Diggaz Love Interviews pt1

Kacy S.M

picks the brain of
Jabba Tha Kut






Hello Jabba tha kut, thanks for doing this interview. How you doing? Yeah I’m good thanks, resting my back at mo due to a trapped nerve so just typing here is hurting me but hey I do it for the love innit haha!

For those who have lived a sheltered life and don’t know who you are or what you do, could you briefly explain a bit about yourself?

My name is DJ Jabbathakut, DJ/Producer & Record Label Co-owner of Cut Above Records. I’ve been DJing for 17 years now all over the UK and L.A and have done cuts & beats for many various people ranging from, EVIDENCE FROM DILATED PEOPLES, JEHST, DUBBLEDGE, ED OG, PACEWON, SKREIN, SUPARNOVAR, MYSTRO, JARGON, CASUAL FROM HIEROGLYPHICS, JACK FLASH, SONNYJIM etc, etc the list goes on!!

That’s an interesting alias you got there, is there a story/meaning behind it?

Haha well about 15 years ago there was myself and 2 friends DJing together and my mate James suggested we called ourselves the ‘EMPIRE CREW’ so some individual names came up which were BOBBA THREAT, HANDZ SOLO & JABBATHAKUT so it was just a case of me picking the name I liked the most and that was that, here I am, JABBATHAKUT

Ok so let’s start off from the beginning. You're heavily involved in music, so at what age did you decide “yeah music is what I want to do”, to break it down what was your 1st musical experience?

I would say playing the triangle at school but I don’t think that counts! I’d say I was about 13 when I first got into hip hop as my older brother had always been a mad hip hop vinyl collector so he use to come home from Saturdays digging session in London with a bag full of hip hop gems which back then included cassette tapes as well from the likes of NWA, EPMD, BIG DADDY KANE, T LA ROCK, JAZZY JEFF & THE FRESH PRINCE etc, so you can see I grew up with the cream of the classics and watching DJ’s like JAZZY JEFF, DJ SCRATCH, DJ ALADIN etc. Got me thinking “wow how does he do that”, so me & my bro bought a Technics 1200 deck each and a scratch master Gemini mixer and that was it, totally hooked practising mixing & cutting for 6 hours per day most days!!

Cut above records, so you're part owner of this label. Tell us a bit more about this and who’s involved?

Yeah myself, Dyversity & Suicyde started the label back in 2004 and now we also have on board MAGISHAN (MC), MR.METERZ (MC), DUBAR (MC). We’ve also worked with PLAN B, SKREIN, DR.SYNTAX, HARRY SHOTTA, MOS’BLOOD, MIKEY-T, DUBBLEDGE, BROTHERMAN, VERB T, SWISS PRECISE, CONSPICUOUS THE CORONER, GADGET, FLOETIC LARA etc.



Everyone is influenced by someone in one way or another. Who is the person you most look up to or had an influence on what you do?

I would always have to say DJ MR.THING from EXTENDED PLAYAS as I’ve seen him rock a party like nobody else and with the skills & precision he does it in. I’m always taking my hat off to that guy and I think we’ve both got similar styles in djing so yeah, I’d say I owe it to that man right there, “nuff props Marc” !!
Beatwise I’d just have to say one name, DJ PREMIER, nuff said……

From what I’ve come to know, your history runs fairly deep as you’re a DJ, producer and label owner. So my next question is… out of all your jobs which are you most passionate about?

I’d have to say I’m most passionate about beat making at the moment, as I’m near to completing my new solo album ‘ONCE UPON A CROSSFADE’ so I’ve been heavily into getting my beats on point for that and getting them sounding banging and crisp, so I’ve been digging for those dusty breaks from the likes of BEE GEES, KLYMAXX, BARRY WHITE ETC… But hey, the other 2 passions come very close!!



Lets talk about the future of Jabba Tha Kut. What can we the public expect from you and Cut Above Records?

From myself my debut album ‘ONCE UPON A CROSSFADE’ will be out late august on CUT ABOVE RECORDS feat the likes of SUPARNOVAR, SKILF, MYSTRO, ILLAMAN, JARGON, INFLUXX, DEADLY HUNTA, SWIFT IT MAJOR, CONSPICUOUS, COBANE, WORLD RENOWNED, PROMINENT SONS, 2TALL, DJ SKULLY, NONAMES, DJ JS-1, DJ ILLNAUGHTY, DJ GRAZZHOPPA, ENVIOUS MIND, LYRICAL-T, CHRONIC REDEYE, KULEZ, DUBAR, LIXX THE WARRIOR, GADGET & FLOETIC LARA, MANNY MOSCOW, MIKEY-T, MOST ANNOYING BASTARD……… Out now is my new mix CD ‘THE DJ SESSIONS’ FOR HHB RADIO.COM which consists of one disc of UK Hip Hop & the other US Hip Hop. As for the rest of Cut Above there’s a few things we’re working on and will let you know closer to the time, keep ya ears & eyes pealed! You can catch me every Wednesday on my weekly radio show at 7-8pm on http://www.hhbradio.com/

So is there anything that your working on at the moment that you’d like to tell us about?

At the moment I’m just concentrating on getting my album wrapped up, then I’ll be working on beats & cuts for EP’s with GENESIS ELIJAH, MOST ANNOYING BASTARD & LYRICAL-T. So it’s back hard on the grind!



So when you’re getting down in your production, do you tend to experiment with different styles and if so what influences you to do so?

Yeah definitely, when it comes to breaks I can use anything from Soul Breaks, Rock, Bangra to Funk, Soundtracks, Latin… depends on what kinda mood I’m in to be honest, or what tunes I’m listening to at the time. I like the simplicity of HARRY LOVE’S beats and the cleverness of chopping etc from 9TH WONDER (the illest beatsmith).

One of my favourite questions… If you could work with any artist of your choice be it a male or a female, past or present. Who would they be?

Wow that’s a tricky one, but I’d have to say I would have loved to have worked with GANGSTARR as they had the dopest mc & sickest DJ/Producer around and I’ve loved their work from day one trust me. There’s not a lot of artists you can say that bring out dope track after dope track, but they are the ultimate dream team.

Just like in life people set goals they want to reach, are there any targets that you have put in place for you to achieve within your music?

I strive to do this for the love of good music but I also want to see some financial rewards for the amount of work, time & effort I put into this art form and for the secure future of my family. I also have a full time job as this industry in the UK is hard to live off of as most artists have discovered.

Lastly is there any one you want to give a shout out to?

Of course yourselves for giving me this opportunity to express myself, nuff props. Mr Thing, Envious Mind, DJ MK, Harry Love, Luke E Mac, Disorda, Gadget, Illaman, all @ Cut Above, DJ JS-1, Mike Lewis, DJ Cable, Loop, all @ DMC, Lyrical-T, M.A.B, Wordsmith, Swiss Precise, Egadz…peace..1

Can I just say “thanks again Jabs” for taking the time to do this interview for the Diggaz Love blogspot. Feel free to send us any updates or videos to post up in future.

Jabba Tha Kut @myspace
Cut Above Records @myspace
Don't forget to catch Jabz on http://www.hhbradio.com/ from7-8pm on Wednesdays