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When you’re a legend in the game you don’t have to chase relevancy. Prime example: Kid Capri

For more than two decades Capri has been one of the most recognizable DJs in the rap game. 

On any given night you could still find the legendary DJ spinning in a city near you. But if that’s not enough, then you can also catch him on BET’s Master Of The Mix, which makes its season two première tonight at midnight. 

The purpose of the reality show is to find the next hottest DJ in the game. So to do that, the show goes from city to city, auditioning hundreds of aspiring DJs who want to prove they can get busy.

There can be only one Master of The Mix, however, and the potential winner needs the approval from the show’s three judges—Vikter Duplaix, Amber Rose and Kid Capri.

GlobalGrind recently chatted with Capri for a little bit, where he talked about his initial reluctance to having Amber Rose on the show, past beef with DJ Vikter Duplaix and some of his future ventures—which include a book and a documentary. 

Season two is a little different from season one.

Yeah. We had seven known DJs last season. This season we have 11 unknown DJs. We have Amber Rose now. We added two audition shows to it, so now instead of it being eight shows it’s going to be 10 shows. In the audition I rotated the judges but in the actual show it’s me, Amber Rose and (DJ) Vikter Duplaix, so there’s a lot of different things going on this time around. It’s going to be really, really crazy this time around.

There are two different types of audition episodes, so are those like blooper episodes?

Yeah, there’s some bloopers in there. There’s some things where you’re going to be bugging out laughing, and I’m acting a fool. It’s crazy because a lot of DJs came in thinking they were hot, and when they realized they had to be in front of me for two minutes, it was a different pressure than them being in front of a crowd for two hours. When they got there they realized what the deal really was, and they didn’t do so good. As a matter of fact, there were some people that were on line all day. As soon as they found out I was the judge they went home. They didn’t bother to even audition. 

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Are you humbled by that? Do you find that funny?

It’s different feelings. It’s a certain amount of power you feel. It’s also humbling because there are a lot of people who would love to be in that position. And just for me knowing that I worked my name up, and I built my brand up so good that I could get to that position says a lot to myself. It just makes me know that I did my job, and people really respect what I do, and respect my name, and respect what I contribute to the game. 

Do you have a funny story of a really bad DJ?

There was one kid that came in that looked just like Vikter Duplaix. That shit was funny. He looked just like Vikter Duplaix. He dressed like Vikter Duplaix. The only thing, he didn’t DJ like Vikter Duplaix. He was terrible. He was super garbage. But he was funny.

Last season Vikter Duplaix lost to DJ Scratch, so were there any bad feelings?

Nah, because Vikter Duplaix was almost the first one to get kicked off the show, and then he ended up being the last one on the show with Scratch. So it was a success story. And this was one of the reasons why we brought him back to the second season. Plus me and Vikter Duplaix were the driving force of the show because of the beef that we had with each other, which wasn’t really a beef at all. It was little problem we had since the first episode. That right there kind of drove it along. When he ended up being the last one to go with Scratch, it was just perfect. He lost to Scratch, but me and him became incredible friends. That’s like my brother, man. He comes across through the television as an asshole, but he’s supposed to. But that’s my man. I love him to death.

For the audition process, as Vikter Duplaix describes it, you’re not really trying to sh*t on these DJs, right?

Nah, we’re not trying to sh*t on nobody. It’s not about that. It’s about making everybody get better. But at the same time you can’t come here bulls*itting. If you come here looking for favoritism, you’re going to get smacked in the head. At the end of the day it’s $250,000 dollars we’re talking about, so you got to bring your best sh*t.

DJing has gotten a lot easier, would that be a fair way to put it?

Of course. A lot of people come with a lot of computers, put some MP3s on it and they call themselves a DJ. But real seasoned vets or people who understand what it’s about can see right through that bullsh*t. You can see through when somebody’s fake. It’s like somebody in the streets running their mouth. You can tell when they are fake.

At the end of the day when you come to a show like this, if you ain’t right and you have me in front of you, judging you, it’s different than when you’re fronting any other time. It’s different than when you play two hours for somebody or three hours for a big crowd, but then you got to stand in front of me Amber and Duplaix for two minutes, and you have to impress these people that are professional people. You got to bring your best sh*t, and if you don’t, you’re out of there.

