By DeJuan Baskin
The Scene staff
Vice President of Student Affairs Thomas “DJ Zilla” Walker could be considered a hip-hop pioneer.
He worked as a deejay long before earning a doctorate degree and becoming a college administrator. His nickname came from his reputation as a monster on the turntable.
“I love music and hip-hop,” said Walker, 53. “I don’t think I was much different from any other 18- or 19-year-old (in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s).”
Walker’s main job at the college is to oversee student services, as well as discipline. He believes his musical background helps.
“I don’t feel that far apart from (students),” he said. “I just came in at a different stage, and I can understand what some of them may feel.”
Walker also has tried to help students gain a better understanding of hip-hop culture. He has led sessions such as “The Rise and Fall of Hip-Hop: Greatest Hits.”
Walker has an ally in associate history professor Dorian Brown, who teaches a class called Exploring Hip-Hop.
“I believe it is vitally important that (students) learn about its origins,” Brown said, “so that they not only have an understanding of where it came from, but also how it has changed and why. I find it both informative and fun.”
Music has been part of Walker’s life since his childhood in Lumberton, N.C. He played trumpet as a boy. His mother and father played instruments, and his sister was a music teacher.
“When I went to high school parties, guys would come in to deejay, and I was impressed with the crossfader,” he said, talking about a mixer device that allows one song to be faded in while another song is faded out.
At University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Walker and his roommate, Charles “Beastman” Blackmon, were known for having great music.
They listened to everything from Funky Four Plus One to Parliament, Kurtis Blow to Funkadelic.
“We were the only ones on our floor (of the dorm) with a big radio,” said Blackmon, now a lawyer in Greensboro, N.C. “So when we played it, other students would hang out in our hall because they liked the music we played.”
Walker and Blackmon invested in deejay equipment and began practicing, then they moved gatherings to the dorm lobby.
Walker learned about BPMs (beats per minute), which help determine a good time to fuse and change songs to keep a party rolling.
“The goal was keeping people on the dance floor,” he said.
The gatherings outgrew the dorm lobby and later the student union, forcing Walker and Blackmon to rent out other venues, such as the gymnasium and theater on campus.
“That era seems like it was in a time capsule,” Blackmon said. “It brings back good memories.”
By his junior year in college, Walker had quit his part-time job as a bike mechanic to deejay full time. Again, his main goal was getting people on the dance floor.
“I had to make the windows sweat,” he said.
It was 1985 before Walker really started paying much attention to song lyrics.
“When I used to spin records, it was more about the beat than the lyrical content,” he said.
“I bought the Eric B. and Rakim album, and it changed my life. It lit a fire under me about hip-hop’s lyrical content. I started paying attention to the words, what (the artists) were saying, and how they were delivering them.”
After earning his bachelor’s degree, Walker enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps.
“They were the elite military group,” he said. “I wanted the biggest challenge, and it helped relax me.”
Walker continued to enjoy hip-hop and other music, but he didn’t feel the need to go to nightclubs anymore.
After the military, Walker began teaching business and human resource management. He did a little deejaying on the side for friends and family who knew he could do it, and he even bought a new crossfading turntable.
But for the past two decades, Walker has focused mainly on his career in education. He came to Forest Park in 2011.
“I had no idea he was a deejay,” said Tracy Hall, vice president of academic affairs. “He has told me about his rather extensive knowledge of music. I know about his love for music, but I never knew he was a deejay.”
Walker acknowledges that hip-hop music isn’t all positive, but argues that it’s not “horrible,” either.
“What I appreciate about hip-hop is its entrepreneurial and intelligent nature,” he said. “Especially the successful (artists), even though I may not think much of them as rappers.”
Walker takes issue with hip-hop being blamed for crime and violence.
“We can’t blame music for our personal choices,” he said. “The thing about hip-hop is its ability to communicate with all different types of people.
“No matter what’s in your past, you can still succeed, especially with all the (media) outlets these days.”