Phoenix Radio listeners always know they’re hearing some great music. But did you know that when you listen to Dr. Duss, you are getting to hear a piece of Hip Hop history?
Dr. Duss, whose given name is Kenneth Jackson, began his career as a D.J. in the 1970’s, and has been a part of the scene ever since. His work has its roots not in any YouTube tutorial about DJing or course someone cobbled together on Udemy, but in the record stores and on the streets of the South Bronx. Dr. Duss grew up in the projects in the South Bronx, and has been preparing for his career his entire life.
“My mom and dad always had music in the house while I was growing up,” Duss explained. “I still have my mother’s collection. I still have my father’s collection. I still have my sister’s collection. My father had an eight-track player, record player, and mixer in the house.”
Duss would then go on to learn his art directly from others in the early days of Hip Hop.
“A friend of mine, a DJ named Ken-Du taught me how to bar, how to the music together. Then we started cutting beats and doing shows. This was in the early 1970s. Then, Frankie C, one of the street DJs from Brooklyn taught me how to do beats per minute. That’s when I really perfected the beat timing, and mixing one song into the next song. Another friend of mine decided he wanted to come out as a DJ as well, and we became “DC and Company.” I have been a DJ since 1975. Back in the day, we became D.Js by doing break dance music.”
Even the professional name, “Dr. Duss” stems from his deep and lasting connection to the people who love the music he plays.
“My nickname is Rusty. They used to call me Rusty Dusty. After I started to D.J., I had to choose Rusty or Dusty, so I chose “Duss short for Dusty. But my full professional name is Dr. Duss, Mixologist. It was given to me by a girl named JoAnn. She loved the way I blended the music, and gave me the ‘Mixologist’ part of my name.”
As one might expect of a man who has been so immersed in Hip-Hop and the art of working as a DJ from the early days, Dr. Duss has made DJing his one and only lifelong career.
“I went to school for cooking, and I’m good with wiring a sound system, but the only thing I’ve done since the 1970s was DJ. I was a DJ through the 1970s and the 1980s, up until today. I’m not a new disc jockey. I am a pioneer of old school Hip Hop. And I love to play old school.”
The music Dr. Duss plays today ranges from 1970s to 1980s Hip Hop, R and B, and even a touch of Disco. He says he doesn’t have a favorite musican, but loves funk, and anything with a good beat.
“I listen to anything that has drums, percussion. I like a beat. I come from a B Boy background, the type of music that used to be played for break dancing. I like to play the break down of a record,” he explained, adding that he does not play as many beats as he would like on the air, because hosting a radio show is a bit different than the work he has done previously.
“I came to Utica in 1993,” he said. “In 1994 I was DJing at a club at 1305 Conklin Avenue. I also had mix tapes out in the stores, including Last Unicorn.”
Given his lifelong dedication to old school Hip Hop and its fans, it is not surprising that it was the people who heard him in the club and listened to those mix tapes that first led Dr. Duss to his current steady gig at Phoenix Radio.
“The people from the street itself were asking the radio station why they didn’t have Dr. Duss on the air,” he explained. Word got around to “Chemical Kane,” another local DJ who used to be associated with Phoenix Radio, and an acquaintance of Dr. Duss.
“He was the one that came to me and asked me if I would do a show,” Dr. Duss said. “I didn’t want to do it at first, because I had never done radio before. I always wanted to be in radio, but I thought it would be as an engineer, as a mixer. I didn’t want to be out in front with my microphone.”
But as a lifelong professional, Dr. Duss knew that one of the most important traits of a DJ is versatility.“I would tell anyone who wants to be a DJ that they have to be versitile,” he said. You’ve got to be willing to play more than just what you like. You have to be ready to please all the people around you.”
And Dr. Duss’ work on the radio is indeed pleasing to the listeners of 95.5 The Heat/Phoenix Radio. His show, “Serving Up Soul” plays every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 1-5 pm and every Sunday from 1-2 p.m.
“I’m just hoping that the show will reach listeners,” Dr. Duss said when asked what impact he hoped to have on his audience. “I hope people just enjoy the music that’s being played.
