Elmhurst Ave. and Broadway—a crowded and vibrant crossroad in Elmhurst Queens, New York. The area is heavily Asian populated, surrounded by a few Morning Glory stores, Vietnamese restaurants, and Chinese supermarkets. Down a couple of blocks is the isolated-looking I.S. 173, while the opposite way leads to the ghetto 7-train station. Engulfing the central portion of the area is Broadway Park, an average park with its basketball courts, handball courts, and small children’s playground. But despite the highly Asian-oriented surroundings, inside Broadway Park lies the large “melting pot” that New York City is known for. A few Chinese and black kids are playing a hard game of b-ball, some Korean and Spanish kids are running frantically as they try to keep up with their blue handball, but high up on the steps leading to the playground sit some lyricists talking about battles and some new hip-hop songs. Elmhurst may look like a simple middle-class neighborhood, but it’s perfect for any open-minded and innovative lyricist. This neighborhood, from the small Morning Glory to the deteriorating 7-train up on Roosevelt Ave., is the hometown of Drunken Tiger’s DJ Shine.

   DJ Shine is one of the very few hip hop artists who brings a unique New York flavor to the Korean media. While many other artists claim to be the “realest” New York MC in the media, DJ Shine outweighs all these artists, having the experience and upbringing necessary to truly claim that title. Despite the success and hype surrounding him and his co-member, Tiger JK, the man still remains a mystery to the public. We know him as the former DJ Mr. E, the New York native, the lively leader figure of Drunken Tiger, but the question is who is he really? What does he have to say about himself and his group? So much speculation surrounds his past and what compelled him to become who he is now. With Drunken Tiger’s 4th album right around the corner, the highly respected artist sacrifices some time to speak to the public about himself, his group, and his upcoming anticipated album.

The following interview occurred during a private internet exchange.

Part 1- DJ Shine: Uncut

Camp:  First off, what's the meaning behind the name "DJ Shine" and how did it come about?
Shine: The DJ name I went by was DJ MRe.  I was pretty mysterious, being a Korean DJ and all in a very black culture at the time.  Throughout the years I was known as that DJ, as time went by my name started popping out in the scene and my doggs would clown me and say I wasn't mysterious at all, and always told me I was shining like the sun.  When I wanted to start over as a MC, the name stuck with me, but I didn't want to lose my DJ roots and what it had taught me about the game.

Camp: When did you start DJing?
Shine: I've been Djing since I was 14 years old, back in the day I started with a huge vintage mixer that partially worked with two turntables, a belt drive... which was very crappy but did the job. 

Camp: What inspired you to start? 
Shine: Definitely the culture was a major impact.  95% of the Asians were into new wave music; I just fell into the 5% that liked hip-hop and other shit.

Camp:  And you were named top DJ in NY and Chicago?
Shine: That shit's over exaggerated. I don't know who the fuck started that rumor but thanks anyways :P But I was one of the very, very few Korean/Asian DJ's that wasn't scared to rip shit up.

Camp:  In the past, you've mentioned how you were starting a hip-hop clothing label called "RILL" clothing. Are you still working on that?
Shine: Always working on it!  The industry fucks you up so bad, you really tend to suffer in the inside.  I wish interviews were enough to shed the light on how everything revolves around the artist, but that shit's
just a vivid summary.  Our company pretty much owns all the rights to our shit. I'll leave it at that for
now.

Camp: You've been in the rap game for a while now. Do you have any bigger vision than being an artist? Where do you see yourself, DT, and the movement crew in the next few years?
Shine: Yo, I'm just doing my shit, JK, is the true artist.  I like the simple things in life. My biggest vision is to provide for my family. Being a family man, the heart that beats my life, the reason I live for. I don't want to think too ahead of time but I think the world is a huge classroom that we are all learning from.  Some just seem to excel more at a quicker pace than others do, but we all GOD's.  There's still a lot of things I want to show myself and others about the side of DJShine, but sometimes words just aren't enough to express it.  I'm just gonna live my life, the movement will always be there, we always going to take our time to make shit tite as possible. Me, personally, I'm just gonna do what I'm doing ‘til I don't feel like doing it anymore.  It wouldn't matter what the reason's are, whether good or bad, if I feel like no more, then that's it.

