beautiful bro, I had the best time out there.
Speaker 3:And we'll be right back.
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Speaker 2:And then long story short, real quick. I went, I went, I went back to Japan and I left in 89, never went back. And then I always wanted to go back. So Allen Iverson was doing his 10-year anniversary for being in the NBA and they wanted him to go to Asia. So they asked me to come along. I was the only journalist that went on this trip. I went this is in September of 2005. Met him in the team in Dallas and we took a flight from Dallas because he wanted to go to the Dallas Cowboys game. The Cowboys game first.
Speaker 2:He was like yo, we're going to go to Japan and China, but I got to do this game first. He went to the Cowboys game first, met us us at the airport and we all went straight to Tokyo. We get to Tokyo I'm bugging Everybody knows by now Cause I had told him that I used to live there and I was trying to get back to my crib but I was mad far away from it. Where we were at, it was mad far. So I was like damn, I ain't going to get it my only time being out here. But I'm out here with alan robinson, so I just chalked it up like damn, it would have been dope if I could get there. I was like hopefully in the future I'll come back. So we leave tokyo and go to um shanghai, china, and have the most amazing time and I forget about it. But I'm still kind of heartbroken because I was so close to being able to go back to my crib. That was 05 2011.
Speaker 2:I get blessed with the opportunity to go on tour with swv to chronicle their uh, their experience in japan. So I go with them to japan and they give us a free day to do whatever you want and go around. So part of that, that morning I went, I went shopping with them and they picked out some stuff for my wife and everything guys like bags. Morning I went, I went shopping with them and they picked out some stuff for my wife and everything guys like bags like we went. We went crazy. It was a dope experience just having them like no, she might like this, she might like that. And then I was like yo, you know what, I think I can make it to my old crib. It was like you, you gonna go by yourself. I was like, yeah, I, I remember the trains vaguely. I was like I'm just gonna try to try to speak my way through it. And by then we had google. We had google maps. By then in 05 I don't remember having it, but in 11 we had it. So I just plotted it out and I got to the train station. Wow, was speaking to different japanese people. A bunch, bunch of people helped me and I got to my old crib. Man, I got and I recorded it for my mom before she passed and she was so excited. She was like she couldn't believe that I made it, cause I called her. I made it back to the crib Like they let me in the crib.
Speaker 2:The old lady that ran the, that ran the spot, that ran the complex, she remembered me as a kid. Yeah, she remembered me. She was like oh, da-da-da-da-da, trying to pitch my cheeks and stuff like crazy, and she let me in. She had the janitor in them. They let me in. I went into my room, I went into my sister's room, I went into my parents' room. I couldn't believe I made it back. It was such a fulfilling feeling, man. It was crazy. Yeah, well, this is what's crazy. I got back. We got back in like 89. I spent a month in New York. Then my stepdad was like got another deployment, let's pack it up, we're going to New Mexico.
Speaker 1:I was like, yeah, Albuquerque.
Speaker 2:I only heard of that in Bugs Bunny cartoons. You know what I'm saying. So we go, we go to Albuquerque. My mom was like, oh, you want to stay or you want to go. I was like I really want to stay. She was like I don't think you should stay, stay. It's kind of crazy because when I, when we got back, this is what made her make me go to new mexico. When we got back, it was october, it was mad cold, it was like almost halloween yeah, you know how back in?
Speaker 2:the day halloween was, I was outside I had a carton of eggs, yo, it was all types of stuff, man. Then dudes ran out of eggs, they started. They went down to the fish market. As a crew went down to the fish market, stole all the fish, was hitting people with red snappers wow, because it's Halloween, just if you outside red snappers all across their face, like it was crazy.
Speaker 2:It was like a bunch of us with our cousins and stuff and they all came back home and I remember we was all talking about what happened that day and my mom was listening and she was like, yeah, you gotta go, you ain't gonna be running around going all crazy. So went to New Mexico. I was there for like a year and a half and that was tough because it was such a culture clash. Coming back to America, it was raw. You know what I'm saying. Like in Japan everything is all sweet and beautiful and rosy, but it was raw, man. And you know I've said this a couple of times, but just explaining what, the situation was out there.
Speaker 2:It was gang life, you know.
Speaker 2:It was Bloods and Crips and I had yeah, but that was yeah we close to the West Coast, so I had seen like colors and all that, but I really didn't know, not knowing what that meant. You know what I mean, that level, yeah. So one day I went to school with all red on, not knowing. My school was a crip school mainly. It was mainly crips. They stepped in right in the gym and I was like I ain't, we're all red ever again.
