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How did you first meet Raida?
Grimm: We met when we were teens. I met him through Lord Sear, I grew up with Lord Sear and I wanted a DJ. I said I needed the best DJ in the world. Lord Sear was like, well then you need to meet Roc Raida. And that’s how we got together. I had to actually battle to be Raida’s MC. It wasn’t a walk in the park. But were friends ever since. We were teens and we knew we were the best at what we did, you couldn’t tell us nothing. He was a brother to me, more so than music. Music was just the medium.
What’d you think of him as a DJ?
He was X-Men at the time with Steve D and Dr. Butcher and Sean C and Rob Swift. At the time it was incredible. It was incredible just to be in his house and to be around him and his family when we were younger and just to watch him do the things that the whole world [would] see him doing. Everyone who knew Raida always knew he was the greatest at what he wanted to be.
How would you describe his personality?
Raida is one of the funniest beings that I’ve had the blessing to be around. He’d always make you laugh no matter what. He was just very humble when you were around him. Me and Raida were just jokers. We would just laugh and crack jokes. His presence made you always have fun. Anybody would tell you that.
Do any memories stand out in particular?
Wow it’s too many. One I can think of, we had a show. It was actually our first show outside of New York together. We did Jack The Rapper in Atlanta and on that card it was the Dogg Pound, it was Tupac, Run DMC I believe and Whodini. And there was a little break in between for me and Raida to come up and rock. And Fatman Scoop was with us. Nobody knew who we were, we just got up there and I rhymed and let them see what Raida would do. And I’ll never forget how crazy it got once they saw Raida get loose on them turntables. It was just like a different world. I’ll never forget that introduction of Roc Radia in Atlanta.
That must have been mind blowing to see a DJ do that back then if you had no context of the X-Men or the battle circuit.
Yeah you’re talking about ‘92 or ‘93 and it was just ridiculous.
I was a little surprised to see that photo you had up on your blog, I had never known you guys had an official group together, The Grave Diggers. How did that come to be?
Yeah. I’m the emcee that he felt was equivalent. But, I don’t know if you know but I’ve been shot and I’m paralyzed. So once I was paralyzed, of course Raida had to continue to do what he was doing. He was around family Lord Finesse, Diggin In The Crates and many others so he went on to do great things with. And that’s all the same bloodline, same family, so it was all good. I watched him do great things.
If you don’t mind me asking, how did Raida respond after you got shot?
He’s part of the reason I got through this. He was there for me. He went on to win the DMCs, he didn’t stop, he kept striving. I always felt that anything Raida did, he did for the both of us. And in return anything I do is for him. We ain’t never finished being a group, we still a group and we ain’t never gonna stop. I take so much pride in him and everything he’s done. And everything he’s still doing. He’s influenced a generation of emcees and DJs that’s gonna come up and know of him and do the things he’s shown them. I mean you could go on youtube and Raida’s there trying to teach people the things he’s doing. How can you not feel blessed to be around someone like that?
How did you feel when you heard the news of Raida’s passing?It’s the same response as right now. He’s Grandmaster Roc Raida. His energy cannot be destroyed. He’s still here. That’s the only way I can explain it. The actual conversation when that occurred is personal so I can’t elaborate. But my reaction is that he’s still here. Even when I saw him [at the funeral] he looked like he was resting. That’s a physical body, it’s a vehicle. Some of us really feel and do understand that it goes beyond that. And for those that never had the oppertunity to see him live, I suggest they get on youtube and look up Grandmaster Roc Raida and learn what it’s like to be near the purest form of hip hop
November 3, 2009 - In the last few months, DJ AM died of an apparent drug overdose, while a heart attack took the life of New York radio pioneer Mr. Magic. But the least publicized in a tragic and eerily timed trilogy of DJ deaths was that of Anthony Williams, better known as Grandmaster Roc Raida. On Sept. 19, the 37-year-old turntablist legend and father of four died of complications stemming from an unlikely martial-arts accident that had taken place a few weeks earlier.
All Hail The Grandmaster
The Harlem-bred DJ's fingerprints are all over the golden era of New York hip-hop. He toured with Kool G Rap, Lord Finesse and Busta Rhymes, and provided scratches for the refrains of underground hits such as OC's "Time's Up" and The Artifacts' "C'mon Wit the Git Down." Rapper Percy Carey (formerly MF Grimm) brought Raida in as his touring DJ when they were both teenagers.
"I said I needed the best DJ in the world," Carey says. "[Mutual acquaintance and radio host] Lord Sear was like, 'Well, then you need to meet Roc Raida.' "
But Raida would be best known as a competitive DJ. As a member of the acclaimed collective X-Men, Raida spent the first half of the '90s working the battle DJ circuit. Turntablism, as it came to be called, was a composition- and performance-oriented form of DJing. Where scratching was once used to augment songs, turntablists used it as a primary instrument. New rhythms and even melodies were crafted in real time out of record fragments. Raida's routines, in particular, were as physical and personality-driven as they were musical. He performed rhythmic body tricks with absolute finesse, scratching with his nose or catching a record after performing a full body spin. He would eventually be crowned DMC World Champion in 1995.
On Sunday night I threw together a short Roc Raida tribute set at the beginning of my Sirius show. On Monday night Premier and I held our monthly “Like They Used To Say” party at APT which we dedicated to Roc Raida and were able to raise over $4,000 for his family. On Wednesday night I wanted to do a proper tribute show so I contemplated on what to do. As I compiled every song I could that Raida was featured on (production or scratches) I thought it would be better to reach out to his friends and get their take on what the man meant to them. What started out as a dozen or so people that I intended to talk to snowballed into phone call after phone call of friends wanting to share stories. Please forgive me if I left out someone’s name (or misspelled) in this email, but following is a list of who called or showed up at station (no particular order).
Boogie Blind, Daddy Dog, Roli Rho, Kuttin Kandi, Riz, JS-1, Jab, Sugar Cuts, Neil Armstrong, Fat Fingaz, Q-Bert, Mixmaster Mike, A-Trak, J-Rocc, Babu, Rhettmatic, Scratch, Revolution, Rahzel, Bobbito, A.G., Lord Finesse, Dr. Butcher, Vin Roc, DJ Grouch, Freestyle, Spictakular, Shortkut, Supreme and Tame One.
We ended up going an hour longer then we should have. In between calls I found some old cassette tapes of radio show appearances by the X-Men. I hope you enjoy listening to the show as much as I did. Thanks to the whole Halftime crew for making this run smooth; Skizz, Petey Cologne and Marz One. To everyone that showed up or called in….I love you all.
R.I.P. Grand Master Roc Raida. We’re going to miss you.
Eclipse
