In our final installment of the “Smirnoff Inspire” DJ series the man who says he launched “The TMZ of Hip-Hop” shares how his early influences actually made him  reevaluate his career as a DJ.

TheUrban Daily: Who inspired you to DJ, and why?

Before I ever started DJing I was doing mixtapes, and the people who inspired me to do mixtapes were like Dirty Harry and Green Lantern. You could kind of tell that they were producers, and I kind of had a time where I was really focusing on production as well, so it was like I could see the real heavy production in their mixtapes. The way they did their blends and they chopped up the beat, they put in different elements from other things into their mixtapes. And I could just see the artistic level of it that very few people were doing outside of them. It was cool, I got to work with both of them on some projects. That was a real cool thing. It kind of made me step up my game. Being in the studio with them and talking to them constantly, I just saw different ways to do things and I learned a lot from these sessions, in terms of how they do it and how they put it together. After working with them I became better at what I did on the mixtape side.

What about on the DJing side?

I remember when I saw Kid Capri DJ for the first time. When I came to New York back in 2002 I really thought that I was gonna make my mark as a club DJ.  I was making my rounds, doing all the New York clubs like China Club, Envy and so forth. I remember when I saw Kid Capri [and admired]  the level of vocal control that he had. He had this way to control the crowd, the way he used the records, it was something I had never really seen coming from the West Coast. It was really more about how you could transition one record to another and how you could really musically kind of put these two songs together to sort of create a new song and kind of keep the mood. Whereas like in New York, it was different. It was more about getting on the mic and hyping up the crowd, and kind of just dropping records in and it didn’t really matter how you transitioned them. And seeing Kid Capri do that I feel that he’s definitely the best at that “thing,” that East Coast DJ thing. And it really made me kind of realize that you know I don’t know if I’m ever going to get to this level, I don’t know if I really want to focus on this thing because of people like him [Capri].

When it comes to my career, my businesses, the decisions I make with my career, I really feel that if I can’t be the very best at a certain thing within a reasonable amount of time, I should probably look at other things to do. And that was honestly like the club DJ thing, I think I’m going to put less focus on, even though I’m always going to like doing it, but it was the Kid Capris of the world that kind of showed me how much they had elevated that art-form. They made me kind of switch up a little bit, to be honest. I don’t know how many people would do that but I’ma keep it a hundred. [On the West Coast] DJ Rectangle was definitely an influence on the mixtape side. One of the very first mixtapes I had heard was a DJ Rectangle one, where it was that same level of production and that same level of creativity on the mixtape project. DJ Q-Bert was always a big influence, because he was such a big figure from the Bay Area. It was just interesting to see a Bay Area DJ be considered like the best in the world at that thing, in terms of a turntablist. I never really went down the turntabilist route myself, but it was just inspiring. I remember I had actually interviewed him early on before I had started DJing. We sat down at his house. He had this huge house with like you know this huge basement with all these turntables set up and everything. It was kind of inspirational because it was like wow, this guy got all this from DJing. He had his own business, his own scratch records, his own products, his own videos. That was like the first time I saw that you could really turn DJing into an actual career and an actual business if you’re successful at what you do.

What advice would you give aspiring DJs on the come up?

I think there’s a few things. The first thing is, that as hard as it may be, I think it’s important to never really give up. If you feel that DJing is really what you want to do, if it’s really something that you want to devote your life to it’s not just a hobby that you wanna do on the side. If it’s really something that you want to pursue, I don’t think you really do it while having a 9-to-5 job. Because best believe all the top DJs, the ones you read about and see, those are all people who devote a massive amount of time to what they do. They wake up in the morning and they do it until they go to sleep at night. And if you try to juggle that between a 9-to-5 job, you have a huge disadvantage with those people. It’s just simply a time thing. You’re just not gonna be able to put in the same level of work and same level of practice as someone who’s really at this full-time. I think that’s the number one advice I would give. Other than that I think it’s important to figure what you are going to concentrate on and really focus on that thing as opposed to being a “jack of all trades.”

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When Fat Joe’s latest album, The Dark Side, debuted selling  11,180 units 50 Cent continued his on-going beef with the Bronx rapper by  creating a youtube video mocking the Don Cartegena.

In an interview with Vlad TV Joey Crack responded by noting that 50 should be more concerned with his own declining sales noting that he has lost “9.5 million fans. He went from selling 10 million records to barely going gold. The economy is bad but he isn’t making good music. The reason that Fat Joe and Ross are still around is that we’re making good music.”

Joe went on to say that he’s never seen someone make a classic album and fall off so hard. He also corrected the figures 50 quoted saying that he sold 12,000 units as an independent artist, not 5,000.

Watch the full clip below.

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Lil Wayne called into Funkmaster Flex from Rikers Island to share what his daily routine has been like behind bars.

