DJ Pachu
Legendary Brazilian Hip Hop DJ and Producer
Pachu is somewhat of a legendary figure in Rio de Janeiro’s DJ scene. He’s got DJ skills that put most other DJs to shame, and he’s been involved in classic events in the city that people will be telling their grandkids about. He can also drink cachaca straight. Basically, he’s a Carioca and a half. I caught up with Pachu at his apartment in Flamengo, in the city where he was born and raised: Rio de Janeiro.
Let’s start with the obvious. How did you get your start DJing?
I used to sell skateboard shit all over Brasil so I used to go to US a lot. I always brought back a lot of used CD’s. No Napster back in the day! People were asking me to spin over skateboard championships and when I was spinning at one of them a local producer call Elza saw me and asked me to spin a some of her parties. Just selecting, not mixing or anything back then. I happened to be in the right place at the right time which was this party called Zooeira. If you go back you might consider it the golden era of Rio de Janeiro's rap. Most of the influential people in Rio started there. People still refer to this party nowadays. My name was in Source, Japanese Magazines, British magazines, just because I was spinning these parties.
Zooeira was a really shitty place actually! It was a place for playing pool, and we started to throw this party there. The female bathrooms used to have only holes. At the same time, you had people taking buses one hour and a half to get there. Even soap opera stars would show up. The place had its magic. Back then it wasn’t just the only place to listen to really alternative hip hop, but all kinds of hip hop, electro, funk, drum and bass. It was the only place that you would get quality and diverse music and that time, so I guess it had a big influence on a lot of people: DJs, MCs, shit like that. A lot of really famous people showed up. Even Bono showed up one day! He came before the party because he was shooting a video. A lot of famous people from Brasil performed there for free, we didn't have money or anything like that. It was really high power. I stayed there spinning for four years, so my name came from spinning that party. I was playing music that people never listened before, things still took time to arrive in Brasil. Before Napster! I was the first one to spin Jay Z, Mos Def, that kind of shit.
Once money came into hip hop scene in Rio, I guess everyone had their own interests. It became much more mainstream. It kind of decreased the power of the thing that we were building together.
What’s it like making a living as a DJ in this city?
Up until a couple years ago it was pretty good, I was paying the bills, I had some money to buy equipment. But right now, Carioca funk, favela funk is really big in Brasil so the artists that get the money are them. And, a lot of people decided to be DJs. Once the DJ thing is put in the media as a really glam shit, everyone starts doing it. A lot of DJs offering themselves for $50, playing jiggy shit with their mp3 players. Sometimes for the promoters it's better then paying me because they have to rent turntables and mixers for me.
Nowadays I don’t spin that much underground shit, only in certain places. I have to spin the jiggy shit ya know. DJing is my job. Right now I'm a resident at Bunker in Copacabana, and M.E.L.T. in Leblon. I spin a lot of different places around the city and I do a lot of work as a DJ for the MCs.
What’s going on right now as far as your music production?
I'm really into Ableton Live right now. I been using it for maybe 2 and a half years. I use a lot of MPC too. Since I got Live, everything got a lot more clear to me as far as building a project and linking one track to another. I don't see myself as a just hip hop producer. I produce as much electro and house music as I produce hip hop, which is disappointing to people that follow my work because it’s not what they expect from me. I feel that people who like electronic music in general have much more admirations and respect for the DJ then people from hip hop. I just take my time, not doing it in a hurry. I’ve been working at it for years now. I really want to do a tight job so when I release it has some impact instead of just releasing because people are expecting me to.
I see you use your left hand for most things. What’s up with that?
I use the mouse on the left, but I’m right handed. I’m training the other side of the mind. I’m trying to do everything from the left. Brushing my teeth, eating, making beats, even spanking that shit like that! Only thing I can’t do is write. Developing my mind, man.
How’s digging for records in Rio?
Six years ago was kind of paradise. You would find fucking dopest records for really good price or really for free...but then the word got spread. Then the Japanese came, then the British people came, then the Americans came, and their money’s worth a LOT more then ours, so Japanese they would come here and clean everything up. If its black, round, and has a hole in the middle and it speaks Portuguese, they would buy it.
It’s still good if you go to the homeless people, and people that sell in the street. You need to know the names, you need to know the places. And that, I don’t think im gonna tell you guys what it is!
It seems like everyone wants to use that Brazilian flavour in their own music.
Well, this has been going on for a while. I remember the first time I heard sampled Brazilian shit was Boogie Down Productions. Marcelo D2 was the one that developed the samba hip hop style, but Branford Marsalis was the one that first really mixed them together. The name is “Samba Rap”. People sample shit, and it might take a little time to find out what it is, but somebody will find you! I’m trying to sample my shit as underground obscure as I can. I’m not feeling like paying anybody else! If they find out it’s all good, but it’s better if they don’t.
There’s so much good Brazilian music. Even though I pay my bills with hip hop, I really like spinning Brazilian. It doesn’t happen to me too often because my names too associated to hip hop where I live, so I can’t really build up a name spinning Brazilian. I spend a lot of money on these records you know. Samba, Sambarock, Maracatu, whatever...so many different flavours. You would be impressed. So much rhythmic stuff we have.
How do you feel about so many artists from other countries mimicking Brazilian music in their styles?
Whatever, more people copy Americans anyways. But lots of artists, they came here in he 70s and 80s to copy shit. Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder, etc. You know Rod Stewart song "Do you think I’m Sexy"? He was in Brasil, came back to U.S. and wrote that song. He totally ripped off the chorus from a Jorge Ben track called “Taj Mahal”. He was fucking ten years saying, “No, I didn’t steal it”. Finally he realized he would have lost in court, so he said “I might of got it somehow from the track”. But, that’s common. That’s music. I mean, after a while I don’t think people really create melodies. It’s not possible man! Everything’s been played before! How can you play 10 notes that are never been played before!
Rio de Janeiro’s hosted some legendary parties. What are some of your favourite events you got to play at?
The most memorable party I did was Rock in Rio. That was a huge party with bands like Oasis, Chili Peppers, Neil Young, Iron Maiden, fuckin’ N’Sync and Britney Spears. Tons of other artists of course. I first did my hip hop set which was great. DJ Kool Herc was supposed to play but couldn’t make it, so they put me in the best hour of the festival to play, in front of 5000 people in a festival that had hundreds of thousands of people. I played this Favela old school shit and the house just went down, it was crazy. The next day there was all these reviews in newspapers. It was really fucking dope.
When are you coming to North America? You’re overdue!
I could say that I look forward to going to Canada someday to skateboard with my friend Matheus, and learn about more some BC culture maybe? That would be fun. I’m gonna have my shit on the internet soon, sets, producing. I got a MySpace page, but I did it wrong. I did the normal one instead of the band one.... so forget it!
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