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00:00105.1 The Bounce. Detroit Stowback, Fit Pop and R&B Showtime. The Czar.
00:04In studio with me, I have a person I consider the epitome of entrepreneurship, from just
00:11music to his piece of cat, which I'm going to get into, to DJing some of the hottest parties
00:16around the city, in and out the city, man. Having his hand just pulse on the Detroit music culture.
00:24Mr. 3525 is in the building. DJ BJ, what up though, bro?
00:26What it do? What it do? Thanks for having me.
00:28Thank you for coming. I think we should start at the beginning because, like I said, man,
00:35you went from DJing to just entrepreneurship in terms of the pizza cat. So I think people should
00:42know who DJ BJ is. How did you get into the DJing and everything like that, bro?
00:47Well, overall, I'm a successful failure.
00:50Now describe that. That is an interesting term.
00:52Yeah, I'm a successful failure.
00:54Okay.
00:55And I say that on a lot of levels because a lot of part of my life has been like really
00:59just trial and error.
01:00Okay.
01:00A lot of the stuff that I won in, it was a test, you know?
01:08So that's like even how DJing started. DJing started because I was a felon, you know?
01:14Okay.
01:14So I went to school to be a math teacher and a baseball player at Eastern Michigan.
01:20Got to Eastern, got up there and big boys on the field. I said, all right, them dreams are shot.
01:26You know, I wanted to explore HBCU. So I moved on to Tallahassee. I went to Tallahassee Community
01:35College with, you know, plans to go to FAMU. I was, you know, right there. Got into a lot of
01:40trouble down there and, you know, came back home and fell in. So I actually used to work
01:45at Oak Park High School. I used to be the guy that opened the door to the computer classes for
01:52the kids. And I got that job at Michigan Works and two weeks in, you know, got fired from that
01:58fingerprints dirty. So at that point in time in life, I just told myself, I got to apply what I
02:04know in real life to my real life. I knew music and I knew math. Right. So that's where DJing came
02:10into play, you know? So how did you, okay, now explain that because I heard you say that before,
02:13the math and you said what you know in real life. How did you make that as a DJ? Like what?
02:19Well, my, my father owned a record shop called Anguy Records. Got you.
02:22So I always been around music my whole life. He had this big album with pictures from Diana Ross to
02:28Anita Baker. And I'm like, you know, one day I want to have my own,
02:32you know, book like that. But you know, it's social media now. So mine is going to be on my
02:37timeline. Right, right. So I always love music. And math is, DJing is nothing but math. It's BPMs
02:42all day. And you, when you're mixing two records, one may be a 60 BPM. The next one may be a 62 BPM.
02:48So I'm doing plus two, minus two. It may be something in double time. That's 60 BPM, maybe a 120.
02:55So it's just math. You know, you can add, subtract, divide, and multiply how you can DJ,
02:59you know what I'm saying? Okay. Now, I know, I know that's like,
03:03yeah, yeah. Easier said than done. Right, right. Okay. So, um, from the DJing thing,
03:09you were on the radio. Okay. Now explain that because a lot of people don't know that part of
03:14it too. You, uh, you were, I guess, after the guy who left and went to 106 and Park.
03:19Well, actually me and him was on air together. He is actually the one who found me and discovered me.
03:25Oh, okay. Shorty the Prince is who it is. We can, I guess. Yeah. Shorty the Prince. So I was always,
03:30I wasn't even 21 yet, but I was doing all the radio events. I was like the hottest DJ, you know?
03:35Mm-hmm. So one day I got a call from Birch on Broadway. This was a while back.
03:39Birch on Broadway. And they said, Hey, we want you to do the third level.
03:42If the first two levels fill up and we'll pay you 50 bucks. At this time, like $50. Like, you know what?
03:48Come on. All money, good money, whatever. I'll take it. First level filled up. Second level filled
03:54up. Third level filled up. And I get to rock at my floor. So a dude walked in and he was like,
03:59uh, Hey, who was you? You know, I'm, I'm fresh from St. Louis. We looking for a DJ on my show.
04:05And I'm like, man, I'm DJ BJ. You know, like, uh, he like, well, here go my boss number. You know,
04:09if you want to something you want to do for radio, you know, like entertain it. So I went home that night.
