Q&A With Dee Vazquez (Fuse TV, Hot 97, Sirius/XM)

N.A.B.: Are you a native New Yorker?

Dee Vazquez: Absolutely! I pride myself on being a native New Yorker from Queens, born and raised. That’s where I grew up and I want to stay here <smiles>. I’m disgustingly proud, there are a lot of people that come out here to New York and have been here for like 10 to 12 years, and they’re like, “I’m a New Yorker”. I’m like, “No, you’re actually not”. I can’t understand why people would want to take this place up as there own. But just recently, Lena Horne pasted away. She was a great artist and a great woman. I’ve learned that she was born and raised in New York, from Brooklyn. And she really created her career right here in New York. I’ve always said that was my dream. I’ve been asked to move to L.A., Orlando and Miami to pursue my career, but that’s not what I want to do. I want to do it here at home. I don’t want to leave. I want to make it right now, here, where I live. Because you don’t make it anywhere else, you make it here. People go out to different states and different cities and they build their rep, build there careers and gain that creditability elsewhere and then they have to come to New York to get that co-sign, that stamp of approval. I want to get all that right here at home; there is no need for me to leave. This is where it is, this is where it all starts and this is where it all ends. To think about Lena Horne and her lifestyle and what she accomplished at home. That’s exactly what I’m aiming for. So definitely, a New York veteran and yes, I’m disgustingly proud.

N.A.B.: Tell me a story about growing up in Queens?

Dee Vazquez: I lived in different parts of Queens. What I can really remember is growing up in Richmond. It was no joke in the early 90s. I was born in 1983, so growing up in the early 90s is really where I got to see and understand different things. I remember my mother saying, “Don’t go outside,” and “You don’t go outside”. In the early 90s, going to school, hanging outside with friends going to the park and roaming the streets during the day, we realized we didn’t live in the “nice part of town”. We learned that early. We lived in the same neighborhood that the drug dealers and the crack-heads, the drug abusers lived. But, we also found a way of gravitating and living. We knew that’s the block you really don’t visit, these are the people you really don’t speak to, and you must observe. It was a wake up call for a lot of kids. If a kid was getting into trouble and he was going to school and he was partaking in illegal activities, you looked at him like, “You’re no good” because you know exactly how they were going to turn out. We saw the drug abuser or drug dealer on the corner. And you told yourself, “That’s how you’re going to end up.” It was a great lesson that smacked you in the face everyday. Then later on we moved to Astoria Projects. That was definitely something else for me, because before, we lived in a house. Then we move to an apartment and then we went to the projects. It was like, “What is this?” That’s when I found out what the housing apartments represented and what housing was created for. I learned that just because you might live in a project, you are not defined by the projects. Growing up in the projects, you learned about project rivalry. I had never understood that. These are just some of the things I went through growing up in this part of town. It is what it is and you learn to survive. But I do recall having a sense of community. In high school, if I was coming home late and a neighbor saw me walking alone he’d walk me home to ensure I got home okay. We didn’t have to know each others name, we knew each others face because we lived in the same neighborhood. Sometimes it would be a group of five and they were all respectful, not trying to kick game. It was, “She’s living in our hood, she’s part of us now and we’re making sure you get home okay.” You can always respect someone looking out for their peer, so I loved that and will remember that. But it was definite a harsh reality growing up in Queens.

N.A.B.: Are you a hip hop fan, and do you appreciate other genres of music?

Dee Vazquez: First and foremost I am a hip hop fan. That’s the reason I represent hip hop today. I do love other genres of music. I’m Puerto Rican and Dominican, so salsa, meringue, bachata, all that. Growing up I was a huge fan of freestyle music, pop music, rock music and Kurt Cobain when he came out.

N.A.B.: How did you get involved in broadcasting?

Dee Vazquez: Well, I dove in head first. I always had a vision of having my own talk show. Growing up, so many people had such a bad interpretation of hip hop. I wanted to show people the positive images of hip hop and that the music and culture does influence people to progress. I’ve always felt that hip hop influenced me in a positive way and I wanted to be able to show people a different side of hip hop, the good hip hop can do. After graduating from high school, I started inquiring and I found out about BackStage Magazine and The Village Voice and got into auditioning for anything and everything. After two years of auditioning, I received my first return call from Video City. And then, my career kind of took off from there.

N.A.B.: Is the there a major difference between hosting on air on Hot 97 and when you’re on Fuse TV, or even at a night club. Is there a science behind it?

Dee Vazquez: Oh wow, there is. That is a really good question. I love doing live events. I love it, love it. I feel like I’m at my greatest as far as exuding that energy that I have. Naturally I am a high energy person, so it reflects great when I’m on stage. On TV, it’s more about taking back that energy and releasing it little by little. You don’t want to release it too early on television, so that’s the science there. I speak quickly, I do things quickly, so when you’re on stage, you need that high energy and you need to move things along quickly. So naturally everything that I embody as far as my high energy, me speaking fast, me talking to the crowd, that impulse and all those things I can do naturally, really shine on stage and I love that. On television you must speak perfectly because everything is timed. You need high energy, but also must speak at a slower pace. All these things are the complete science to television… More energy but it has to be something that is contained and a little more monitored. On the radio, you have two minute talk breaks, so you have to do all your talking within those two minutes. Within those two minutes, you must be fearless as far as the talk breaks. But you don’t want to talk about the same thing during your talk breaks, in and out, in and out. We could be speaking about Usher in one talk break and the next talk break we will be talking about a politician that’s doing a community event in the Bronx. It’s hard, because we are not getting the conversation feedback from the audience. They are listening to us speak on the radio. You want to speak about different things, but you don’t want to be scattered all over the place. There is a science to it all.

N.A.B.: I hear you are developing a TV show, can you elaborate on that?

Dee Vazquez: Yes, I really want to get into my own and find my voice as a producer. Even when I was on Video City, I was finding artists to interview, writing my own questions for the interviews and choosing my own locations. I even sat in on some of the editing to give my input. I was very clear with my vision, very early in my career. Later on when I did FUSE, everything was completely different. You couldn’t touch anything. I just had to stand there and do my job. Everybody has their job and everybody has to do their job. With all the experience that I have gained, I just felt it was time to get my own vision and story and put it out there. I have a couple of projects in the works. I just want to do something more educational and entertaining at the same time.

N.A.B.: I would like for you to give some brief advice to the future Dee Vasquez’ that may look at you as their role model and that will follow in your footsteps?

Dee Vazquez: Know your voice and take time with it. Take time understanding yourself. First off, you have all the time in the world. You really do. You must be proactive, understand what your limits are and what your resources are. You need integrity. If you don’t stand up for anything, you will fall into anything. Build your brand and empower yourself.

N.A.B.: Any last words or shoutouts?

Dee Vazquez: Yes, definite last words. My story was featured in a book called Souls of My Young Sisters. I’m speaking about finding my voice and standing up to authority. It’s about truth as authority, not authority as truth. The website is www.soulsofmysisters.com to purchase the book. Read my article entitled “Ask Dee Vazquez” in Straight Stuntin’ magazine and you can tune in every Wednesday on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio on Shade45 at 8pm and every Thursday night on Hot 97 with Kay Slay.

Written by A.D. The General, N.A.B./Elegant Hoodness Musical Program