Detroit is Different

  • Latest episode: “My Father’s House, Our Community’s Future: John Conyers III Speaks”
  • Latest episode: ““His Story Had to Be Told”: Shushanna Shakur on Chokwe Lumumba, Family, and Revolutionary Memory”
  • Latest episode: “I Remembered I Wanted to Be a Teacher — Mama Nozibele on Love, Legacy, and Black Education”

  • Latest episode: “My Father’s House, Our Community’s Future: John Conyers III Speaks”
  • Latest episode: ““His Story Had to Be Told”: Shushanna Shakur on Chokwe Lumumba, Family, and Revolutionary Memory”
  • Latest episode: “I Remembered I Wanted to Be a Teacher — Mama Nozibele on Love, Legacy, and Black Education”

Detroit Hip-hop has roots that reach through the 1990s, connecting rappers, producers, and DJs. DJ Butter was one of the first hip-hop DJs with an official mixtape, I remember. Kill the DJ was an album he pressed up thousands of albums independently distributing and marketing. In this Detroit is Different interview, we discuss J Dilla, Proof, his start in Highland Park with hip-hop, and more. Today DJ Butter helps anchor the work of J Dilla and others. He joins me for a Detroit is Different interview while in town visiting from the West Coast to produce a concert with Boldy James.