DJ Twi$T II is an artist from Ukraine known for his hardcore pan seared underground hip hop production. His notable songs are the songs "Where U From" and "9MM" featuring sixset artist Cursed. DJ Twi$T II can show a calm laid back sound, and then slide thru with that intense energy and braggadocio such as on his song "Money in my pocket" LINK HERE. The sample chopping hit harder than them planes hit the world trade. Enough funny business, let's get into the interview with an unda tha undaground muthafucka named DJ TWI$T II.
Mike Serpentine: Why is your name DJ TWI$T II? Are you the second in your family? Is your father the first?
DJ TWI$T II: So i have some other pseudonyms which I use long time ago for making ghetto house/jungle music and mixes. In fact, it was spontaneous, as a child I called myself TWIST \ DJ617 after I heard some old lost hip-hop mix on the Internet that had this word in the title, over time I began to use it as my main pseudonym in the musical field you know what im sayin I am the first child in the family, and yes, my father is the first. I put "II" in my nickname (this has nothing to do with my family) it was a long time ago and I did it because I already saw the word "TWIST" in that mixtape, I don't remember where this mix was from, I remember listening to it every fucking day, it seems like it was 2012.
Mike Serpentine: You have posted your support for the late rapper O’l Dirty Bastard frequently.
What is your favorite Ol’ Dirty Bastard moment in his career? (Musically or public antic).
DJ TWI$T II: Aw shit bro rest in peace ODB! This is one of my favorite rappers you know what im saying... I like absolutely everything he did, the way he thought about music, the way he made it, "Return to the 36 Chambers" is a classic forever But damn the overdose killed him, fuck all drugs man. He made a great contribution to hip-hop that will last forever...
Mike Serpentine: You obviously are cultured on Crime/Drama Television and Cinema, what would you say is your favorite Crime Films and TV Shows that you enjoy?
DJ TWI$T II: Yes, I like films in this genre, I have watched a lot of films, one of my favorites is “Shot” (2001) with the late Lloyd Avery II, Juice with Tupac (REST IN PEACE), Boyz N The Hood, and absolutely all parts of Friday I like various crime documentaries, and was also very inspired by the film SCRATCH (2001)
Mike Serpentine: How is a collaboration tape usually done? Do you make the beats on a call with someone? Is it done during emails? What specific songs or moments from your many collaboration tapes do you hold dear?
DJ TWI$T II: When we starting working, one of the producers can send samples so that I can start working on them, or I can send them, or a project that needs to be finished you know what im sayin, if we work with rappers, then it’s better to do it live, but if we’re talking about online, then yes, I can send them beats by email, we can talk via video or chat, and I can hear what sound the rapper needs All my experience of creating music is dear, Im created for music shit man.
Mike Serpentine: Besides your amazing mix of the Old and New School of Hip Hop you are known for, what other genres have you experimented with?
DJ TWI$T II: Damn bro, once upon a time I did Dark Ambient, I adore this genre, it still remains one of my favorite genres, I think you can hear it in my shit I also used my other pseudonym DJ NEITHER to create house music, jungle breakbeat, I have sum tapes that I released as DJ NEITHER, I also played various house\jungle mixes as DJ NEITHER
Mike Serpentine: The Drum Patterns on the songs “Faulty Characteristics” and “Big Pimpin” off of the “Southside Classics Compilation” were brilliantly sequenced with an excellent bounce and well done sampling. What is your first priority when making beats, the sampling or the drums?
DJ TWI$T II: Both, I can mix literally everything I see lol, you can make a good track without a sample, also without drum parts, everything is individual.
Mike Serpentine: What was your first experience producing music like?
DJ TWI$T II: I liked music shit from the moment I was born lol, my music preferences were always different from my peers, when I was very little I listened to very hard rock, or heavy electronic music, I also heard Eminem and I liked it, I just listened it , I remember how my mother brought home some kind of strange piano, it also had loop and sample effects, I could play some melody and play it an infinite number of times using these functions, so, I literally remember that I took an old push-button phone, turned on the video recording, placed it next to me with the screen down, and started playing some ridiculous melody, then I turned off the recording, and repeated this many times, then I played these videos in which my melodies can be heard and told my parents that this is my album lmao, then I downloaded some programs and found some sites where I could create electronic music, also since I was a child I tried to beatbox, I think I was about 3-4 years old lol, music is literally built into me, I can't live without it man, I've always love graffiti culture, at one point I was doing it
Mike Serpentine: Top 3 Genres to sample melodies from?
