Bobbito Garcia is Kool Bob Love

Written by Alessandro Gambaro on Friday, 31 July 2009 22:16

The first time I saw Bobbito Garcia spinning was at the APT in New York. I was blown away by his style, charisma and ability to have fun along with the people on the dance floor. My friend Kaleem and I had a great time that Monday night, and after that I would go, even by myself, just to listen to his selection.

When you read his interminable resume, it seems impossible that he had the time to achieve so many different things. Here is an example of just a few of Bobbito qualifications: DJ; Radio and TV Host; B-boy; Writer; Sneaker Addict; Basketball Player and when it is all over, he is also a philanthropist. Maybe he is also a great cook..who knows!

Alessandro Gambaro: Coming from a Puerto Rican family in NYC, how was your childhood influenced by your family? And the Latin music?

Bobbito: My father was a Latin music musician, he played the vibes and he had a lot of jams at the crib. I don’t know if you are familiar with Mongo Santamaria, but Chumbo Silva, who played sax on many Mongo Santamaria and Cal Tjader classic albums, used to come to the house and they used to play and sing. I did not know at that point the level of legend that was playing at my crib. Also my father had a very keen ear, he was never really a big fan of popular music, he listened to a lot of Latin jazz, more of complex stuff. When I became a Deejay that’s why I never took the easy route toward music, I had to always lean more towards the more sofisticated sounds and rhythms and always to try to push forward the music that everybody was not familiar with, but I thought they should listen to. I owe that to my father as a musician.

AG: You also played piano, was it because of Stevie Wonder?

Bobbito: My father was heavy on having all his children study piano. I used to go to a lesson once a
week and the fact that I never studied, but I played for ten years, it helped to shape my life because one of my early role models was my piano teacher, Mr. Howard White, he had so much wisdom and he used to share it with me, in fact a lot of the piano lessons, I would say half of the time, it was me and the teacher just talking and I was soaking up all the knowledge. Just the idea of the piano was so beautiful. We had a Steinway Baby grand at our house.

AG: Do you still have it?

Bobbito: My father passed away back in ’97. The piano? I don’t who’s hands it is in now. My father’s vibe set was donated to him by Tito Puente, my father opened up for Tito at the Palladium back in the early sixties and after that gig Tito said: “ Eh, quiero eso?” And he gave him the vibe set and it was a prized possession in our household my whole childhood. After my father passed away, my brother and I took it to a school in Harlem and donated it to a school that is for music education for kids.

AG: How did you become a member of the Rock Steady Crew?

Bobbito: Being Boricua in hip-hop in the late eighties early nineties we were always part of culture and history, however there weren’t a lot of us at that point being active on a weekly basis at the events, a lot of times Crazy Legs and I would be mistaken for each other. Of course I knew who he was because I grew up across the street from Rock Steady Park on 97th Street. So I grew up watching him from a very close viewpoint and had a ton of respect for him - for all of them. Knowing that they were mostly Boriqua and representing on a whole other level-it was a great social orgullo (pride). I think me and Legs meeting was bound to happen for a number of reasons. When we first met we hit it off immediately. We were both people who didn't like to complain, we were both positive and we started doing the Rock Steady Crew Anniversary together. I count him among my closest friends.

AG: Is Crazy Legs still a great friend of yours?

Bobbito: Absolutely. I joined Rock Steady Crew in 1981 and I helped with the Aniversario every year and we basically put together a free concert, I was Djing and Legs brought in all the sponsors and organizes it. Legs still does it - anybody interested visit www.rocksteadycrew.com

AG: You worked at Def Jam for few years, from '89 to '93, how do you remember that period working at the most influential Hip Hop label?

Bobbito: I was like a sponge, soaking up all the knowledge. I have always been like that, I have always been a student and humble no matter where I have been. I was doing anything I could to help the company because I believed in it and I believed in what we represented and when I stopped believing it that’s when I left.