04:14I asked my mom and my dad, I said, uh, when I called this lady, what should I say?
04:19And this was a Saturday. And they was like, don't call her till Monday.
04:23Cause it's business. I called her that Saturday night, left for a voicemail. I say,
04:27I'm the hottest one around. You need me on your show. I can bring your station ratings.
04:32And I never got a response. So I ended up seeing the station post something on Twitter.
04:37Hey, we looking for a DJ, submit your mix. And I submitted my mix. I got in.
04:41I mean, they were signing my paperwork. And then Shorty walked in and she was like,
04:45uh, look at the dude we got besides the ignorant dudes you had calling my phone on the Saturday.
04:49And Shorty like, that's the dude.
04:52That's a crazy story, dog.
04:54That's the dude.
04:55Okay. So I always say, man, that you have an interesting story because of a lot of people
05:01think if you don't come from the trenches, man, that you like, it's not real. Right.
05:06I've heard you say a few times that while you have ties to like, what was it? The West side?
05:12Okay. Yeah. That's not necessarily you. You know what I'm saying?
05:15I think you said you came from Farmington Hills or you have parents to grow up out there?
05:18Southfield. Southfield.
05:19I was born in the city.
05:21Right. Right. And your parents moved out there.
05:23Parents moved to the suburbs.
05:24There's a kid in like Belleville or Farmington Hills that wants to be the DJ BJ.
05:28What do you say to that kid that didn't necessarily come from the trenches,
05:31but has that same hustle? And that's what I think people don't understand.
05:34It's your hustle, your drive, bro. How do you tell that kid, bro,
05:37it ain't about where you coming from, it's where you going?
05:40I would say two things. One, closed mouths don't get fed. And I say that because maybe
05:48them kids think that they got to be hood or ghetto to be able to fit in.
05:51Facts.
05:51You really just got to be yourself.
05:53So when I say closed mouths don't get fed, it's like, speak up for yourself and who you are.
05:57So even now, I'm still at a point in my life where I'm trying to figure out who I am
06:02because I'm developing, I'm growing, I'm going through things.
06:05So as a, as a kid, I would tell them that, and I will also tell them,
06:10make your connections inside the city, understand who does what and why they are who they are to be
06:16able to help you get to be able to help you get in position of where you want to be.
06:22Cause there are key players. There are certain people you just, you just kind of got to know
06:27to be able to get to where you want to get. So, so that's about my main thing is closed mouths.
06:32Don't get fed because no matter where you from, you don't have to try to fit in.
06:37I never tried to fit in. I never claimed a set, never claimed a hood, never throwing up sides.
06:42It's like, Hey, I'm me. If you're going to love me for me, then let me rep what I want to rep.
06:47Right. How do you do now? You say that. And then there's kids who, like you said,
06:53they're trying to fit in, right? What, how do you separate yourself and not be,
07:00like I said, it's at the summit. How do you not be corny trying to, you know, stand out and not be?
07:06I always had this conversation with my, my girl, cause she talk about, you know,
07:11low hanging fruit a lot, you know, and I never really understood low hanging fruit until you see
07:19somebody who does understand what cornyness and low hanging fruit is because the world we live in
07:24today, cornyness sells. Exactly.
07:27Corniness can make you a million dollars, you know? So I understand why a lot of
07:33youth are trying to just follow a trend because they seeing somebody making a million dollars off of
07:37it. You know, whoever thought that you could be a millionaire from sitting in front of your
07:40computer streaming all day. Exactly.
07:43Like, you know, like you ain't got nothing to do. You ain't going to use the bathroom. You ain't
07:45going to do nothing. You ain't going to eat. You're going to just stream forever. You know,
07:49while you're not on stream, you still going to make more money, you know? So I would say to that
07:53person who like want to follow that corny route, you got to understand like who,
07:59who you are. It's going to take some deep dive and some deep thinking,
08:03and you're going to have to go through some things to understand what's corny to you.
08:08That may even be from the clothing you wear. That may even be from how you speak. Some people
08:13think talking intelligent is crazy. That's why people say, hey, I'm going to use my Amazon voice
08:19because they know that when you're using an Amazon voice, you mean business and you mean money.