Speaker 2:But what was wild about new mexico was that you know, it was a coming of age, a day. You know of me, you know learning a lot of networking, or what I thought was networking. Because that's where the love of hip-hop really got a hold of me. Because I was so homesick from new york I was a yo mtb raps people die hard I ran home just so I could see it. And then that's back when pump it Up was on TV with Dee Barnes. Whatever New Mexico radio was playing hip-hop, I would be on it. I would win tickets to places. I would take my homeboys with me. One time I won tickets. My mom used to do that when we lived in New York. Wbls and KISS banned her from winning because she won so much. They put her on timeout. They was like no, she was going super fast, she was going everything, bro. I picked that up from her, I started calling in and I was winning. One time I won tickets to see Third Base KMD.
Speaker 1:I know Jeff.
Speaker 2:Um, I don't know if you remember, uh, deaf Jeff back in the day on the West coast, deaf Jeff, they, they, they were all performing at university of New Mexico. So we went down there and this is my first time ever being rappers. So we go down there and they outside chilling, they, they outside the venue hollering at girls because the 12 buses is out there. They out there just hollering at girls. And I remember running up on mc search and he had, he had zed love x with him, who ended up becoming mf doom, and I was talking about new New York and all that and they was like you ain't from no New York, but you're doing out in Africa, where you from. In Brooklyn and I broke it down Link it between Washington and Underhill. You got to take the two or the three to Eastern Park. They was like, oh, he know, he know he really is from New York. So I was just letting them know and they gave me love.
Speaker 2:I remember zev was like man, what the fuck you doing out here though he was like yo shit out here, man, damn you way out, like when you going back I was like I don't know. At that point we didn't know, but it was, it was bugged out that the first rappers I meet is like mc search and zev loving.
Speaker 2:I told search the story he's cracking up. I told I told mf doom this story too when I interviewed him and my heart is broken because I cannot find that tape. Wow, I cannot find the tape. So tell me about coming back to New York and getting your first internship at Vibe correct.
Speaker 2:I'm still looking for that fucking tape. Tell me about that. I can't find it. And it was a dope interview. Okay, yeah, I jumped, I jumped, jumped, we left we. Okay, yeah, I jumped, I jumped, jumped, we left. We left albuquerque, new mexico in 91. But the summer in 91 I'll come home. So imagine, like coming home, june, july, it's popping, it's hot, new york is on fire. I think at the time, like chubb rock was like picking it up with word. God bless how it made, how we see it was like the city was on fire, man. That's why everybody was walking around with the Bart Simpson shirts and, you know, like twists in their head and you know it was like the tail end of like the African medallion era.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's when I got home and you know my stepdad is from Harlem, so I spent a lot of time up in Harlem, like 145th and St Nick and you know. But I'm a Best Buy kid too. So also my biological dad is from Brevoit Projects, where Fab is from, excuse me. So I would be over there on the weekends, yeah, and then around my way where my mom is from, in Prospect Heights.
Speaker 3:So it was tough man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you came back to the real New York Just think I didn't have all my New York swag together, even though this is the funny part, jeff.
Speaker 1:I'm not really Brooklyn, like I thought I was. I'm in New.
Speaker 2:Mexico.
Speaker 1:I'm Mr New.
Speaker 2:York. I'm Mr Brooklyn, you know what I'm saying. I got back to Brooklyn and I was not, that I was not, I wasn't ready. My cousins Okay, my cousins, man. They used to snap on me so crazy how I had my sneakers side. I was fly, though, because I would still rock like a Syracuse Orange man outfit. You know, shit was dope, but like my kicks might not have been all the way there. You know what I'm saying and that's why I'm so kick conscious. That's why I got a million fucking sneakers in there. Now they gave me a complex. They gave me a sneaker complex, no pun. But they got me together quick, because that summer I was going to enroll into Murray Bertram because Tribe Called Quest went there and I heard it was a good school. I wanted to go. My mom used to work over there by Penn Police Plaza, so I was like, ok, I'll go there. It was like, nah, can't get in here.
Speaker 2:They went and take my grades from New Mexico and Japan for some reason and I was like what they didn't like correlate or whatever. So I never got in the Bernie Bertram. So I ended up going to Sarah J, which was where Lil' Kim, big Daddy, kane, biz all of them went there. So I went there, which was so dope, ended up meeting my wife there, who was my girlfriend at the time, and just being back in Brooklyn, man was especially going to high school in Brooklyn. You had to be tough. You never knew when shit was gonna pop off, because shit always was popping off.
