With the first of the morning exclusive, it was such a pleasure to speak to Cris Fork of the Dirty Fork DJs. First and foremost, what I need people to know about Cris Fork, is that he is a humble servant of the On The Rise Community. Born and raised in Hopkinsville, Ky, currently Midwest swinging it in ST. Louis, Mo, Fork is a DJ, a blogger, an entrepreneur, a business man, and a father. He is all about networking and formulating relationships to enhance the notability and recognition of artists with pure fire talent. Specifically in the arena of Trap Music. Fork is responsible for blogging about the soon to be Trap Music chart toppers.
We began our conversation one hot morning in the spring, with Philly Blocks and I in charge of this interview call. The first thing he had to say was “Thank you” to Philly for the beautifully written article, ‘Yung Gwapa & Mojo Kookin & Juggin Mixtape Review’ here in the On The Rise Magazine.
A little background, Cris Fork is the CEO and Founder of the Dirty Fork Djs, a DJ group established in January 2014 to bring exposure to Trap Music. Fork speaks of his favorite Trap artist, Gucci Mane, and how he showcased the artists’ material on his website and helped to pivot the Trap Music Movement. Cris Fork is dedicated to the artists and provides platforms by sending musical hopefuls to DJs. One of the artists he has supported in full since day one is Waka Flocka Flame, despite any backlash and discernment as to how hot the music was. “I used to send Waka’s music to all the DJs, way before ‘Oh Let’s Do It’, when he was working with Shawty Redd, and the DJs would send it back like, ‘Whoa, that’s trash! Im not playing that!’ Now you know how the game switches, Waka’s a superstar now.” Surely, Cris Fork is the type of individual that knows a hit when he hears it and proclaims that “Exclusive music holds the power to separate the group from others.” Despite obstacles which have impeded upon the initial fire and success brand that Cris Fork has created, he pushed forward, full steam ahead asserting: “I seen too much money out here not to get some, so I jumped back in head first and started grabbing other DJs that I had respect for and that’s how it all blossomed.”
Being assertive and not being afraid to make a change in direction of the bubble gum rappers of the day, Cris Fork took hold to the Trap Music era and banded with DJs like DJ 5150 and proceeded to humbly learn the game. From there, Fork began pushing Trap Music Mixtapes.
Philly Blocks OTRMag – “What is the Dirty Fork Djs and when was it established?”
Cris Fork- “The Dirty Fork DJs was established in January of last year (2014). Really, we cater to Trap Music. We are really trying to get away from the name Dirty Fork Djs because we are breaking into so many different avenues and lanes. Dirty Fork is something like an umbrella, Dirty Fork is at the top and Dirty Fork DJs is just a part of what we’ve got going on. It’s to get all these people together for a common goal and that really to be the new kids on the block.”
Philly Blocks OTRMag- What’s your relationship with Murph and Cizzle? How did you link up to do that tape together?”
Cris Fork- “Murph is the homie. Unfortunately he’s no longer a part of the Dirty Fork DJs brand. He felt it time to focus on him and establish himself. That’s cool. And Cizzle hit me up off Murph. He asked me to do the tape, and we just get it in like that. We are actually going to be re-releasing MBG Forever.”
Angel OTRMag- “You started music at 19, what inspired that start?”
Cris Fork – “Gucci Mane. And really just wanting something to do. Really back then, Eminem was a big factor for me because growing up, about 95% of white kids back then just related to that, and the stuff he was saying was hitting home so it helped me get away from what was going on in the home. He inspired me along with Gucci Mane. I really started getting into Trap Music from Gucci Mane, but I was a rap music fan from since I could remember and Eminem was one of the biggest influences on me wanting to do something with music. I never knew how to rap, not good at making beats, but I just wanted to do something involving this passion I have with the music.”
Angel OTRMag- “What all do you do?”
Cris Fork- “As of today, we have so many things going on from Mixtapes, Promotions, I work with a lot of major websites and blog sites, I work with TrapFlix.com, I don’t know if you are familiar with them. TrapFlix is a 100% urban media movie company. Its a website and an App. We are starting the Dirty Fork TV DVD line. We are launching that in July. We’re gathering exclusive footage from all types of artists and exclusive music videos. I Also work with Digital Music Cards, a company in Atlanta GA.”