08:24Right. You know, so you got to understand who you are. You know what I'm saying? You got to
08:27understand where you come from and just, you got to understand the politics of not getting caught up
08:32in the street life because I've seen so many people who wanted to be artists or this or that.
08:38They'll get so caught up in what the hype is, they can't keep up with it. They go get jewelry,
08:44they go get cars, they'll get these clothes, and then they go to the club, pop bottles. And it's like,
08:50hey, no, no, no, no, no. You got to do that next week too. And the week after that. Don't stop now
08:55because once you stop, you fell off. But if you never would have started that,
08:58you ain't got nothing to keep up with. Right. So you've been very instrumental in the Detroit
09:06music scene, man. You've had a lot of artists come through when you was on the radio, when you
09:11was doing a Friday Night Cyphers, man. Talk to me a little bit about that. What made you want to,
09:16because that's not something you start, but it was something you brought back. Is that how that went?
09:20Yeah, something I brought back, something that, well, let's talk regular Detroit music first.
09:26Okay. High school-wise, Doughboys was my friends.
09:30So I knew once I got on radio, I didn't hear that much Detroit music.
09:34That's a fact. So I use radio as a platform and not a job. So some people take it as a job,
09:40I use it as a platform to be able to get what I want to get, because I know once one door
09:45will close, I know the door will open. So I'm always a person who's going to fight the door.
09:50So, all right, let me try to see how high I can go up this ladder, but let me try to punch the door
09:55too. Let me try to punch it open, because once I get through that door, it's going to be another one.
10:00Yeah. So I remember when I dropped my first Detroit record, it was Doughboys. I dogged.
10:07And my boss said, hey, if you play that again, you're getting fired. You know what I'm saying?
10:12You're getting written up. And I did it again. And I got rolled up for it and everything.
10:16But the ratings came back. The phone lines going crazy. This is back when, you know,
10:20we had phone calls for requests. So ticket winners couldn't get through because you had
10:25so many people calling for these requests of local music. So-
10:31Bro, hold on. So you was the reason that song blew up?
10:33I'm never going to take the credit of that, but I'm going to say-
10:35Well, not, but you played a part in it.
10:38Yeah, played a hundred percent.
10:39Oh my God.
10:39I take all the credit in that, you know? And like, I'm a person of, I'm going to ask for
10:45forgiveness before permission.
10:46I've heard you say that before.
10:48A bunch of times.
10:48Now explain what that means.
10:50I may just, let's just say if it's a bag of Skittles there, I know they belong to somebody,
10:57but I may eat them. And if somebody say, who ate my Skittles? Oh, my bad.
11:01I'm not about to ask like, hey, can I get some of these Skittles?
11:04Right.
11:04You know, I'm going to ask for forgiveness before permission. And I think that's the difference
11:08between adding another zero on the end of your paycheck because chances make champions.
11:14So I'm going to go after it all. If it messes up, I always told my radio boss, I said, hey,
11:18listen, if it messes up, cool. But if it don't, you're going to feel stupid because you told me
11:23no. And that's how the Friday Night Cypher started too. This was just, you know, I remember the
11:29Cypher going on and I was talking to one of my homies and he said, bring it back. Let's do it
11:33again. You know what I'm saying? And I said, all right. But the station said, you can't have nobody
11:37in the station. You can't have these people after this time. So I said, all right, cool. I'm doing
11:42a Friday and I'm going to do it once everybody leaves. So one Friday, I just caught up everybody,
11:4840 people in the lobby and 40 people inside the studio. And I got written up again. But then
11:54guess what? That was the highest rated hour the station had ever seen. Because if you got 40 rappers
12:00and 40 rappers got a hundred friends and family, all of them tuned in. Guess how many new new
12:06listeners you got? Right. So ratings is just sky high. I don't care if it's commercial,
12:11bray. I don't care what it is. I'm stealing ratings from every station. Oh, now they want to sell it.
12:16So now, you know, in my head, I'm thinking once again, this is a platform. So now this,
12:20this business, now, now I'm your business partner, but I'm really just did something wrong. Oh,
12:24now you want to sell it. Now you want to make money off of something that you just told me not to do.