Speaker 2:Something was happening. Somebody had beef, or somebody ain't like you, or your jacket was flyer than somebody else's. You know, whatever it be, whatever it may be, but I survived it. I survived it and excelled in it. You know what I'm saying. It was a, it was a beautiful time, man, but I fell in love with hip hop so much that I used to buy every hip hop like I don't know magazine. Are you going to be a critic? Are you going to make beats? Because I was making beats, doing all of that. You know what I'm saying. Oh, jeff, you good. Oh man, hey, ellie is Jeff good, I can't hear you, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I don't know what happened.
Speaker 2:Okay, there you go.
Speaker 1:Okay, there you go.
Speaker 2:I was looking. I was like yo, he ain't moving yet I don't know what happened?
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll pick it up, we'll pick it up from there. Okay, we'll pick it up from there. So, basically, you know, when I was in high school, that's where the love of like hip-hop really blossomed. Because I was gonna yeah, because I was buying like every magazine. I'm back home, home now, I can look at video music box. Ralph McDaniels is telling you where the next party going to be. I was sneaking in shout outs, I was sneaking in the joints. We going to the art, we going to, you know, the solo club uptown, the country club.
Speaker 2:We getting in there. We was getting in the industry parties, meeting Puff and meeting all these different people, because we was also like I was producing these dudes out of Brooklyn called the Foot Soldiers and I was making beats. But I was also like excelling in English in high school to the point where my English teacher was like, yo, you should look at this as a career. That's what gave me the idea, because I was already reading vibe and you know really what I was reading. I was, I was reading about source, of course, but I was also reading ebony essence okay, jet esquire, gq, rolling stone billboard. All these spots that spin, all these spots that I ended up working with. It's like I felt like, you know, once I started working with all of them, I'm like dad, I really manifested this, or I drew it closer to me because of the energy, and you know, lo and behold, I get my internship at VOB. And who's the editor? At that time when you got the internship.
Speaker 2:At that time. 96, daniel.
Speaker 1:Smith.
Speaker 2:Yeah, daniel was the editor-in-chief at the time and it was wild man and I was on the digital what they used to call it back then New media. They used to call it new media back then and that was like all the misfits they used to call our section of projects. We was involved, but we was downstairs on the second floor and we were all the way in the back by the mail room and they had us like the new media cast that was working on websites, that was working on the Vibe website. But they also had these other things called e-zines, like electronic magazines that were like subsidiaries. My internship wasn't even with Vibe, it was with one of the e-zines under vibe. It was with the suicide With my man, greg Bishop, who ended up becoming the small business controller for de Blasio.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he ended up becoming that and that's my bro. Changed my life. Man, changed my life, incredible individual man. And then when he left, like after a couple of months of me being there, I was like yo, I got to leave too. I had no idea how the business was and he was like nah, nah, nah, you good, you good, nah, just come in. And I was so scared that first day he wasn't there, I went in and I had been there for months.
Speaker 3:I had done the whole summer.
Speaker 2:He left in the fall, I think, and everybody knew me. I was just like damn, greg ain't here and next thing, you know, they just let me do more and more and I started doing like interviews. I think one of my first first interviews was with Jada Pink, not Jada. I'm bugging why I say Jada Not Jada.
Speaker 1:Mia.
Speaker 2:Long. Mia Long was like one of my first ones and she was from Brooklyn and a lot of the other. The other interview I remember I had to walk in there. This is me. This is like maybe my second interview, third interview professionally, and I'm an intern and they sent me to the Love Jones like junket, and I ain't know what a junket was, I had no idea. And then I guess the junket was like running behind. So they was like all right, no more individual interviews, all y'all gotta go in together. So it was me like somebody from rolling stone, somebody from wherever the hell else you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:And I'm in there and I I guess I impressed her and the publicist, um for that a little bit more than everybody else because I think she was from brooklyn. So then I started talking about like kingston avenue, she's like kingston, she's so good. She for that a little bit more than everybody else because I knew she was from Brooklyn. So then I started talking about like Kingston Avenue. She was like Kingston. She started bugging like. I was like oh shit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got it. Now I was like I got it, I got it, I got it. That's my homegirl now. Y'all know about this.
Speaker 2:That's my girl now. You know it was funny and it made me realize, like my, my authenticity or who I am as a person and and all the things that make up who I am and my travels. I can use that as an advantage in these kind of situations. Whereas they were all like so how was?