DJ TWI$T II: Definitely jazz, dark ambient, soul
Mike Serpentine: “Gotta Get” was a rather peaceful and calming song. What went into the production of that song and the project with Occvlt called “Quick Clickin”?
DJ TWI$T II: Damn i love my brotha OCCVLT, shout out Occvlt! We were just talking, he sent me about 4 samples from which I literally made the “Quick Clickin” in one night lol We also added CURSED to the album Much love OCCVLT!
Mike Serpentine: What was it like growing up in Ukraine and what music did you grow up listening to as a child?
DJ TWI$T II: It was a little hard here, but I remember my childhood with great warmth, I liked living here, despite problems with money and many others, I had a lot of friends with whom we literally spent our entire childhood on the street lol As I already said, my musical preferences were different from others, I usually listened to electronic music, and old school hip-hop. Btw I live in the most criminal region in all of Eastern Europe, in the dirtiest city in all of Ukraine, I never liked popular music, I always hated the mainstream, fuck mainstream g!
Mike Serpentine: How has the war in Ukraine affected your family and friends? Is day-to-day life a struggle for you and the people around you?
DJ TWI$T II: Damn bro this is a very difficult question for me, the war destroyed literally all my plans, it destroyed everything, to hell with this crap, it destroyed the destinies of millions of Ukrainians, children, women, every day it is a huge struggle, most of my friends and relatives managed to leave for Europe at the very beginning of the war, massive rocket attacks, artillery attacks, and a lot of other crap became our daily life, we have the biggest war here since the second world war
Mike Serpentine: Is your music a mainly online thing? Or have you made lots of music with any local Ukrainian rappers and producers?
DJ TWI$T II: Hell yea! I wrote music with Ukrainian Boombap underground hardcore hip-hop groups "Tulym", "Padvarotnya", and with many other talented performers, for example, with beatmaker Stasevich who produced an album for Onyx in 2022, since I live closer to the Northside on very dirty street, there is constant criminal shit here, then I named my own community NorthernDirtyStreet, we under than underground g!
Mike Serpentine: Will you or have you done any live performances of your beats?
DJ TWI$T II: Many rappers rapping to my beats on stage, I can’t leave Ukraine to give a performance in Europe or the USA, but as soon as the opportunity arises I will go to my brothas from SIXSET \ DOOMSHOP, I really want to perform, and someday this day will come g fr!
Mike Serpentine: Who has been a mentor or inspiration for your music production career?
DJ TWI$T II: My works is such inspired by DJ Screw and the Texas 90s rap scene, 90s Memphis Rap and old-school Boom Bap from 90s (DJ Premier, KRS-One, J Dilla, GZA, Cypress Hill, N.O.R.E, AZ, ODB and more) I was very influenced by J Dilla, he literally destroyed my idea of music, he is a fucking genius, I was also inspired by Triple 6 Mafia, DJ Sound, Lil Fly, Project Pat, DJ Squeeky, later I started listening to Raider Klan. I was also very influenced by DJ Shadow, Dj Krush, Dj Cam, I really like trip-hop music, and have many trip hop tapes
Mike Serpentine: You have recently collaborated with Cursed on the song “9mm” which was an eerie fast paced banger with a droning ambient horror melody and a long bass-synth placed behind your ears. How did this single come about and was this a way of announcing the infamous music group you joined?
DJ TWI$T II: I released this single by myself and a big thank and shout out to CURSED, I'm working on a bunch of shit at the moment, I'll do something crazy this year word g, I'm very grateful to my friends Ned Bundy, Occvlt, Cursed! I'll workin now and releasing a new SIXSET album soon, it's going to be fire shit man !
Mike Serpentine: What can we expect from your new collaboration Mixtape with Cursed?
DJ TWI$T II: Trust me, we are planning to kill this year man, I will do crazy shit for brotha CURSED, stay tuned very soon we will release our first album!
Mike Serpentine: What message would you like to tell your fans about your music or any other endeavors?
DJ TWI$T II: I just want to thank every person who supports me, it gives me a lot of strength to keep doing music shit, thanks to everyone who is waiting for new music, who likes my music, it's crazy for me to hear that my music inspires someone Shout out the SIXSET and DOOMSHOP, much love NorthernDirtyStreet !
Links to his music and socials here:
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