Philly Blocks OTRMag – “What part of KY was you stayin’ at?”
Cris Fork- “I was raised in Hopkinsville, KY”
Philly Blocks OTRMag -“Okay, you know Rick and Thaddeaus and them? The producers?”
Cris Fork- “Naw, uh, uh, no I don’t. I moved from Hawkinsville before I started doing Music.”
Cris Fork – “Where you from Philly?” Fork inquired of Philly Blocks, due to his name and his Midwest Accent.
Philly Blocks OTRMag- “I was born and raised in Louisville, but all my family from the Midwest. My dad’s side of the family is from Chicago.”
Cris Fork- “That’s what’s up! All my family is still in KY. I met my wife, when I was 15 and she was from Missouri, so I ended up mobbing/moving here when I was 19. Then we had our daughter, and since then it was on. Missouri Residency.”
Angel OTRMag – “What do you do in your free time?”
Cris Fork- “Oh, I ain’t got none. If I do got some free time, I’ll jump on that Playstation and get some Call of Duty in, I mean really, my free time is dedicated to my daughter, and enjoying the small things.”
Angel OTRMag- “How old is your daughter?”
Cris Fork- “She’s 2. My daughter is 2. We do side walk chalk and stuff like that.”
Angel OTRMag- “Awww Okay! What type of Playstation do you have?”
CF- “Playstation 4, That’s it. That’s all I’ve got. Been Playstation, since Playstation, since Playstation 3! Call of Duty, that’s all I own, that’s what I bought the system for.”
Angel OTRMag- “Where have you travelled since you’ve been doing music?”
Cris Fork- “I been everywhere”
Angel OTRMag- “What’s your top 5?”
Cris Fork- “New Orleans, definitely Atlanta, ST Louis, (prodded to be one of his main work cities), Memphis, and… I can’t even think of any more. I’m really, for me personally, I have been working on building a foundation for this brand here in Missouri… Dirty Fork for the past year 5 mo.
So I haven’t really done much travelling. I have guys everywhere, I have DJs all across the country. We have one in Canada, two in Texas, two in Ohio, really we have people everywhere.
We have a Street Team In Atlanta: ‘Flood The Streets’ basically, I just let them handle the streets promotion side.”
Note: The only thing he is lacking is the major promotional check to say “hey, just come up here”, I’m certain that the Certified Brand Builder will be looking for the best.
Cris Fork continues –
“Really I don’t move unless the money’s coming; until I can make some money here in Missouri.”
“Past year and a half, I been focused on building the name. Setting all the many different aspects we are trying to tackle with this Dirty Fork Brand, I don’t even have the time to travel. I didn’t go to bed until 5 am.. woke up at 10:00. I got bout 5 hours of sleep. Which is really pretty good, just going as hard as I can. It’s a great thing to wake up and just do what I love to do now as far as being happy versus something I don’t want to do.”
The Dirty Fork Empire consists of nine DJs, one producer, DJ Trip The Hit Major, @DJTripTheHitMajor producer for Bloody J. He produced the entire 2014 Black Portland Album: Young Thug and Bloody J. It was # 4 on Rolling Stones Album of the Year. The team recently acquired a head graphic designer, Tag, ( @ThatAwesomeGuy ) to head up and control Dirty Fork Designs which will consist of store fronts, cut outs, banners, flyers, and etc.
Just talking to Cris Fork for a short time, I recognized his need for constant growth. He pays homage to the teams that have been in existence like the “HoodRich{es}”, but he feels his team is giving them a run for their money as his team has only been in existence for a short time. Cris Fork is the sort of individual who respects his contribution to the game while humbling himself to the advice of others. He stated that this is the first time that he felt like people were taking an interest in him. He looks up to my long time business affiliate and owner of Trap Flix, JT. You may also remember the multimedia mogul from his magazine Mandatory Business. Cris Fork is mentions that his largest moment of achievement was when JT The Bigga Figga came over his house and dropped some knowledge on him. “Advice is priceless from someone like that who is already doing what he wants to do and can move the way he wants to. After talking to him, I felt like I’m going in the right direction.”
