In a city with ten million and one stories it's impossible to know which one is going to have that end-of-the-rainbow finish. Anyone who's followed the life and career of Rockwilder has enjoyed a pretty interesting read. A native of Queens, New York, he as a child dreamt of a life in music. He did more than idle daydreaming, and was focused on making it in the music world. Now he is one of the most prolific producers in the industry. But his accomplishments and status haven't undone Rockwilder. He remains an open-minded and down-to-earth guy. Which makes it that much more difficult to begrudge the producer the success and accolades he obviously deserves!
We are en route from Queens to Uniondale, Long Island to pick up his 2001 GMC Yukon and Rock is busy answering phone calls and two-way messages. "I'll be out there this weekend," "I'll meet you at the studio later this week," "I'll see you right after I finish some work on the Island," etc. When finally free of all the electronic beeps and rings, he says, "Oh you got the new Janet CD, what did you think of it?" I'm too conflicted to reply -- he's tight with the woman I love and she don't know me. You have to give it to the guy, though. Like I said, he's down-to-earth, and wants to hear your opinion. I tell him, "It's awright," but the hype creeps through my expression. One thing on his mind at all times is his music, how to make it better for the audience.
After taking the exit ramp we are approaching Unique Autosports. Rockwilder sees his truck from afar. The Yukon is shining bright, reflecting enough sun to feed all the plant life in the Garden State next door. He makes his way over to Will, co-owner of Unique Autosports, gives him a handshake and a hug, "Good looking, those are hot." Rockwilder is pleased as he checks out the new 22" chrome CEC/Antera 301 rims and Toyo Proxes tires. I'm thinking, "Those 'shoes' cost more than my whole car and that's not hot!" Rock first heard about Will when he saw and heard the sound systems in the vehicles of Reggie Noble, Erick E. Sermon, and Busta Rhymes. "I met E while working with him when I was part of EPMD. We got to talking about his system and others that I had seen. E then told me about his custom audio and rim shop in Uniondale: 'My partner Will is gonna take good care of you.'" After getting rid of his first love, an '89 Acura Legend, Rock made a radical switch to a Yukon. He brought it to Will and told him to hook it up with monitors, DVD and toys like that for his kids and nephews to have during long family trips. Will looked over the truck and sent Reme (aka, "the man") to work. They did it up with an Alpine CVA-1005, the DVA-5205 DVD player, and a KCE-420v video selector. A 13-inch Audiovox flip-down TV serves both the DVD and Dreamcast systems. (Whaddup? Could've put in a PlayStation 2 in there as well. This is Rockwilder! not some wannabe joker.) Anyway, if the game console battles get too intense players can slap on headphones to spare other passengers the noise. Alpine's CHA-S624 6-disc changer keeps an assortment of Rockwilder hits at his fingertips with two PPI (4400 & 2600) amplifiers powering the MB Quart Reference RSD 216 series 6.5-inch speakers in the front and rear doors. Damn, exactly the same products I would've chosen -- well, maybe some different amps.
It's all fine and good to stock your system with first rate components, but if you don't have heavy bass your setup just doesn't have gravitas. Unique took care of the low end theory with two 12-inch MTX Thunder 8000 woofers that supply the serious bass that keeps the sounds from trailing out the ceiling of the vehicle. Speaking of trailing -- if five-o is tailgating the vehicle or is otherwise lurking around the driver will be alerted via a K40 undetectable radar built in the instrument cluster. Hey, Rock didn't bust his butt to waste his music moolah on traffic fines! That's me, too, which is why I take the train -- uh, when I'm in a city with public transportation. If one has to have (and can afford) a personal vehicle then you might as well do it right. A Clarion rear vision camera was installed for those tricky parallel parking maneuvers in the city.
All Rock wants to do when he gets inside his SUV and is shown how everything works is to pump up the bass. "I love my sound." And who wouldn't love the suweeet sound of success. I'm not just referring to Rockwilder. Unique Autosports delivered a tight system. They have some of the most discerning clients -- you saw the list above. Having and maintaining the reputation they have says a lot about the people who work at and run the shop.
With the hot sun beating down we took seats in the showroom to cool off in the air conditioned environment after the photo shoot. In comes DJ Clue of Desert Storm/Hot 97, New York's biggest hip-hop radio station. DJ Clue, also a producer, is in the shop to discuss the F1 status from Alpine that is going in his car. He consults with Will on the arrangements as well picking out some 22" Antera's for his 2002 GMC Denali. He also gives Rock his "props" on his new system. Later on Rock and I discuss who he has worked with over the years. There are more than he can name. As his phone starts ringing he throws out a few of the names. Redman, Methodman, JayZ, Lil' Kim, Destiny's Child, Janet Jackson, Busta Rhymes, Mya, Missy, Mary J. Blige, De la Sol and Pink. I'm thinking, not bad, that's cool. I'm keeping my composure. His most recent work other than with Janet was with Christina Aguilera. Hit after hit. He has worked with so many artists, I wonder aloud if he actually enjoyed working with them. Rock looks up. "I always surround myself with people I like to work with, I would never work with anyone I didn't like personally." Yeah, I'd like to work with Christina Aguilera, too. But can she do something about the color of that hair? Changing the subject, I ask if he's sure the equipment in the truck is for the kids and not for himself. He starts laughing, "I'm sure, I don't get a chance to play it much; I'm too busy driving, but I do know that I need to talk to Will 'cause my kids want Playstation 2 in it." What did I say! "The sound is my toy; I get to listen to all that is out there, whether it is CD or radio."
Rock walks over to Will and they continue to talk and take pictures. His phone is still ringing and in between calls they are talking about the PlayStation, rims and his old car. Rockwilder can just see how far he has come from the old '89 Legend when he was known as a kid in the PPP (powerful packed posse). Will starts talking to him about getting another car to cruise around in. He tells him what he can help him get and what can be put into each car. Rockwilder looks at his friend and says: "Will, I am going to get a Lamborghini and I'm gonna hook it up to Unique so that you can take care of the system and TVs, you know the toys." Somehow this conversation don't seem real to me. Or the air conditioner is making me dizzy or something. I think I hear Rock say: "I have to do something to keep up with you, Big Will, you're putting satellite systems on trucks and I just have one Yukon. I'm gonna look into the car and let you know."
As we depart Will sees off yet another happy customer, one that will definitely be back for more. Yeah, me too, just as soon as I get that Lamborghini in my garage. And if you want to see my Lambo' in the works just go to www.uniqueautosport.com; it's the orange crush one. Call Will (516.564.5622) and ask if they have a factory orange Lambo', but if he says it belongs to Busta Rhymes, don't pay him no mind.