The Cash Money star has been in jail since March 8, 2010 serving eight months for  gun possession. Lil Wayne admits that he doesn’t listen to much music but wants to do songs with Andre 3000 when he is released.

When asked what his typical day was like Weezy told Flex that he wakes up around noon and calls his kids and then he reads his fan mail for the rest of the day.

“I call Mack Mane every single day and I know I get on his nerves” – Lil Wayne.

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The incident stems from the 2008 Ozone Awards. DJ Vlad and Rick Ross were backstage at the Ozone awards when Dj Vlad made the mistake of asking Rick Ross about the C.O. rumors. Rick Ross walked away and later 10 of Rick’s crew jumped DJ Vlad leaving him beaten and battered. Among the injuries alleged to have been suffered by Vlad in the attack are a cut that required seven stitches below one of his eyes, three facial fractures, a corneal abrasion and possible permanent nerve damage.

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Joe Budden’s ex Tahiry  talks to DJ Vlad about a fight she had at a strip club with a dude who ended up breaking her nose.

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Star starting that noise up again. Check out these noisemakers below:

Star doesn’t like that and, as always, the New Jersey Jerk is going to speak on it. Check him going in on Mason Betha below and share your thoughts!

I haven’t heard about these kids… Sorry… But I know that the jerk was a movie with Steve Martin and a dance popularized by James Brown. These newbies owe some royalty checks somehow, someway!

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Angel Lola Luv may be a hot thing now, but there was a time when Karrine Steffans had this video vixen thing on lock.

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I guess when it rains, it pours and Dukie has always been in need of a shower. Yes, the hate is flowing because it’s sad to see folks waste a blessing due to their own insanity.

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Wow, I know T.I. is in jail now, but Star & Buc Wild go in on the Grand Hustle rapper for the moves he’s made to get where he’s at.

While I don’t know nor care what happened behind the scenes with T.I.’s case, it seems that the dynamic duo of hate has an opinion about it.

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The Urban Daily wants to know if you’ve been enjoying these Star & Buc Wild videos and asks you to vote in our poll below:

Wowsers! The dynamic duo of hate go in on Dr. Dre and have some not so clean words for his long awaited third album, “Detox.”

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After Joe Budden called out Method Man over Vibe’s Best Rapper Alive list [click here to read], are we going to see a Joe Budden vs Method Man battle?

Method Man has legendary status, but he’s never been in a battle. Do you think that Method Man is scared of crazy ole Joe Budden?

(Spotted @ Vlad)

Check out what Star & Buc Wild had to say below:

If you’re unfamiliar with the outrageous rants of Star & Buc Wild, then get familiar as The Urban Daily presents the dynamic duo of haterism for your viewing pleasure.

The Hot 97 outcasts react to the growing popularity of the homeboy Drizzie Drake and comments that light-skin is back!

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Just when you thought the sex scandal was behind her [click to read], London “Deelishis” Charles keeps it poppin’. We posted the first part of this interview with DJ Vlad back in March where she speaks on Chris Brown and Rihanna. In this portion she admits that she did make a sex video for an ex-boyfriend who has threatened to release it online. The “Flavor of Love” winner pleads with him on the air not to do it rationalizing that, “I was in love.”

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Now we all know that in the age of webcams and digital cellphones Deelishis didn’t do anything that millions of people haven’t done already. So we’ll ask the lucky mystery man to respect her gangsta and not release it, especially if it’s you Flavor Flav! Nobody wants to see you doing that. Ha!

Would you release a sex tape of an ex if they became famous? Let us know in the comments!

If you really need a Deelishis fix check out the gallery of our favorite pics below.

I thought the rumor was that two out of five actually liked dudes? Hmm… Ahh, well…

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Mike Jones has been making the rounds lately since dropping that unmentionable first single. But the H-Town rapper sits down with DJ Vlad to talk about what T-Pain did to him.

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Sounds like Xzibit is on Foxxhole Radio and he sits down with the crazy bunch to talk about some excerpts from Superhead’s book… in detail.

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SOURCE: VladTV

I don’t know. It sure sounds like it on this DJVlad exclusive.

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With this war of words started off by Jersey Joe Budden, Saigon has answered the battle cry and kicked up the intensity level with this most blatant of insults.

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DJ Vlad keeps getting the exclusives as 50 Cent answers porn star diva’s statement about what she would do if she got a chance to have some alone time with the Queensbridge P.I.M.P.

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50 Cent really breaks down where he’s from and how his business model got him caught up with dealing with Lil Wayne and Young Buck.

More eye-candy for you guys to snack on while we countdown the dawn of a new year! Sandra comes courtesy of DJ Vlad and his VladTV.com site. If you want to know more abotu Ms. Sandra, head over to her Myspace page.

Simply amazing. If you want to know more about the beautiful Ashanta Unique, check her out at her Myspace page.

SOURCE: VladTV.com