The wildcard of the SFNY Social Club. While we all know the tried-and-true muscle of the other SFNY deejays, the fact that we don't know from which crate Chairman Mao will be coming from is sort of the reason why we want him down with us. Rap jams? Hard boiled funk? Covers of your favorite songs? Maybe that and then some. 

A chairman who swabs the ears with rare groove and rap, he's also as renaissance as the abstract poetic. Not in the sense of "I wear tights and armor on the weekends while going upstate"…but in the "I run shit  in a whole bunch of different lanes and you are but my wench." See, when he's not across from 125th street getting dusty, the fingers are going H.A.M. on a few books, making Larry King (the only man married more times than Ted Bawno) look bad via his interviewing skills for The Redbull Music Academy. 

Oh yeah, and then there's this entity called Ego Trip…rap music's irreverent but far from irrelevant collective that curates the best bathroom reading material and office cubicle distractions known to man.

Here's another distraction....a mix by the man himself. - Patrick King Most Diaz, SFNY Connect

Since you're a tried and true New Yorker, can you give us a brief breakdown of the different eras you've seen in New York City's nightlife? Outsiders only hear vague references of how "things have changed".

I’m actually not a born and bred New Yorker, but I’ve lived here since the late-80s when I came here to go to school. My initial thing nightlife-wise was more live music than club oriented, so I used to go to see a lot of bands perform at the Ritz, Maxwell’s in Hoboken, and rap shows wherever – at the Apollo and whatnot. Basically, things were wilder and more freewheeling back pre-Giuliani, just the whole vibe of things. There were no ‘quality of life’ laws. People sold shit on the street, they drank and smoked wherever, you didn’t complain about noise so there were better parties everywhere. It was sort of a free-for-all and if that meant things weren’t as safe or clean as they are now at least when you were younger you were hopefully well fortified enough to just deal with it and keep it moving. I started going to club nights like Soul Kitchen (which was my real indoctrination into deeper soul, funk & sample spotting) and Giant Step in the early 90s. And when I began DJ-ing around then too that opened up a whole ’nother part of it for me. A lot of small bars w/ DJ set-ups opened up around downtown then so you could build little communities. I got an apartment in a building where a bunch of working DJs lived so there was always something to do.

You spent a long time holding down a residency at the world famous APT. Can you give those who never got to experience that party an idea of what it was like? What was its significance with respect to the New York party scene?

APT was a godsend b/c it emphasized music over pretty much everything else. I was about to retire early from DJ-ing b/c I was getting tired of playing Bad Boy Records & crap R&B when my former partner who I used to spin with, Dennis Kane, told me about APT and how we should get a night there. We were fortunate enough to get into the rotation, worked together for a few years and then carried on separately. APT was just a room in a basement with great music and a really unpretentious yet clued-in crowd. Sort of like Plastic People in London, though the sound system would never rival Plastic’s even when they bumped it up to a Function 1. It was just a really liberating place. The management was super supportive of all the residents, and they were all so good and the area was still so industrial and isolated that it was like a little cocoon that couldn’t get corrupted by b.s. At least for a while. Eventually all things run their course. But I think it’s probably sort of the last place of its kind in NY. It was a great home away from home for many years.

One of things that stands out to me is that you continue to embrace new hip-hop via your writing in XXL and RBMA. What keeps you interested in hip-hop while most of your peers are buying Coldplay albums?

I get really tired of hip-hop, honestly. But there’s something about the DNA of hip-hop that will always get me. And because I’ve always worked independently more or less I like to support those trying to do the same thing. So I still write my column about underground rap even though that’s probably considered the most passé thing you can do with your time in 2011. My work for RBMA – hosting lectures, writing, and doing an on line radio show – actually gives me a nice respite from hip-hop. I can be the veteran hip-hop guy but still be into other shit. This past weekend for an RBMA event in Detroit I got to interview Wendell Harrison and Marcus Belgrave of Tribe, Wayne Kramer of the MC5, Jim Diamond – who co-produced the first two White Stripes albums, Amp Fiddler, and Paul Riser – who arranged strings on everything from the Temptations’ “My Girl” to R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly.” It’s a great gig and I’m glad they keep asking back to do shit.

What inspired the rebirth of ego trip? How are things different this time around, if it all?

We discovered this great thing called The Intranetz. We think it’s got a lot of potential. Hopefully, it’ll take off. We still have our suspicions it’s just an elaborate ponzi scheme. ego trip, and our site egotripland.com, is basically the same sensibility and humor as always when we were doing magazines, books, TV etc.: just being smart and critical of things where it needs to happen – musically, socially, pop culture-wise. That, and contributing something context wise to the culture, telling good stories and putting things in perspective. The Intranetz is like an abundance of info, but completely lacking context and perspective. A lot of it is just billions of people talking about how great they are trying to drown one another out. I have kids so I don’t feel so compelled to try to act like one nowadays. Juvenile humor notwithstanding. That shit is timeless.

I heard Ted Bawno will be starting a series of celebrity DJ appearances. True or very true?

Ted Bawno is a great man, a visionary, a leader. He knows a lot about controlling an environment so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him begin DJ-ing on occasion. There’s nothing he can’t do. Or pay someone to do for him and then take credit for it.

What is New York's best kept musical secret?

Silence is golden.

Chairman Mao is 1/5th of egotrip, “the arrogant voice of musical truth.” Visit egotripland for more mayhem and malarky.

SFNY Connect presents SFNY Social Club

Music by KM/FM • Shred One • Kon • Waajeed • Chairman Mao

Enjoy a special performance courtesy of The Harlem School of The Arts.

Hosted by The Mighty G-Man • Sponsored by Wax Poetics, Société Perrier and Goorin Bros.

Sunday 25 September 2011 • Manhattan • Doors 2pm Show 3pm

Hudson • 356 W. 58th • Manhattan • RSVP to ensure entry.