AG: You stopped believing in it really early then?

Bobbito: You have to remember that in the eighties Def Jam always put out one artist per year: like in 85 they put out LL Cool J, in 86 the Beastie Boys, in 87 the Public Enemy, 88 was Slick Rick, 89 was 3rd Bass, we are talking about the biggest Hip Hop artists of the time, there was no fillers…everything was amazing and it changed the face of the culture. However, in the nineties I think the label wasn’t as sharp with their releases, they put out bad music and they still had some great artists that were doing really dope stuff, it was still fun though but there was a down factor. I am a person with a lot of integrity so promoting records that aren't good - where's the fun in it?

AG: How did you become a DJ?

Bobbito: In 1990 I joined a DJ named Stretch Armstrong on the radio at WKCR 89.9, here in New York City, on Columbia University's station. Very quickly our show gained international acclaim and started winning awards by The New York Times, The New York Press and the Gavin Report, which is an industry magazine, as the best college station in the country and then eventually in 1998 we had Best Hip Hop Show of all times by The Source Magazine. The radio show was very successful and it opened a clear path for me to start djing in the clubs here in New York and then eventually throughout the world. I have to pay a lot of respect to Stretch because I used to host the show and be on the mic and I'd be watching him for four hours blend the Beatles with A Tribe Called Quest doing all these amazing mixes and cuts - it was very inspirational. And then when I actually started to try to start Djing, Rich Medina was another pivotal person in terms of helping me and giving me a lot of advice about the technical aspects of djing. So I am thankful to everyone for helping develop me. And now I have djed in 5 continents and in 40 countries in the world, it is kind of crazy when I think about it.

AG: DJ Cucumberslice and formerly known as Bobbito The Barber, Make It Happen, Boogie
Bob, Kool Bob Love, Soul Food Bob, and Bag of Tricks, DJ Mango Tango…what’s the story behind
the evolution of your DJ name? Haha, I really love Mango Tango by the way.

Bobbito: (Laughing) Actually Mango Tango happened on the basketball court, but I have not really pushed
Mango Tango. I've been staying with Kool Bob Love but I put Mango Tango in a couple of flyers. It’s all about having fun. I take my craft very seriously but I also like make people smile.

AG: Who was the artist that came to your radio The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show
on WKCR that you thought right away, "This kid is going to blow up?" And why? Who are some other artists that you thought would blow up after having them on your show?

Bobbito: We didn’t know who was gonna blow up and who wasn’t. Because for every unsigned Nas, Jay-Z, Biggie, there was Cage, and Raggedy Man and and Tone the Butcher. You know there was so many artists that came up, some of them made it, some of them didn’t, but in our eyes it didn’t really matter because as long as they were good we wanted them on the show.

AG: Are you still in touch with Stretch? Would you guys DJ a party together?

Bobbito: Absolutely we speak at least once a month and we discussed possibly going on tour. We've talked about it for about a year but our schedules are so different, you know, because we both DJ
around the world all the time. We are working on doing a little reunion tour sometimes in the future.

AG: You retired from the radio in 2002, if a radio station would offer you a program would you accept it?

Bobbito: It would depend, because if it was an Hip Hop show I would say no. Stretch and I did
already an incredible Hip Hop show, for me, I like new challenges, if I would do a radio show I would not want to play the same great music that we played in the nineties, there is no challenge to me to do that as we have already played it. I would like to expose what people don’t know and right now there is so much beautiful African, Brazilian, Latin, Soul, Dance being made that people are not paying attention to. Its not played on the radio, there are no videos for it. I play it in my club-sets and people are always coming up to me like, “Yo, what record is that?” So I've recently made a compilation with Rich Medina, The Connection, it is on R2 Records out of the UK, Rich did the Afro-beat and I did the Afro-Latin and it’s all predominantly music made in the last couple of years. And people blow away like, "Oh my god I didn't know that this was out now." So if I would do a radio show I would want to do something more along the lines of my club-sets.