Fork feels that his brand is certifiably the Trap Music Representation.
The name “Dirty Fork” was supposed to be a mixtape, but Fork and DJ Trap Official ( the co-founder) were sitting in the “nastiest basement in the trap”, all covered with spiders, and decided to go! They got the logo, the flyers, the plan and started working. The team will stay small, a team of a maximum of ten DJs, despite consistent efforts of aspiring Dirty Fork DJ Hopefuls, sending emails, texts, and calls to join the team. Fork feels it will be easiest to keep the team small to maintain the scale of communication and effectiveness. He looks forward to maintaining somewhat of an Official Executive Order and Advisers to keep the entire organization fluid. He says “Just the exclusivity is just what I have to keep.”
Philly Blocks OTRMag “What do you feel… like since Trap, I say Trap’s over a decade old now, and like, where do you feel like the progressions from Trap like with the Jeezy’s the Gucci’s How do you feel like the progress of Trap Music has grown?”
Cris Fork – “Aww man, Trap Music has grown, I mean, to where, it’s its own genre now. Like it used to really didn’t have as big a label on it. Like, T.I. came out talking about Trap Music first really. But everybody in the World knows what Trap Music is now. It has its own distinct sound, its own distinct feel. I think Trap Music has grown big enough for me to rely on Trap music to build my brand. I don’t have to go into other genres, there’s enough Trap Music out here and enough supporters of trap music to have a beautiful brand built off of Trap Entertainment.”
Philly Blocks OTRMag “Cool. I believe that before it was labeled Trap Music, naw, I can’t say Atlanta is the Origin of Trap Music. I feel like Master P was the first unofficial Trap Music Originator. Because that’s where Gucci and Jeezy, I can’t say TI, but mainly Gucci and Jeezy get everything from: P, and I felt like P was the unofficial birthmaker to Trap Music, but that’s just outside the Atlanta Market.
Cris Fork – “That’s definitely a great perspective. Man you know, nobody else was sounding like him. Me and ThirtyBaby was just having this conversation a couple of weeks ago, where we was trying to breakdown what do we consider Trap Music? Was it the lyrics, the beats, the content? Everybody’s perception is different of what Trap Music is. Like to me, even UGK, they was talking about selling Cr@ck, and drinking Le@n, and that’s the same thing people talk about now, but the beats was country rap-tunish, it wasn’t, you know, the heavy 808 sound that’s popular today. Like the adlibs of Master P, he really started the adlib game to me. His adlibs are so memorable, that I heard people like Gucci say they biggest role model was Master P. I definitely agree with you. That’s a great point to make.”
Philly Blocks OTRMusic- “Right like even then, I even say the Trap version of the West Coast was Easy E; because I feel like everything has an origin, I feel like Gangster Music was the Trap Music in the 90’s, they just wasn’t labeling it Trap Music. It was Gangster Rap, then Gangster Rap evolved Trap Music.”
Cris agrees that Trap Music evolves other categories of similar music such as Drill Music in Chicago. Fork is impressed with the support of the city of Chicago for their music. They don’t have to go outside of their city to get that support. He goes on to talk about the style of his artist, Yung Gwapa, of Chicago. He has a real Trap Music sound with an Atlanta flair accompanied by a strong movement. Fork labels him a major representative of the brand. He talks on to mention his DJ, DJ Cortez in Canada. DJ Cortez focuses Chicago artists like, Rico Wreckless.
Although he loves all aspects of Trap Music, including Drill, Cris Fork admittedly loves the Atlanta sound, and plays it in his whip.
Angel OTRMag- “Who would you say is your biggest supporter?”
Cris Fork- “I’d have to say my wife. She been down for me since day one. I know she needs my help like late at night with the baby, but she never complains. She stands right by me. She’s my everything.”
Make sure y’all follow Cris Fork and the Dirty Fork DJs as they make all these moves!