MistaJam on 1xtra - Nottingham Articles

UK Takeover DJ and co-founder MistaJam (aka 22-year old Pete Dalton) has landed his own weekly show on BBC1xtra.

As one of three new signings to the label, Pete takes over the graveyard shift on Thursdays from 2am-6am, but fear not Notts hiphop heads. You don't have to wait up all night to listen. You can listen to his shows online at any time from the BBC 1xtra website.

This is the latest step in an interesting career for Pete. A product of the Central Youth Drama Workshop acting school run by Ian Smith, he first came to the attention of clubbers and hiphop heads for his DJ sets at Bring Da Noize at the Bomb (at an age where he was only just old enough to be allowed in).

From there he landed a regular part in resurrected ITV daytime drama Crossroads as Minty the Chef. He stayed in the show for over a year, but unfortunately (with all due respect to Pete) it was a bit crap and even the mums didn't really rate it, so it was eventually abandoned for a second time.

After this Pete became a prominent face in the Nottingham Hiphop community. Alongside Jo Buhdha, he founded Sureshot Entertainments and it's sister company UK Takeover, putting on UK Hiphop gigs with line-ups that no-one could compare with (locally and nationally). In just over a year they have showcased just about every well-known Hiphop artist in the UK including the likes of Skinnyman, Roots Manuva, Ty, Taskforce and Blade. Check out some photos from the first event here.

Pete was last seen playing out in Nottingham supporting the legendary US rapper KRS-One in his gig at Rock City. We caught up with him to ask a few questions about the show so far...

So how did this 1xtra show come about?
Basically, I've been trying to get onto 1Xtra since launch but it's notoriously hard to get your foot in the door there. 1Xtra got involved with broadcasting the UK Takeover and KRS One events we put on and as the head of live events is also the head of specialist at 1Xtra, he heard/saw me DJ and told me that there was an opening at 1Xtra and asked if I'd like to make a pilot. From there I was offered the show.

How has it gone so far?
It's been great! I've had a fantastic response from all who have heard it, emails/texts etc... Before the show went out, there was a lot of negative stuff on internet messagboards about the show and some of the changes 1Xtra made to the Hiphop DJ roster but since people have heard the changes, it's all good. The scene continues to change and evolve and 1Xtra have now got deejays who each can represent the broad spectrum of hiphop music, I've never been a fan of musical elitism or segregation. There has been a little bit of snide comments from certain people within the industry who have drunk a little too much haterade, but that only continues to prove to me that I'm on the right track! I've been told that the M1Xshows are the third most downloaded shows across the entire BBC online network, even beating a large amount of Radio 1 and Radio 2's output, so I have to make sure I'm on point. Four hours allows me to play completely across the board so I love it! It's just the late night and early morning drive to/from London that's getting on top, but I'll get used to it!

What are your favourites of the records you have played so far?
I don't really have any favourites. There's a lot of hot records out at the moment. I have control over the playlist of the show so if it's featured, I'm feeling it.

Are you going to play much Notts stuff on the show?
The best thing about the show is that I'm playing quality hiphop irregardless of where it's from, so if there's any hot Nottingham based stuff I'm feeling (and have) it will get played!

Is there an address that aspiring musicians can send you stuff to?
Yep, just send it to me via the 1Xtra address: MistaJam, Hiphop M1X Show, 1Xtra, PO Box 1X, London, W1A. If it's quality, I'll play it.

How is Mr Buhdha?
Mr Buhdha's cool. Currently in the studio with Klashnekoff putting the finishing touches to their album Lionhearts - Battle With the Beast. It's some seriously revolutionary hiphop shit compared to a lot of the rammel coming out of the UK at the moment. We need a revolution. UK Takeover was the start of it, the radio show is part two, the album is part three...!

How long do you think it's going to be before 1xtra give you the primetime slot?
That's entirely down to the 1Xtra bosses and if they think I'm good enough. At the moment, I'm happy blazing it up 2-6am thursday nite/fri morning. How many other deejays can say they get paid by the BBC to play 4 hours of the music they love each week to the entire nation?