Hip Hop Congress

Recently the website sixshot.com ran a feature interview on Alex F aka DJ Roosevelt Treasurechest. RT is a former chapter head and currently works on the website RubyHornet.com in addition to playing on the ones and twos.

Original Link

While the DJ is known in hip-hop for their job of breaking records and bringing some of the hottest into the game, one DJ from Chi-Town has more than one mission. That DJ is DJ Roosevelt Treasurechest. Not only is he talented behind the wheels of steel, he is also a writer, an activist for hip-hop culture and an inspiration for the youth.

We caught up with the talented turntabilist to talk about his career and upcoming projects.

Alex, you’re well connected in the industry and I happen to notice you’re a DJ by the name of DJ Roosevelt Treasurechest. Talk about your early career in the industry and your involvement with DJing?

First and foremost I got into the music industry from just being a kid. I grew up on the southside of Chicago in a neighborhood called Hyde Park and anyone familiar with Chicago is probably familiar with that area. It’s a very cultural and diverse community, it’s just a great place to be a kid and it has all kinds of music. I remember getting a Dilated Peoples’ album, their first album The Platform and listening to that and looking around me and actually thinking and feeling ‘I want to be a part of this.’

When I got to college I linked up with this group called Hip Hop Congress, which is a non-profit organization that emphasizes activism within Hip Hop culture. They try to get youth socially and politically aware of what’s going on . That got me noticed in college and I started writing for soundslam.com. That’s opened a lot of doors. As I continued to network with people it opened more and more doors. I got involved with DJing because as I kid I would record something and stop it and record something else. I later learned that those are called pause tapes, but when I was making them I was just doing it to mess around.

When I was a student in college, my parents were going to buy me a car for my last year of school so I could drive around and take the young ladies on dates. Kind of at the last minute I thought, ‘a car is going to cost just as much as turntables and a mixer,’ so I asked for that instead. I didn’t have a car and I walked everywhere, but I was happy. It was the best decision I ever made. Being a DJ, combined with writing, the Hip Hop Congress, and the other kind of stuff I do with companies like Bandit Productions and PHLI Worldwide, it took all those tools to succeed at what I love to do….CONTINUED ARTICLE