Barrage

Originally written for the shuttered Frost Illustrated Newspaper

“I’m known as DJ Barrage now,” said Tray Brookshire, when asked to introduce himself. DJ Barrage is the one-equal-half of Music Lover’s Lounge, the monthly get down at Soups, Salads, and Spirits (CS3) on Calhoun Street. DJ Polaris (Ghani Zahir) spins with him; they imbue each other. MLL is a “house party” with dueling DJs.

DJ Barrage continued. “Before I became a DJ, I was known as Barrage. Even before then, I had a bunch of sub-names and stuff like that.” Before then, Tray Brookshire was a high school sophomore, beatboxing for his boy, Victor Terry, during a rap battle. Beatboxing came first for Brookshire. It was Terry “who really put my feet in the ground on some rapping stuff.”

Brookshire was an atypical transfer kid from Northrop. “When I got to Harding, I really didn’t have to meet anybody. I knew a lot of people already, [like] my cousin Alex Brookshire.” Victor Terry rapped as Rock V (at the time). “To me he was it. He was so lyrical; he just did it so easily. [But he] was so quiet. Nobody knew he could rap until that day.”

A rap battle was set after Tray got there. Rock V’s rival was Marcus Easley, Marcus E (at the time), who, Brookshire said, “was that dude at Harding. They started cracking on each other, battle rapping. I didn’t really know Marcus.”

Brookshire was just chillin’ there, beatboxing…with a grown man’s beard. “Marcus turned to me, and I will never forget what he said. ‘Look at you, dontcha look weird, only in the tenth grade and got a full grown beard.’” It was hilarious. “I was kinda rapping at the time, but I wasn’t there yet. But as soon as you get killed, once or twice, you start to get your tools sharpened. At that moment, I got really serious about it.”

This was around 1988, 1989. The city’s nascent hip-hop universe might as well have been that rap battle. Brookshire attended Northrop with popular rappers (now legends) Meaty & Bone and MC Cooler. “Meaty & Bone were like the Run D MC of Fort Wayne and MC Cooler was the LL Cool J.” Brookshire attended a sold-out Meaty & Bone show at Foellinger, but not a lot of other concerts back then. He adopted their “braggadocious” style. LL Cool J was a strong model for success.

Cool J’s second album, Bigger and Deffer, dropped in ‘87. On track “I’m Bad,” Cool J promised to crush you like a jellybean with a growl. “I’m Bad” is an angry but controlled barrage of sincere and convincing brags, starting with its title. It was rocked when Brookshire the rapper began.

After graduation, Brookshire served in the army for four years; when he got out, another Victor, Victor Perez (Rock Vicious), wanted to start a rap group. They named themselves 219, after Fort Wayne’s then area code; Brookshire became Barrage. Their first recorded track, “Raw Materials,” was a favorite request at talent shows and other shows produced mostly by Bruce Marshall.

On The Boulevard Music, at the corner of Anthony and Paulding, had open mic nights, where, said Brookshire, “people came out to spit anything they had written. We had other songs and stuff, but ‘Raw Materials’ was our thing.” That’s where Barrage and Rock Vicious met rapper Kelron Mixon (Weatherman), who was looking to partner up with other MCs. The trio became Underground Coalition around 1999. Andromeda (the MC/deejay team of Brainstorm and DJ Polaris) joined next. Roleo and EDS, Sub Surface followed. Fort Wayne’s hip-hop universe had expanded to include other like-minded artists like graffiti artists, b-boys, more emcees, more DJs.

“There are a lot more people rapping now,” said Brookshire. “The culture and the scene were a lot closer back then. There was no social media; people barely had cellphones. It was all flyers and word of mouth, just knowing where to be, at whatever time.”

Brookshire started deejaying after a knee-injury laid him out. With a $250 turntable set, a mixer borrowed from DJ Polaris, who gifted some albums, he tried to kill boredom. Interest begat opportunities and those begat the Music Lover’s Lounge. The hip-hop jump that gets the biggest MLL reaction: Too Short’s “Blow The Whistle.”

With DJ Polaris, DJ Barrage was aided by BBoy Coda, who gave him a stage, DJ Strapz, DJ Trend, DJ Epitaph, DJ Pup Luv, DJ 2 Tuff, DJ Mad Mixa from Kentucky, and favorite-of-all-time DJ Charlie D.

“As long as I reach out and try and pay homage to those who were here before me, that’s really all I try to do,” Brookshire concluded.