Part 2- Drunken Tiger: Past, Present, Future 

Camp:  What should fans expect from your 4th album? Shine: vinyl medicine... Camp:  In the past, DT albums have been the place for some underground artists to debut (I.E. CBMass, Bobby Kim, Sean2Slow). Is there anyone new on DT4 that we should take note of? Shine: yeah, fob the rob, the illest MC in the world. Peep game ^^ Camp:  Musically and lyrically, DT's albums improved tremendously and I'm sure there's some songs that didn't make it in your previous CDs. Do you have any songs that you liked but couldn't add on to your album? Shine: There's a lot of songs the company wouldn’t approve of which is always a constant battle.  One track that DJJhig produced was hot hot hot, but the sample couldn’t clear.   Camp:  You and JK have gained quite an amount of experience in the production field. JK has worked diligently as a producer on T's past three albums, while the both of you have worked hard on MC K's debut album. So is Drunken Tiger still aching to make their own production label after you both have experienced how much work the field requires? Shine: We always trying to make Drunken Tiger as best as we can, pushing each other to the limit.  However, there's still so much politics we have to break down, we can only express ourselves to a certain point. We battling all the time to break that.  JK, as a producer, has improved drastically. Micki eyes has found his own style, DjJhig with his raw talent. I think my only problem is I make too many beats that I like, you know simple dark loops. That’s my shit!!!  Camp:  Besides DT4, two of DT's members are expected to drop solo albums. Can you evaluate on DJ Jhig and Micki Eyes' solos? What will their solos be like? When are they scheduled to drop? Shine: At this point, we have been very busy trying to build a foundation for our crew.  It’s gonna’ be something Korea has never heard of.  It will be Jhig's and Vision's time to shine, so I'll let them handle future questions. Camp:  What about Roscoe? How's he doing? Will he still remain an essential feature on DT's future album? Shine: Roscoe is forever Drunken...  he has his mind set in the right path, makin’ serious cheese, and will always be the illest!  He has now moved out to Seattle and taking care of his business.  Even though he is extremely busy, he made time for the 4th, traveling back to LA. Kooya always got our backs and it goes for the same with him.

Camp: Other Korean rappers have featured big American rappers on their albums.  Jinusean 3 featured Cypress Hill and Mobb Deep, while DVS's first album featured XZIBIT. Will DT do something similar to
this in future albums?
Shine: Even before our first album dropped, we had bigger named artist that wanted to feature for DT.  A lot of big named underground heads, DJ's from Honda to lethal, crazy town, lazy bone, Krs-one and so on... we felt that the environment to have these artist were greatly unappreciative.  We wanted meaning with featured artist, not to sell more albums.  For instance when we did a show with PMD Korean cats were giving no love, we were so heated that we had to explain that he was a major impact in development of hip hop that they should show there love, then they started cheering.  What the fuck is that? But I know we all still leering and until it gets to the point where it matches for us and the other artist that's what we'll do. These cats don't even want money from us, they feel our music, they do it strictly for what Drunken Tiger stands for, they do it for hip hop and that's respect.

Part 3- The Korean Music Industry
 
Camp:  When Drunken Tiger first came out, the Korean music industry didn’t easily accept rappers and often tried to limit their existence. The few rappers that were out (I.E. DjDoc, YG Family) were limited to performing tame or dancy hip-hop. Because of this, you guys had a really hard time taking off at first, but when you did, suddenly the whole view on hip-hop changed. Hip-hop suddenly became darker and rappers emerged from left and right. Do you feel that Drunken Tiger is partially responsible for this new Korean hip-hop movement?
Shine: If I say we didn't have anything to do with this, then I'm a liar, and if I say we did, then I'm conceited. Let the people decide. Fuck it, Koreans love to gossip.

Camp:  Where do you think Korean hip-hop is going? Is it just another trend just like the whole boy band era of the 90's?
Shine: Naw, hip-hop is like a good plague: "As the world turns I spread like germ"- Method man. But there are still ignorant fucks trying to take advantage of shit real artists built up and try to jack shit and make it into something it's not, like fucking vultures.  I got 2 words: "FUCK EM."

