Broke-Ass DJ Interview: Chief Boima @ Afrika 21 Showcase Tonight!
DJ Chief Boima can take you around the world in 15 minutes with his globally plugged-in mixes As a member of the Dutty Artz collective – they produce tropical dance party, Que Bajo – Chief Boima is pushing boundaries in global bass and dance music. You can see him tonight (Sat 10/22) as part of the Afrika 21 CMJ Showcase at the Dekalb Market at 5PM. Below, Boima talks to us about the origins of his name, how the residual effects of a diaspora can make international tours easier, and how it was once cheaper to city-hop than keep an apartment.
Tell us about your name, Chief Boima?
My given name is Boima, it’s a common name in Sierra Leone and Liberia. There’s a road in the town where my dad went to high school called Mahei Boima, which means Chief Boima in the Mende language. My dad’s high school friends joked and called me Chief when I was young, so it’s a nickname I’ve had my whole life. I went back to it after being DJ Iron, and a previous too embarrassing to mention DJ name.
How would you describe your sound?
Pan-Atlantic Electronic Bass Music… or what I put on my website Neo-Electric African Diasporic Music. Adjectives are fun to play with!
What do you want people to take from your music?
In my own music, my goal has always been to represent my roots and life experiences, but create something fresh and contemporary. When I reference different global styles, I’m basically saying that there’s people all over the world with the same hopes and desires as you, you should check them out. I’m trying to create sparks for global solidarity through conceptual cultural linkages.
When I DJ I like to play music from countries or regions people don’t generally know about. I’ll mix Hyphy [from the Bay Area] with Zouglou [from Cote d’Ivoire], or Soca [from Trinidad and Tobago] and Vallenato [from Colombia], etc. I like to see how different people react to such mixing, and how it challenges their cultural norms. A club or a party is a space where cultural barriers can melt away in front of me, and as a racially-culturally-nationally mixed person that’s a space I feel like I belong in.
What’s your favorite makeshift instrument?
Table Tapping, because it can be a group instrument.
Who are you listening to right now?
A mix of 90’s Midwest and California Rap by DJ Deeon I got off of Dave Quam’s Website.
Where are you from? How did you make your way to NYC?
I’m Sierra Leonean-American, born in Milwaukee, graduated high school there, and winded my way to the Bay Area. I decided to come to New York to check out the music scene, be closer to a bigger community of African immigrants, and come to school.
How do you like to spend your downtime?
I really like watching movies. It was a passion of mine for a long time, I studied it in school, but I never really get a chance to really watch films anymore like I used to.
What’s your favorite NYC neighborhood?
Bed-Stuy. That’s the only place I’ve lived, and I’ve got a good community there. Also because of the food.
Your favorite cheap bar in NYC?
There’s a cheap bar in NYC? I grew up in the Midwest. There’s no such thing as a cheap bar in NYC. Also, the corner’s not an option. I quickly learned about the open container law, so NY loses points on that one.
Your favorite cheap meal in NYC?
“African Cuisine: African and American Food” on Fulton and Franklin. Great home-style African food charged by the pound!
Your favorite cheap (yet fashionable) place to shop?
Even though you can get everything online now, I love to buy the CDRs from the African shops in Brooklyn and Harlem.
Tell us about one of your brokest moments as an artist?
When I was “let off” a tour I was supporting. I didn’t have a job, and they didn’t pay me enough to save, so it became cheaper for me to buy plane tickets, than keep an apartment. I just city hopped for awhile and stayed with friends. Maybe not surprisingly, my brokest time is when I travelled the most.
How do you save money on the road – domestically and internationally?
I like to see myself as a pro flight booker, and seasoned discount traveller, and am not afraid to take a little risk for the sake of saving some money. Some of my most interesting life experiences have been when I was “travelling cheap”.
Both the Internet and the amount I’ve travelled have allowed me to build a nice network of homies around the world, so I seem to always have a place to stay. I[n] being part of a family from an “out migration” country, I seem to have family everywhere I go. But, you always gotta rely on strangers, especially when you’re in a country where you don’t speak the language.
Where’s the cheapest place to tour?
Any place can be cheap if you get to know it well.
What’s your pre-show ritual?
I drink to kill the nerves.
What do you refuse to spend money on?
…Drugs.
What do you think a DJ should spend money on?
I think buying the records of up and coming artists, especially if they’re independent, is a good way to support them.
What was the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought and why did you make the purchase?
An education!
What’s up next for you?
I’m playing the Afrika 21 CMJ showcase on Saturday, and then next week headed out to the Bay for a couple of Halloween shows. In the next few months I’ll still be visiting different places in the U.S.
In 2012 I’ll be working on a full length album of original material, and releasing a couple remix EPs. Hopefully in the summer, I’ll be headed back to West Africa to do more music and community building with folks there.
Parting words/wisdom/advice?
It’s not about a salary 😉
Photo Credit: Boima
