DORROUGH - Ozone Magazine

DJ MR ROGERS
Words by Maurice G. Garland
OVER the last FEW years, Dallas
has eclipsed Atlanta as the dance
capital OF Hip Hop. The latest
craze comes courtesy of DJ Mr.
Rogers and the Party Boyz hit
“Flex.” Here is Rogers’ explanation
OF “Flex” and his take on the boogie
movement as a whole.
Dallas is starting to become known for a lot
of dance music. Was it always like this
Dallas music has always had a club-like
energy to it. It’s similar to Atlanta, so being
in the club has always been a Dallas thing.
Greg Street was in Dallas as much as he was
in Atlanta at one point. I’m not sure if he was
bringing music back and forth, but the music
has the same style and essence. We never
sounded like Houston. Lil Jon used to shout
us out all the time on his songs because of
that. The sound has always been here, it’s just
now blowing up. For so long Dallas never
had an identity. We never had an artist other
than The D.O.C. but even with him the music
sounded more West Coast because he was
with Dr. Dre and N.W.A. We never had artists
who we could call our own. But that’s starting
to happen now.
Explain to us the DJ Mr. Rogers and the
Party Boyz make up.
DJ Mr. Rogers and the Party Boyz is like Lil
Jon and the Eastside Boyz. I’m the DJ and
producer. We all handle the lyrics and ideas
because we are all creative minds. We all went
to Prairie View A&M, which we call the New
Motown now because of all the music that’s
coming from there. They used to get the
party crunk all the time, by dancing and boogying.
I was DJ and just developed a record
for what they were doing and that’s how the
Party Boyz came to life.
So people are calling Prairie View the New
Motown
Yes, they are. I went to Prairie View and I graduated
from there. When I came there a Dallas
record couldn’t even get played, but that has
changed. We’ve broken a lot of records there
like Trap Stars “Get It Big,” and “Halle Berry”
which was made by Superstar before Hurricane
Chris blew it up. Plus the school is the
closest black college to the West Coast, so we
get all kinds of people coming through there.
We have great alumni like DJ Premier. Prairie
View doesn’t even have a music program, but
we’ve got it popping out there.
So how did your hit song “Flex” come about
It started at a party at Prairie View. Dude was
out there in the party and I played “Paper
Planes” by M.I.A. with different acapellas over
it. They did a routine to it, dancing behind
girls, incorporating the dance into the beat.
Then they started getting behind the girls and
putting their hand on their head. It looked fun.
After that I was with on the way back riding
from Dallas to Houston. I made the beat in the
car and my manager Cam was like, “It’s gonna
work.” The whole pattern of the beat rolls with
the boogie. I brought it back that next day to
Hump Day on the Hill. I told them to go out
and “hit that hoe,” which is what we say when
mean “do the dance.” I played the beat, and the
whole crowd was doing it. We knocked out the
song the next week and took it to the club and
it was a wrap after that.
Earlier you said you guys are like Lil Jon and
the Eastside Boyz. Ae you trying to brand this
as your sound, the way he did with crunk
The position he played in the group is what I
mean. That’s my role. I don’t want to be limited
to one sound. He has an incredible sound but
it got stuck up under that moniker. I’m one
third of DSF productions. We did “Swang” for
Trae, “Walk Like That” for Hurricane Chris, as
well as some production for Boss Hogg Outlaws
and “Walk That Walk” for Dorrough. So we
have a lot of sounds to offer. //
18 // OZONE MAG