Vibe of the Tribe on the East Side was a funky mix of reggae, rock, R&B and hip-hop. There were great parties. Great people. And a vibe that gave me the itch to play on the radio. When I first got out on the street to play, I was still trying to hone my own style of DJing. The music I played was a mix of the music I grew up with and some hip-hop, which wasn't really popular at that time. I remember playing at a party in Brooklyn where I got heckled about my choice of music. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it was humbling to hear these older people at a party who didn't care for the music I was playing. There were so many great places to play out in New York at that time: clubs like Jad's, The Limelight, Sound Factory, Spy Bar and Avalon. The only problem was that almost all of them were on the West Side of the city. So I figured if I went east I could get some distance from the scene and maybe find my way in. I never would have dreamed how far east I'd travel. My travels took me to the Rockland County suburbs of New York City, to the very edge of the Bronx, across the Harlem River on Randall's Island, and then out to the Long Island beaches. I went to Brooklyn to play in front of a community center on Ditmas Avenue, near Utica Avenue, in Williamsburg. There I saw a large crowd of men, women and children dancing on the front lawn, a car with a huge stereo, a few girls going wild in front of a group of guys sitting on a wall. I was so enthralled with all of this. I couldn't get out there fast enough to start playing music. It had been so long since I'd seen so much action in one spot. **T** oday, people from all over the country make pilgrimages to New York's clubs, the "it" clubs of hip-hop. As I write this, the hottest club in the city is Sound Factory. This is the club I saw at a distance as a teenager. Back then, I only knew it from driving by on the Long Island Expressway. It was the legendary DJ and club owner Frankie Knuckles who turned me onto this place. He had been spinning at another club, Danceteria, and we would meet at The Sound Factory when he was on break. After being there a while, I asked him how I could get my name down on the list. Frankie told me that if I went around the back of the club, I would find a man named Robert Pippin. He was the owner of the club. The first time I met him, I asked him if I could play at his club. He said it was all right with him and said to come back later that night. When I came back to play, Mr. Pippin asked me if I could work for him. I told him I couldn't right then, but I would be back. When I got back, Mr. Pippin was giving me an in-depth interview for the newspaper and putting me on the door. That was the first time I worked for a club and I've been on the door ever since. The paper was the _New York Post_ and its editors thought the name Pippin would lead the newspaper's hip-hop fans to believe that I was the real Robert Pippin, the famous jazz musician. The club was called The Sound Factory, a nightclub where anyone in New York would go to get a change of scenery or just to be entertained. It opened in 1983 and became famous for a lot of things, including its celebrity party scene. It had famous DJs like Afrika Bambaataa, Kid Capri, DJ Mark the 45 King, Djs from the World, David "Jammin" Rodriguez and Steve "Silk" Hurley. It was a club with an amazing vibe. It was hip-hop and new wave and a place where you could show up in your regular clothes and feel comfortable. **T** he first time I went there, I went with my mom to see Afrika Bambaataa. I had been introduced to him a few years earlier. Back then, he was known as Prince Jazzbo. He had just turned 18. He was a shy kid. He had a small group of people with him. I was told he played what was called hip-hop at the time. I didn't know what hip-hop was, but I did hear the word "jazzy" or something similar. He didn't play much hip-hop at the time. He was more into jazz fusion. I got the chance to play with him years later. My first job was on one of Bambaataa's three-day performances at the World. We played two-day events, but this one was for three days. My whole crew and I hung out in front of the hall waiting for Afrika to come out. He was delayed, so a big truckload of us had a jam session. There was quite a crowd, so I was freestyle DJing and playing songs I knew by memory. It was just me and these random people I had met that day. I was getting everybody dancing. The show started, and Afrika was on. This was back in the '80s, when he had his New Style Crew and people didn't understand the music he was playing. He had a small set-up with two turntables and some equipment. Most of his records were on cassette. You had to know where they were located to be able to mix them with the records you had on vinyl. So you're standing there trying to mix what you had on with what he had on. That would have been a lot for me to try to remember, but there was nothing I could do. Bambaataa played what he had, his own music, and all the guests on the show made their own sets to follow his set. My only problem was that I wanted to get in on it, too. I didn't know I was there just to set up the sound. Everyone else had their own bands, but I didn't want to compete with Bambaataa and play just like he did. I asked a few of the dancers if they knew how to play something I could mix with Bambaataa's set. Most of the guys wouldn't give me the time of day. The next time I went there, I spoke with the emcee. He was a nice guy who was happy to work with me. I took what he taught me and started playing Bambaataa's music and my own jazz. It worked and everyone was dancing. It gave me the feeling of being in the club I had wanted to be in all along. The next day Bambaataa started putting together a live band. He was going to play a live set. I had gotten really tired of his music and wanted to play some of my own music, but Bambaataa would have none of it. He kept telling me that I should "shut up and roll with it." So I went out there with a set-up and put my set together. I didn't want to do an extended DJ set for the sake of "playing the music" as Bambaataa said to me. I wanted to do a set that had Bambaataa's music in it. I think that is what he wanted. He had told me before that he wanted people to be dancing as much as possible. Bambaataa did a great job on the show and the crowd went crazy. As I went off the stage I was thinking of a way I could get my hands on the music and teach myself. I was tired of just being a roadie. I went to Bambaataa's office and said, "Listen, if I play for you, I want to make sure I get some time to do my music, too." He was cool with that and said he would give me another chance if I kept it quiet. I told him I wanted to write, produce and perform the music. My own sets went over well and the people around me were also DJing. People were moving, listening and dancing to what we were doing. Every show had a lot of the same elements. There was a lot of dancing, people just hanging out and the music at the same time. There was some hip-hop, but it was mostly just dance music. Bambaataa encouraged me to go out on my own and bring it back to the people. When he was playing, Bambaataa was dressed as a street person and wore his hair crazy. He was very much like his music and the culture he represented. It was like he was the king of hip-hop. We all wanted to be just like him. We were dancing and trying to emulate his energy and style. He was the best and it was cool to be part of his crew. He came from a place with a history of making records and breaking dance floors down. He had the style to bring all of this together. When I was with him, I didn't know where I wanted to go in my career, but I knew that was the road I wanted to travel. I got a little too crazy for Bambaataa because he had me mixing too much when I had a crew behind me that wanted to just get their funky