AG: Confessions of a Sneaker addict? How did the idea to write about your sneaker obsession come about?

Bobbito: Well that was back in 1990, it ran in 1991 in The Source, it was the first article in media history which covered sneaker culture and it was the first culture piece that The Source ever did as well so it was a landmark piece in a lot of different ways. Basically John Schecter the editor-in-chief at The Source, he recognized that I had a lot of ill sneakers that no one else had. cuz I used to paint sneakers, so I always had something that no one else had. So he approached me and said, “Yo Bob, yo why don’t you write an article about sneakers?” He left it wide open, he didn’t know what he wanted me to write about he just said write an article about sneakers. So I wrote about the confessions of a sneaker addict and that led to Dana Albarella who was working at Orange Press at the time, she saw it and when she started her own publishing company called Testify, she approached me to write the book called Where’d You Get Those? New York Sneaker Culture 1960-1987 which is another landmark book and that book led to me hosting the first TV series in the world on sneaker culture called It’s the Shoes on ESPN, we were on the air 2005 and 2006. I have been able to get a lot of success - the starting point being that article in the Source magazine article.

AG: I am sure you get a lot of sneakers for free too.

Bobbito: I do! I get a lot for free. I still go out and shop though. I like to support the independent stores. I had an independent store called Bobbito’s Footwork from 1996 to 2000 that was four years before the huge global sneaker boutique trend started. I was a little ahead of my time. It was a lot of fun I am glad we did it.

AG: How many pairs of sneakers do you have?

Bobbito: Not that many. I actually donate a great amount of sneakers on a monthly basis to
different charitable organizations, one of which I just started is in Bamako, Mali in west Africa, they just received five big boxes of sneakers a couple of months ago and they had a ceremony. The mayor of the town had a ceremony to pass the sneakers out to the kids. They sent me some photos and I was like, I was buggin'. The program that I have worked most closely with over the years is Hoops for Hope, their website is www.hoopsafrica.org. And I sent them a whole bunch of sneakers over the years and I actually helped them fundraise a couple of years ago, and with the money that they were able to garner that opened up a court in Zimbabwe and they dedicated it in my name so that’s kind of crazy to have a court in your name in Africa, hopefully I will get to go there one day and see it.

AG: Kanye West made a pair of shoes for LV, what do you think about them?

Bobbito: I haven’t seen them.

AG: In 2006 you got hired by the Knicks to do “The Hot Minute At the Half” reports with celebrity in the audience during the Knicks home game. How was that experience?

Bobbito: Working for the Knicks was bananas because I was on the sidelines every home game watching some of the greatest players in the world. I got to meet some really cool people and interview them during the half-time reports. But I think even greater than that was the fact that I was the first Latino ever hired by the New Yorks Knicks broadcasting team in their 60 year contract history. I live in Harlem and I would go to the park to play ball and kids would come up to me and be like, “YO, I watch you on the Knicks…” I know that even though it was only for one season that I was able to inspire and I feel good about that.

AG: Who are your kind of ball players?

Bobbito: I like the guys who play respect for the playground, that’s who I root for. I run Bounce magazine and we’ve had Ron Artest on the cover, we’ve had Smush Parker on the cover. I’m gonna root for those guys I wanna see them do well because they are the kind of people who when they come back to New York they go to the community and they play in front of kids for free. A lot of the kids in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, when they see these guys play in the summer in the tournaments, they are the same kids who can’t afford a 60 dollar ticket to Madison Square Garden. When the New York players do that it lets me know that they haven’t forgotten where they came from, it doesn’t matter to me the team they play for, it’s the players.

AG: How do you like basketball today? Do you miss something from the 70s, 80s rivalry
or the way the game has changed?