Speaker 2:the director and what was the script like when you got it? Like nah, man, like yo, how'd you, how did you feel when you had to embrace your boy and and really get into that character? What part of you was in that outside of the character, like shit, like that. Like it was just like trying to draw like the emotional aspect out of them and they wasn't talking like like that, they were talking very technical and high-brow, yeah yeah, and I was like asking questions, like if we was on the block.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly Like yo, yo, yo yo.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yo like yo, so we on again Like that type of stuff.
Speaker 2:But that opened up a whole door for me. And then one day one of the other interns we had an intern room involved on the second floor. We had turntables in there. Everybody would go take their breaks in there, just bug out, play records and shit. And one day it was packed in that room. It was packed in there. It must have been like eight or nine of us in there and my man Rich, my man Rich, he was in there and he was talking like yo. I just got this card from Reginald Dennis. Reginald Dennis at the time was known for being at the source they had just had that big walkout from the source.
Speaker 2:I was just like, all right, that's what's up. Man, I used to love his card, reginald Dennis. He used to be. I remember he was in beef with iced tea and Tret.
Speaker 3:He was going in on them all the time, no holds barred.
Speaker 2:He was kind of like Star Charlemagne Y'all don't know about him. Anyway, I told him I was like yo, you going to call him? He was like, nah, he just gave me his card. He's starting some new thing called XXL. I was like what what's that? He was like it's like a new hip hop magazine or something. He was saying I was like he just gave you his card. He was like yeah, he told me to call him. I was like you going to call him. He was like you going to call him. I was like yeah, he said when you going to call? I said I'm going to call him now and the room is like just imagine nine people interns at Vibe, like bugging. So I used Vibe phones and I took the card from my man, rich, right there in front of them and I dialed the number. My man picks up. He was like Reggie. I was like, uh, mr picks up, he was like reggie. I was like, uh, mr dennis. He was like yes.
Speaker 2:I was like, oh, this is daytron thomas from vibe magazine. I had no idea that it's winging it. I didn't know the boundaries. You know like it's. It's like, yeah, north versus south. You know what I'm saying? Like, I had no idea and I should have known. Like how many people he knew up there. You know what I'm saying? That, vibe, I had no idea. I'm new to the game, so anyway, I'm telling him what I do. I, vibe, I'm embellishing heavy. Oh yeah, I make sure the copy looks good. Yeah, for the easy. I do it for the press junkets for the movies.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do it, all it's my home, you know what I'm saying, like that's my girl, you know, shit like that.
Speaker 2:And he was like where he was, like where you from. I was like I'm from brooklyn. He was like you know what, come see me. I was like where. He was like, yeah, come see me. Um, come see me like on thursday it must have been like a Monday or something and I was like, all right, all right, cool, I'll have my clips and everything.
Speaker 2:So I took all the things that I wrote for Vibe Online at the time, asked my grandma for some money and then my man that worked there he designed it for me put it together, my man, mike Horsworth. He put it together for me and I went and got that money from my grandmother to get it printed real nice, because the vibe printers was all messed up. I went over to Harris Publications. I went there and he was there. He was ready. I got there. I'll never forget. I got there at 5.30. He told me to get there at 5.30. I got there at 5.30. I didn't leave till 8.30.
Speaker 2:Neither one of us got up in three hours that. We sat right there and that three hour conversation, me and Reginald, just because I had retained so much from the source and I knew so much from vibe and I knew certain articles. I knew writers by lines, I and I knew certain articles. I knew writers' bylines, I knew their style. I knew all the new artists that were coming out because I would listen to all the different tapes and everything that was coming in. Plus, I was a student of Stretch and Bobbito and Martin Moore's radio shows. There was nothing you could get by me. I knew everything. So he was so impressed mind you, I'm trying to show him my clips and he ain't even want to see him. He was like nah, man, nah, nah, nah, don't worry about that, put that away.
Speaker 2:He was like no, you got it. You got it because he, he could yeah I was on it.
Speaker 2:So then he was like it was time to go. It got dark. It was 8 30, it got dark and this is like around my birthday time in may and, um, I'm about to leave. He was like yo, I got, I got some, I got some work for you, oh, and I hadn't been told that type of way before. I didn't know what freelance was. I was just working at bob as an intern, so I didn't understand. I understand what, I understood what freelancer was, but I didn't know how much you were supposed to get, how many words and all that. He was like yo, I got two music reviews for you that I need. I need Organized Confusion and Deep Concentration. I'll never forget them. And I was like I bet Deep Concentration was like a DJ compilation album and, of course, organized Confusion was.
Speaker 2:Farrow March and I went and borrowed my man Donald's laptop from downstairs that lived downstairs from me. I have a computer. I was like, damn, I can't get into the school. I was going to do it at Baruch. I was going to go back to Baruch and try to knock him out, but for some reason I couldn't get over there.