You get a little offended when someone calls themselves a DJ and they just pull out a Macbook?

No, I don’t get offended. There’s going to be a million singers, that don’t mean people can sing. There’s going to be a million producers, that don’t mean they can make beats. At the end of the day your talent speaks for itself. If your talent ain’t banging, that’s going to let everybody know you ain’t sh*t.

When you go do a show you’re bringing crates of records?

Nah, we stopped that, but I still do it every now and then, but I don’t bring the crates out no more, that’s done. I been on the computer thing smashing, but I use the computer regular. I don’t use it with all the trickery that comes with it. Keeps me on top of my sh*t.

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You talked about Duplaix, but how was it working with Amber?

Amber’s cool, man. And I’m going to be very honest with you, when it was brought to me the first time, about bringing Amber on the show, I was totally against it because I thought it was a thing where they wanted her to critique DJs, and that’s not something I can see her doing. But that’s not what her placement is. She’s just like any other bad chick that’s in the club, that if a DJ plays the wrong shit, she’s going to jump off the dance floor like any other female would. She’s the professional of the nightlife. So it made sense to put her on the show just for that angle, not to critique DJs, but to critique the nightlife.

Plus she has a certain amount of fans. I have a certain amount of fans. Duplaix has a certain amount of fans. You got Just Blaze that has his fans, so we have a all-star cast, and it’s real serious. Everybody’s professional and they know what they’re doing.

It’s almost like you and Duplaix look at the technique, and she just looks at the crowd reaction?

Pretty much. We look at the technique; she looks at the reaction. She looks at the nightlife. She looks at the dancing and how a DJ looks, and all that.

You’ve been in hip-hop for so long, basically from the beginning. How do you feel about it now?

It’s not the same. But, I just do me, man. As long as I’m crazy on that stage, I don’t give a sh*t about what anybody else is doing, to tell you the truth. When I get on that stage, I’m in my own world. I don’t get into the industry things and worrying about all the sh*t that people get involved with and all that industry bullsh*t. I just don’t. I never really did. As a matter of fact, I’m always on the road, so when I get off the road, and I come home, I’m in the crib. I don’t even really go out. I don’t go to nobody’s parties. I don’t go to nobody’s clubs, none of that sh*t. I do that sh*t as a job so when I come home I don’t want to do that. It just keeps you out of everybody’s way. When people see you, you become more of a big deal than when they see you all the time.

I stay in my crib and I work—do my production, work on my album, work on my television show. I’m about to do a book. I’m about to do a documentary called The Craziest Kid. In that documentary it’s LL Cool J, DMX, Pharrell, Busta (Rhymes), Mary J. (Blige), Foxy Brown, Method Man, they all in my joint. 

What’s the documentary about?

It’s called The Craziest Kid. It’s a documentary about me.

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What are you listening to?

I like all the new stuff. But when I leave the party, I come home and I listen to old ’70s music. I listen to slow joints. I listen to funk records and breaks. I don’t listen to too much new sh*t because I’m playing new sh*t in the party every night.

Do you do a lot of production work?

Yeah, I produced a lot of joints. I’m a Grammy Award winning producer. I don’t really talk about it too much. I produced both of my albums, did “Nothing But Love” for Heavy D, did “Like That” for Jay-Z. Gave Jay-Z “Hard Knock Life.” 45 King did it but it was going on my album, and I gave it to Jay for his album, and it blew up. It sold 5 million, his biggest record to date. 

But everyone knows me as DJ Kid Capri. That’s the bread and butter, so that’s what they see me as. But right now I’m on my production sh*t real heavy, so it’s about to be a real turning point.

Can you let us know any artist you’re working with recently?

I worked with Jadakiss. I did a joint with Akon. I did a joint with LL. I’m about to do a joint with French Montana. See if I can get Styles P on this joint with me.

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If we’re in a club and the club is dead, and I need one record to get everyone going nuts, what would that record be?

“900 Number.” 45 King.  

Anything you want to tell all your fans out there?

Much love to ya’ll. Thanks for supporting me all these years. Keep supporting the kid. I’m going to go hard for ya’ll like ya’ll go hard for me. Hit me at Twitter @kidcapri101