12:28So that's, but that's the anatomy of the world. That's why I say close miles, don't get fed.
12:32Chances make champions. You got to just do it because overall, somebody either going to want to make
12:37some money from it with you, or they're going to be like, no, that's a bad idea until it works.
12:41All right. Last thing, bro. And I ain't going to keep you too much longer, man. Let's talk pizza
12:45cat real quick. Let's do it. Um, why pizza? Most people, when they get into the restaurant or food
12:51game, especially black people, we like to do soul food. We like to do stuff that we're comfortable
12:55with, stuff that we could cook at the crib. Pizza ain't nothing that you just cook at the crib,
12:59man. Why are you getting the pizza game? You want the real answer? You want the generic one?
13:02I want the real answer. I don't know.
13:04Honestly, it was just an opportunity that came my way. And like I said, I'm a person of
13:12taking chances. I've never worked in a kitchen. I've never owned a restaurant. I don't know
13:16ordering. None of that. I know it now. But when I first started, I didn't know anything. I'm just a
13:23young black kid with happy to own something. So why pizza though? Because I feel like, here's my
13:30thing. And it's just my pizza. It could be good or bad because you can really mess up a pizza,
13:38bro. Like the sauce or cheese. Like you can mess up chicken. You throw some hot sauce on it. You
13:42good. Pizza ain't like that, bro. You throw some cheese sauce on there. You throw the whole pizza
13:47off. So does that ever bother you? Because you got fresh ingredients and all that?
13:51I'm probably the most pickiest eater you'll ever meet. I don't like my food touching.
13:56I like all my food well done. I don't eat soul food. So Thanksgiving, I'm probably hitting Little
14:02Seasons or White Castle. Really? Yeah. Don't eat no turkey. Don't eat no stuffing, no ham, no
14:09no collard greens, any of that. So I'm one of them. Burger, like even when I'm on the road,
14:16chicken fingers. I'm trying to find a spot that got the best chicken fingers and fries.
14:20That's crazy. Maybe do something like spaghetti or like pasta if I'm feeling good or I'm looking for
14:25the best burger. Besides that, no. We had a full course, five-star restaurant. The burger? How's
14:33the burger? That's me. That's crazy. So when the pizza opportunity came my way, it's right up my alley
14:38because that's all I ate anyway, you know? So even some of the ingredients that we use now, like
14:44mushrooms. I never ate mushrooms before now. Artichokes, salami. I never would have ever thought
14:52about eating any of that before I had Pizza Cat, you know what I'm saying? So, but it was just an
14:57opportunity that came my way. One of my partners, one of my, um, my homies, he was, he used to drive
15:03to Toledo to get this pizza. And one day I rode with him and he was like, man, I think the guy won
15:08a franchise, but we're going to bring it to Detroit and do Pizza Cat Max where we got a full bar, um,
15:14sit down, live entertainment. And I was just so happy to have my name on something. Um, but if I can go
15:20back and do it all over again, I would do it totally different. I would understand the business,
15:24you know, um, opened up too many stores at one time. I was just a person with some money and
15:30ambitious. So Pizza Cat is one of my biggest blessings, but it's also one of my biggest life
15:36lessons too. Cause for one, you have to understand the business of food. You have to understand business
15:43and then you got to also understand who you go into business with, you know what I'm saying?
15:47Cause everybody don't have the same standards that you have. And I'm a person, um, every other
15:51business before this, it was me. So if I lost, I lost on my own. So, but Pizza Cat is a thing,
15:58like how you got to lose as a team. And that's a, that's a real hard thing for me to do.
16:01And that was, that was a different for you, right?
16:03Yep.
16:03Okay, man. Appreciate you for stopping in, man. Wait, real quick. How many Pizza Cat locations
16:08are there? Is it three or four now?
16:09It's only three right now.
16:10It's only three. Okay. All right. Make sure I check out one of the Pizza Cat locations, man. DJ BJ,
16:15appreciate you for stopping in. Oak Park, 25298 Greenfield Road.
16:19Pull up on it, man. Thank you for stopping in, man. My dog, appreciate you for doing this.
16:23105. I want to bounce your time to Zara. Peace.
16:25Let's get it.