Camp: What are your thoughts on the growing amount of Korean rappers in the industry? Are there any new artists that you particularly favor?
Shine: I love it. I want more and more. Just represent the real and you on my list.  A lot of Korean/Asian cats holding the fort in America who know what the fuck they’re doing even though they against the odds just like us. Ya’ll get big ups! To all the busters who fakin like folex, you ain’t got heart. Your stupidity will prevail, dumbass!

Camp:  Drunken Tiger is one of the few Korean artists who have fans from diverse White, Black, Indian, who are located anywhere from Australia to the United States.  Only the best Korean artists can earn such an enormous amount of respect. What are your thoughts on this?
Shine: Word...  Do you know the meanings of GOD's R US? You got love for us, we hit you back 10 times more!

Part 4- Commentaries on Other Artists: The Movement, Joosuc, Jin, Snacky, YG 

Camp:  "The Movement" originally started as a small hip-hop collaboration consisting of Drunken Tiger, Kim JinPyo, CBMass, and T. Since then, "The Movement" has expanded at an expedient rate. As of now, who is part of "The Movement?" Shine: Anyone who is down with hip-hop and representing the culture the proper way. Camp:  You've recently added EX-PLICIT LINEZ and MC K to the crew. Is there anything that you would like to share about these two artists? Shine: They’re young, ambitious, and talented what more is there to add? ^^ Camp:  Insane Deegie, solo rapper and member of "The Movement" crew, just recently retired from the biz. How do you feel about it? Shine: He fuckin crazy... but then again he is insane.  You can't just retire in an industry like this.  He just taking a little vacation. Camp:  Rapper, Joosuc, is starting to blow up the scene. Some consider him as the best in the Korean underground hip-hop scene. Do you agree?  Shine: I don't know if many peoples know this but Drunken Tiger is originally from the underground. That’s how we blew the fuck up with all the support from the underground heads. I've known Joosuc for a while now.  I always knew he had the talent to rise up. He's a good kid. I like some of his shit some of it's gay too, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. We had beef with his label for the longest time.  The first show we performed was at a hip-hop joint called Master Plan way back in the day.  Just before the performance, all the cats under that label were conspiring on taking a huge blow on us that day by trying to shut us down.  They wanted all of them to perform first, and as soon as they were all done, they were taking all the people out with them. The crowd didn't know who the fuck we were. It would have been a disaster.  We found this all out from JK's pops who was sitting next to them at a café when they were planning all this shit. How fucking low can you get? They didn't know who his pops was until it was too late. So we flipped that shit inside out. Instant rockage!  But even though we knew they hated, we still tried to explain that hate was not the answer.  All the real heads had to unite to form a foundation, an alliance.  But a lot of these cats were thinking hip-hop was MTV...  So you can imagine the road that we've been through. As for the beef, every single artist in that label is gone except Joosuc. Go figure... Camp:  Asian rappers are starting to blow up in the States as well, particularly Jin tha MC. What are your thoughts on him? Shine: He got gimmicky rhymes, good deliverance, but hip-hop is not always just about that.  He’s dope, but I don't think he has enough to put Asians on the map just yet like EM did for white people.  But if he's Asian, and representing hip hop in a proper way, you got my support. Camp:  Do you have anything to say about Uptown’s comeback and upcoming new album? Shine: "I bet I could make you famous"- Billy the Kid Camp:  What do you think about Snacky Chan's and Yang HyunSuk's recent derogatory comments concerning Drunken Tiger? Shine: Who's Snacky Chan?  For Yang Hyun Suck, his name speaks for himself.

Part 5- Final Thoughts

Camp: Are there any last words you want to say to your fans?
Shine: To all the peoples who know the meaning of DJShine and what he stands for, I can't express how much that means to me.  I'm not your everyday street poet. I might not have flows you can relate to or like, but you guys stuck with me through good and bad and it will never be forgotten.  Drunken Tiger, people's people!

Camp:  Last, but definitely not least, any last comments you want to make about Drunken Camp (http://drunkenstylez.cjb.net)?
Shine: HAHA! Ya’ll heart!  Drunken soldiers!  You guys get under appreciated, but you got my loyalty and that shit is better than life itself. Word is bond!

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