DJ Couz Interview Part 1: Big Boy, Nipsey Hussle and West Coast Hip-Hop

SeiAugust 19, 2026Updated August 20, 2026Exclusive Interviews18 min read

DJ Couz interview about Big Boy, Nipsey Hussle and West Coast hip-hop — DJ Couz interview, Part One — original English-edition artwork by HIPHOPCs.

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Translation and verification note: This English edition was translated and edited from HIPHOPCs’ Japanese interview published on November 11, 2025. Conversational repetition was shortened, but DJ Couz’s first-person meaning and the interview’s chronology were preserved. Career details were checked against DJ Couz’s official website; Big Boy’s broadcast history was checked against the Radio Hall of Fame; and Nipsey Hussle’s 2019 GRAMMY nomination was checked against the Recording Academy on August 19, 2026. Personal encounters remain DJ Couz’s recollections.

For decades, Big Boy has been one of the voices that Los Angeles hears on the morning drive. A Japanese DJ who entered that orbit in the early 2000s is DJ Couz. His career joins Tokyo record culture, Los Angeles radio, official artist mixtapes, touring and production. In Part One of this HIPHOPCs interview, he explains how he learned West Coast hip-hop before search engines, why Big Boy became his mentor and how a restaurant conversation led to DJ Couz & Nipsey Hussle — Rich Rollin’.

Table of Contents

Who is DJ Couz?

Sei: Thank you for speaking with us. Could you begin with a short introduction?

DJ Couz: I am DJ Couz, based in Los Angeles. I have released around 200 mixtapes, including official mixes with U.S. artists such as Nipsey Hussle. I previously held a regular Friday-evening slot at a hip-hop FM station near LA, toured the United States and Canada twice as a live DJ—about fifty shows in total—and was the main-stage DJ at the Torres Empire Super Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center in 2018.

I have also helped set up Japan tours for U.S. artists. As a producer, I made “Floating,” featuring Glasses Malone and B-Real, and I have unreleased recordings with L.V. In Japan, I co-produced the beat for AK-69 featuring MACCHO’s “I Don’t Give A Fxxk.” I have worked in music between Japan and the United States for roughly twenty-five years. I first moved to LA in 2002, and in 2016 I moved my base back here with an artist visa.

Verification: DJ Couz’s official biography currently says “over 170” mix CDs and DVDs and lists the 2017 King Lil G and Lil Debbie tours, his 2016 Q104.7 slot and the 2018 Torres Empire stage. The larger “around 200 mixtapes” figure above is his estimate in this interview, not a separately audited catalog count.

Why he chose the DJ’s supporting role

Sei: How did you get into hip-hop, and why become a DJ rather than a rapper or dancer?

DJ Couz: I was a kid who liked Western music. I began with Top 40, moved through New Jack Swing such as Bobby Brown, and then entered hip-hop. The music that reached me was consistently Black music, especially hip-hop.

I like being the person behind the scenes. Today the DJ can be the center of attention, but when I began, some clubs hid the booth so well that you barely knew where the DJ was. The focus was the music, while people danced in their own way. I loved music but did not need the spotlight, so becoming a DJ felt natural.

Deep Cover opened the West Coast door

Sei: Which record or artist made the strongest impact?

DJ Couz: By the time I began DJing in the mid-1990s, I was already immersed in Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube and 2Pac. The decisive record was Dr. Dre introducing Snoop Doggy Dogg’s “Deep Cover” in 1992. Dre’s beat was different, and Snoop had this sharp, singular presence. From there I went into The Chronic, Doggystyle, the wider Death Row catalog, Ice Cube’s circle and DJ Quik.

Films mattered too. Boyz n the Hood introduced me to lowriders; Colors and Blood In Blood Out pulled me deeper into the fashion and the wider culture. In my teens, the music, cars and clothes all arrived together. It did not feel like I chose the West Coast. It felt as if there was no other choice.

I use “Westside Ridin’” rather than “West Coast Ridin’” in my logo. It meant not only the coast, but the territory west of the East Coast. I loved the West most, but I also listened to Southern and Midwestern music, including Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.

Learning West Coast rap before the open web

Sei: What was difficult in those years?

DJ Couz: There was no social media, and very little West Coast information reached Japan. Before the Up in Smoke Tour video helped create a West Coast boom, Tokyo clubs, record shops, clothing stores and magazines leaned heavily East Coast. Employees at the few West-oriented shops who bought stock in LA became valuable sources.

I followed featured artists, producers and label logos on records. If I saw the Death Row electric-chair logo, I bought it. If the credits said a record was made at a studio in Hollywood or Los Angeles, I might buy it—even though artists from across America recorded there, so I found plenty of misses. But the occasional hit taught me something other people did not know.

