Biggy C, the scene’s Godfather DJ and honorary lesbian (his words, not mine), will be playing at blessence this month.

We managed to pin down the busy sweetheart one Sunday afternoon at home. His pad is what I expected - packed with technical paraphernalia; a mixer here, decks over there and piles of CDs in cases and boxes everywhere. As we sit down he shows me his new baby – a Mac Book laptop, ah, cute.

He is such a darling, immediately offering to buy me dinner. We start chattering away and we giggle lots. He really is one of the girls! I feel I could tell him my life story.

Not a novice to media talk, Biggy immediately shows me an interview conducted by The Guardian back in 1994. He is displeased with the way his words are misconstrued regarding playing music containing derogatory lyrics about gays and lesbians. The article seems to portray him defending the overtly homophobic lyrics.

I promise him that I will not take today’s conversation out of context. And so we begin....

Why the name Biggy C?
Biggy was my nickname from school because I was always quite tall and I added the C, for Calvin (my first name), so as not to clash with other Biggys!
 
How did you get into DJ-ing?
It was an evolution over time.
I would play at after school events and I used to watch and listen to my dad play his music in the front room. I took a liking to it and progressed from there.

After school I used to play ska and old school reggae.

I left home at 16 and moved into a flat where another DJ lived. He used to play in lots of clubs and I used to nick his records and add them to my collection.

People also asked me to play at parties. I played at a blues in Brixton, called Harry’s Cafe, for around two years. Throughout that time I would also play at house parties.

Then the opportunity came up for me to play at Heaven nightclub. It was around 1989 – some of these kids (who I play for) weren’t even born then. This was the first large gay club I had ever played in.

At that time, for the record, there was none of this bashment stuff and all the madness that’s going on nowadays! I like to think I started bashment in the gay clubs because when I first came out, as I said in interviews before, I wanted to hear the stuff that I wanted to hear.
You’d hear a lot of ‘It’s Raining Men’ (does a really camp dance) and all that kind of handbaggy music.

I wanted to hear some good sounds so I started bringing in a bit of R&B here and there.
I remember one day when I played a Shabba Ranks record and everyone stopped and looked at me as if to say what is he doing? But it caught on and I’ve never looked back.

Would you say music is in you?
Yes, definitely. From both my mom and dad, from years back. From the Jim Reeves to the Tammy Wynette.

So what about the Art of DJ-ing?
I really began to take it seriously back in 1990 when I was in New York. I met a couple of famous DJs; Kenny Carpenter, from Studio 54 in the 1970s. I also met Frankie Knuckles.

They are both like a father to me, but more so Kenny. I went on a journey with him. I remember being at his house and him going through his records with me. He showed me how to match beats.

Before this I would just drop a record here and drop a record there. They showed me that there was a serious art to DJ-ing.













Do you prefer single sex or mixed crowds?
It’s got to be mixed.
It’s always a pleasure to see a good mix of men and women in the crowd. A lot of gay men don’t have any sisters! They are surrounded by men. I like to know that there are women around me, even though I am a gay man.

There’s been a distinctive move from records to CDs, MP3 players and now IPODs.
How would you say is the best way to DJ?
Anything that makes you feel comfortable. We are here in the electronic age and it’s not going to go backwards. No one is going to go back to carrying records about. My back is still arching from walking with record crates and what not (laughs).
It’s a joy to walk with just CDs.

I can even see myself progressing to this whole laptop thing although I don’t feel this is an organic way to play. In fact when I started playing CDs I didn’t see this as organic either. I would cling onto my vinyl until I saw DJs arriving with a single bag of CDs and me with six crates of records. Eventually you have to give in to it.

Now when I play I use CDs but I see a lot of other DJs with laptops. I’ll do mixtapes at home on my laptop but at clubs I still like the feel of putting a CD in. At least you feel a bit more organic.

However, I would not say that the art of DJ-ing is lost with the progression of technology. There definitely is an art to it – not anybody can do it.














You said before this interview that people do not go to clubs to hear music. Do you really believe that?
I think hearing the music is only part of it. The problem nowadays is that we are being saturated with the MTVs and all these different radio stations. Everywhere you go it’s music, music, music...and visuals.
People tend to warm up when they see visuals.

I remember playing back in the days at old rare groove parties where you could bring out a song from 1963 and as long as it was a good tune, everybody was down with you and would say ‘this man knows his tunes.’

Now if it’s not Beyonce, Ciara or the latest bashment tune then these kids are not having it.

Do you prefer select rave nights which are geared towards a particular music genre?
I prefer if club promoters make it clear as to what the music policy is going to be. I also prefer for promoters to employ me for what I play and not necessarily for what they want me to play. Then people know what they are getting.

If you book Mystry (Choice FM DJ) then you know what he is going to play. I would love it to go back to that.

Everyone is looking forward to you playing at blessence. You were there from the beginning until now.
Blessence has always attracted a crowd who appreciate good music.

You could play a new tune or one from the 70s. If it was a good tune, everybody bubbled and there were no complaints or requests for what they wanted to hear. They just let you get on with it – that’s what I love.

You are the godfather of DJ-ing and Lorna G is the Queen of blessence. Do you think blessence was a good call from Lorna G?
Lorna was definitely the person to do it. I’ve known her since I was 18. She turned up at my party. I didn’t know her personally then but I had some of her records.














To have this megastar turn up at my party and start chatting on the mic, I was really chuffed!

Blessence was definitely a good thing for Lorna to put on – it was needed, especially for the older crowd. Everything is geared towards 18 year old these days.

What message would you like to leave for our readers?
A lot of complaints you hear from men is that women are too aggressive. I would say to you men that not all of them are aggressive!

Of course there are a lot of boyish girls around and they display that type of behaviour but you have to understand, this is probably about stuff they have been through. Just embrace it.

Brownie points!
(Laughs) I’m serious. There have been times that I’ve been walking through a club and I get some little girl bracing herself up on me! I’ll say to her, yo, my daughter is your age, now come on, calm yourself! 
As long as I do this with a smile it usually turns them around.

So to the guys reading this, I would say embrace your sisters.

Your experience surely goes before you and you definitely have a rapport with those around you.
I try to. Thank you.