Speaker 2:So I ended up asking my man that lived downstairs from me, crazy Jamaican, like what you need it for, boy, bring it back. So I remember that yo, I was like no, I ain't gonna mess with it. I got you, I got you, I typed it up and I ended up sending it back to him. I got it back to him. He was like I got another review for you Got to do no ID. There was no IDs solo album. I believe I did.
Speaker 2:I did those three reviews and then he was like I bet I got I got a feature for you. I was like, well, he was like yeah, I probably pay you. Like. And I was like where he was like, yeah, I probably pay you. Like now, mind you, I just left the New York Public Library. I was making like $110 a week helping literate adults learn how to read, write and use computers. I was making like $110, maybe, $110, maybe, maybe. And he was like yo, I pay you like $1,500 for this feature. I was like $1,500, $1,500, how many words I gotta do it? He was like yo, I pay you like $1,500 for this feature. I was like $1,500? $1,500? How many words I got to do? He was like 900, 1,000 words, maybe. I was like what's the feature. He was like it's on enhanced CDs. That's the new shit that's coming.
Speaker 2:It's coming I was like word Enhanced CDs. Remember those.
Speaker 2:I remember Mobb Deep and Exhibit Exhibiting them. They had it first. Now here's where it gets crazy. Now, mind you, I'm still going back and forth to Vibe, but I'm messing with XXL, but I'm going back and forth to Vibe. Vibe and Loud Records are a floor away from each other in the same building. I think we was on two and three and they were on four and five or something like that. And I would always see Prodigy Olu who did all their creative direction, who made all the album covers and stuff. Bones Malone of course had Vibe and Loud. So Wu-Tang Dudes is walking all the time.
Speaker 2:So with enhanced cds, the people that was really making the headway up when it was loud records. So I was like, oh, I'm gonna go upstairs, go see olu go upstairs. I interview olu and he's explaining like enhanced cds and how they did mob deeps and how they did exhibits. I'm getting like the insider, insider information. Boom, I take that, write the piece up. Then I break down all the different enhanced cds and giving them xls or ls or whatever, and reggie was like blown away. He was like how'd you get this information from?
Speaker 1:me I was like I went upstairs, I took an elevator up one flight.
Speaker 2:you know it just so happened Like come on, man, it just so happened, like it worked in my favor in that way and that's what started my career and that was in the Jay-Z and Master P first issue of XXL. And then I ended up getting hired. I mean, yo who's Miss Info Reg ended up getting hired. I mean, yo who's Miss Info Reg ended up leaving, like just before the third issue and she was trying to close that issue. And she was like yo, they was talking about bringing you on before they left, so if you want to jump on, you can help me out, close this issue. I was like, yeah, and I ended up getting hired on staff from that that's how I got on.
Speaker 1:That's a good, that's a, that's a being prepared and like not, not really, but not even really realizing you was prepared, you was just doing what you love to do.
Speaker 2:That's it, man. Just being a young hip hop. Yeah, being a head, being a head.
Speaker 1:So so wait, so yeah, okay, so tell me when they bought you on. They bought you on as music editor. Editor correct.
Speaker 2:They bought me in as, like, a junior editor because the music editor slot hadn't been filled yet. So what was ironic, though this is what's so dope about my journey, my man that ended up becoming like my best friend, my man black spot.
Speaker 2:Larry black spot Hester. He was like um, our editor over at Vibe Digital, so I had him. That was my guy. So him and Sheena Lester, who was the music editor at Vibe, they ended up leaving Vibe together to come to XXL. When Sheena got the offer to become the editor-in-chief after Reggie and them left, he brought Black Spot with her. She asked him to come with her.
Speaker 2:And when he came, I'm like yo, I got my boy with me and he became the music, yeah, and he became the music editor and then I became the assistant music editor. Yup, I got bumped up anyway, and they couldn't believe that I knew them. They were like you know, these people, Like the people that you know, the publishers. They couldn't believe that I knew them already. It's a small circle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, everybody knew everybody, especially back then. It's like that many people doing those jobs, it's like you know, come on, it's kind of hard to it was different.
Speaker 2:It's not like how it is today. Not at all. You know what I'm saying? Not at all.
Speaker 1:That was part one of our conversation with Daytuan Thomas. Stay tuned next week for part two. You can catch Mixed and Mastered on Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheart or wherever you get your podcasts. Hit that follow button, leave a review and tell a friend I'm your host, jeffrey.