I also paid about ¥6,000 a month for a USEN service that carried Hot 97 from New York and Power 106 from Los Angeles. As a student trying to buy records, that was expensive. But hearing new songs, LA’s atmosphere and first-class radio DJs in real time was more important to my development than simply owning one more record.

Meeting Big Boy in Tokyo in 2001

Sei: Was that how you first heard Big Boy?

DJ Couz: Exactly. Then in 2001, Big Boy visited Japan privately and appeared on Tokyo radio. The president of the label I belonged to heard he was in town and asked if I wanted to meet him. I was paying every month to hear Power 106 and the “Voice of LA,” so of course I went.

English information for visitors was limited in Japan then, so people from the company and I spent several days taking him shopping and sightseeing. I could not speak English at the time, but I wore full LA-style clothing and could answer almost anything about West Coast hip-hop and identify the lowriders in music videos. I have never asked what he thought, but perhaps he found me interesting.

Big Boy told us that because we had looked after him, he would look after us if we came to LA. We went the following month. He introduced us to studios and people including DJ Quik, B-Real, WC, Crazy Toones, Mack 10 and Xzibit. That trip led toward Big Boy and DJ E-Man’s Japan tours. From 2002, I was involved in fifteen of those visits, while Big Boy came to Japan around twenty times in total.

I moved to LA in 2002 and spent time at Big Boy’s studio, where I met artists including Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube. That is how I occasionally appeared on his program. The Radio Hall of Fame’s official biography confirms that Big Boy began at KPWR in 1994, took over its morning show in 1997, moved to KRRL in 2015 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame that year.

Why Big Boy became a mentor

Sei: What is he like away from the microphone?

DJ Couz: During LA radio’s peak, I would sit in morning freeway traffic listening to him. I would laugh, then look across and see drivers in the next lanes laughing at the same moment. That was the scale of his presence.

Listeners told him that his show made school bearable or gave them courage. In public, he responds when people ask for a photograph or even a FaceTime greeting for a relative. Once we walked to a BET event at Staples Center. A trip that should have taken ten minutes took two and a half hours because he stopped for everyone. I began counting late and still reached 258 groups. That number is my recollection, but the important point is that he did not dismiss people. To me, he is a mentor. He treats me like a homeboy or family.

How a familiar radio jingle connected him with Nipsey Hussle

Sei: How did you begin working with Nipsey Hussle?

DJ Couz: We met in 2011, before The Marathon Continues. While introducing myself over a meal, I mentioned a commercial jingle that Onodub and I had produced for Big Boy. It had run constantly on Power 106 around 2005 to 2008. I sang it, and Nipsey said, “I know that. You made it? I heard it every day.”

That opened the conversation. We discussed an official mixtape, making music and a Tokyo performance, which became the DJ Couz & Nipsey Hussle — Rich Rollin’ project.

Afterward, I asked Nipsey to introduce me to YG. We were outside Nipsey’s store with J Stone. Nipsey stopped, looked directly at me, then called YG. I understood the pause as him deciding whether I was serious, because an introduction carries responsibility. YG accepted because the connection came from Nipsey. For me, that moment in about 2012 meant Nipsey had recognized the work I had done.

Context: The Recording Academy lists Victory Lap as a 2019 Best Rap Album nominee. DJ Couz’s account adds the personal history behind an earlier project; HIPHOPCs has not independently reviewed private calls or messages.

Hearing the news of Nipsey’s death in Los Angeles

Sei: Where were you when Nipsey died?

DJ Couz: I was driving in LA and listening to Real 92.3. An announcer who was not normally on at that time said Nipsey had been shot outside his store and asked listeners to pray. I stopped the car and messaged Big Boy. He confirmed that the situation was extremely serious.

Everything went dark for me. I had an important commitment that day, but I went straight home. Nipsey was somebody I had worked with, and I was also a fan. Among the West Coast artists I loved, he was special.

A birthday gathering at Dr. Dre’s home

Sei: Do you have a story involving Dr. Dre?

DJ Couz: Dr. Dre had been invited to one of Big Boy’s birthday parties but could not attend. He later hosted another celebration for Big Boy at his home. I was among roughly ten people Big Boy brought. It was the second time I met Dre.

Editorial note: This private event is DJ Couz’s recollection and has not been independently documented by HIPHOPCs.

Continue to Part Two

Part Two begins with a secondhand studio account about 2Pac and then moves through DJ Quik, B-Real, LA street-safety lessons, DJ craft, the making of AK-69 and MACCHO’s “I Don’t Give A Fxxk,” and the principle DJ Couz returns to: be sincere.

Interview: Sei / HIPHOPCs
Japanese-edition materials: supplied by DJ Couz
English-edition artwork: original HIPHOPCs editorial design; no third-party visual material