Bobbito: I’m not a guy who lives in the past. I love basketball, the state of basketball 2009, I play everyday. I just played a game yesterday on West Forth Street, I got a game tomorrow; I’m in two
different leagues. New York is the Mecca for basketball so I have nothing to complain about, there is a ton of resources to play here and I think some of the greatest players in the world are here in my home.

AG: Where can Sofisticati readers come to listen to you spin? I know that you are going to have a music tribute to Fania in NYC, what Fania music represent for you?

Bobbito: Fania as a record label was so groundbreaking in the sixties and seventies that their impact is still being felt. For me, I am not the most well-versed historian on Fania, there are a lot of people who could tell you a lot more about the musicians and their releases. There are a lot of DJ’s and record collectors who have bigger record collections than I do. But to me, the tribute party is a way to bring Fania to a new audience. Because the people who follow me might know me from Stretch and Bobbito radio show – the Hip Hop side; they might know me from VIBE magazine for my column I had there for ten years called Soundcheck; or they might know me from my APT party; or they might know me from the Stevie Wonder tribute that I do with Spinna. So when they come to the Fania tribute, they know my name, but they might not know the Fania catalogue. So them coming to the party with me as a DJ its just to draw them in to introduce them to a whole new world. Hopefully they learn. A lot of people know about Hector Lavoe but they might not know about Roberto Roena or Bobby Valentín. To me its just about bringing them in giving them a great experience and then hopefully they go out and search for more information.

AG: Where are some of your favourite cities to spin around the world? Where are the best crowds?

Bobbito: One of my favorite cities is New York, of course, my hometown. I would say San Juan
Puerto Rico, that’s my homeland where my parents were born. I dj there at least two times a year. There’s nothing like playing in front of your own countrymen and country people. And I DJ’d once in Johannesburg, South Africa back in 2000 and I was the first US hip Hop personality to perform in post apartheid South Africa so that was really special. There’s a lot of special experiences that I’ve had in lots of different cities. Oh and wait wait!! Milano, it was crazy man, the kids were going crazy, it was in a mirrored basement like it was in the 70’s. I was flown to Milan to do a sneaker customizing class. And I also Dj’d in Genoa too that was crazy I spun in a beautiful club right on the water with all windows. I LOVE ITALY.

AG: Top 5 current records?

Bobbito: Current amazing tunes I’ve spun the last five times I’ve had gigs.

Afrozen Orchestra feat. Chancellor Dedianga
“Future Afrobeat”
7”, Soultronik Records, 2009

Gizelle Smith and the Mighty Mocambos
“Working Woman Part 1”
7", Old Capital Records, 2009

Sharon Jones
“I Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Is In”
7”, Daptone Records, 2008

Stefania Rava
“Send In The Clowns”
7", Dejavu Records, 2008

Laura Vane & The Vipertones
“Man Of Your Word”
7”, Unique Records, 2009

AG: Classic Top 5?

Bobbito: Okay, top fives are already tough for me, and virtually impossible to say cuz there is
so much great music, so I’m gonna make a twist for you. Here are some albums I have spent a lot of
time listening to over the last five years:

Stevie Wonder “Talking Book” (Motown)

Donnie “The Colored Section” (Giant Step Records)

Nas “Illmatic” (Columbia)

Syreeta “Syreeta” (Mowest/Motown)

“Hair” Original Soundtrack Recording

Organized Konfusion “Organized Konfusion” (Hollywood Basic Records)

Hugh Masekela “The Promise of a Future” (UNI)

This is by no means a top five current or all-time. I can’t go on record like that!

http://www.somosarte.com/bobbito/
http://www.bouncemag.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bobbito-Garcia-aka-Kool-Bob-Love/66072911092
http://www.r2records.co.uk/theconnection/
http://www.myspace.com/bobbitogarcia
http://www.youtube.com/user/bobbitogarcia
http://www.facebook.com/bobbito.garcia

- By Alessandro Gambaro

Images Courtesy of Bobbito Garcia

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