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Krate Digga & Dominic Lawson on 'The Krate Doc' Film
In this episode of Queue Points, we discuss 'The Krate Doc,' The Ummah Creative Group’s new film follows DJ Krate Digga through five Columbus, Ohio gigs in one weekend, p...
The Big Picture
This episode centers on The Krate Doc, a documentary from The Ummah Creative Group that follows DJ Krate Digga through five gigs across one weekend in Columbus, Ohio. Jay Ray speaks with director Dominic Lawson about translating years of narrative podcasting into documentary filmmaking, while DJ Sir Daniel sits down with Krate Digga himself to trace 29 years behind the turntables back to Kentucky State University. Together, the two conversations move between the craft of nonfiction filmmaking and the lived history of DJ culture at a historically Black university in the 1990s. The episode closes on a broader industry debate over branding, social media, and gatekeeping among working DJs.
Show Notes
Editor's Note: Show Notes were developed using AI assistance to repurpose content from our original episode, Krate Digga & Dominic Lawson on The Krate Doc Film, and was subsequently reviewed, fact-checked, and edited by the Queue Points team to ensure accuracy and voice.
From Narrative Podcasting to the Director's Chair
Dominic Lawson's entry into documentary work grew directly out of his audio career. He credits his mentor, Krystal Hill, with the principle that "bad audio is not a stylistic choice," a lesson he says gave him an edge over filmmakers who come up without an audio background. Lawson built The Krate Doc around a single Pocket 3 Osmo camera, shooting cinema-verité style across five events in one weekend, using the drive-time conversations between gigs as the film's narrative spine.
Lawson's prior work includes the narrative podcast Black Is America, which won recognition from the Webby Awards, the Ambies, Signal Awards, Communicator Awards, and W3 Awards
He describes an episode on sprinters Sha'Carri Richardson, Florence Griffith-Joyner ("Flo-Jo"), and Wilma Rudolph as the project that made him seek a new creative challenge in filmmaking
He cut roughly three and a half to four hours of raw footage down to a 34-minute, 11-second final film over two weeks of review
Lawson treats Columbus itself as a character in the film, relying on unplanned, in-the-moment B-roll rather than heavy pre-production staging
Building a Set at an HBCU: Regional Range as a Survival Skill
Krate Digga started DJing in 1997 as a sophomore at Kentucky State University, a historically Black land-grant university in Frankfort, Kentucky, after practicing for months in classmate DJ Sicari's dorm room using cassette tapes to record and review his sessions. He describes the specific musical literacy required to DJ for an HBCU crowd made up of students from across the country, where fraternities and sororities would immediately call out a DJ who didn't know their region's sound.
Southern staples of the era included Master P, UGK, and the Cash Money Records roster's Hot Boys
East Coast staples included Nas, Jay-Z, Mobb Deep, and Twista
Detroit influences ranged from J Dilla's production style to the ghettotech sound pioneered by DJ Assault
International students on campus expected reggae and dancehall staples from the Reggae Gold compilation series
The Craft of the Blend: Connecting Eras Through Sound
Krate Digga became known on campus for a specific technique: weaving older R&B and funk records into hip-hop sets rather than sticking to contemporary singles. He cites his signature move of dropping the Isley Brothers' 1983 track "Between the Sheets" around The Notorious B.I.G.'s 1994 single "Big Poppa," which itself samples that same Isley Brothers song. He extends the same logic to how a single reference point can travel across decades and genres.
He points to how a Bob Marley lyric or bar can resurface in later songs by artists like Drake and Dead Prez
He frames this practice as blends, mixes, or mashups that predate his formal DJ training and stem from a lifelong habit of hearing how different sounds fit together
He says this was not always well received on his college campus, since the surrounding scene was built around contemporary hip-hop rather than older catalog records
Branding, Social Media, and the Gatekeeping Debate
Asked whether DJs today face pressure to build a visual brand alongside their sets, Krate Digga says yes, but locates the trend in a longer history rather than treating it as new. He notes that DJs have used visual content, from camcorder footage of DMC championships to clips of DJ Nabs performing live, to build reputation for decades. What has changed, he argues, is that digital tools have made the technical act of DJing easier to automate, shifting the competitive advantage toward visibility and content rather than raw skill alone.
He distinguishes between DJing understood strictly through hip-hop culture and DJing understood as a general service profession, comparing the difference to judging NBA basketball by street-ball standards
He declines to rule on whether newer DJs' reasons for entering the field are valid, arguing that understanding someone's motivation should shape how their work is evaluated
Asked if he can imagine retiring, he says no, describing DJing as inseparable from his identity rather than a job, tied to a lifelong need to experience music at volume
FAQ: Your Questions About The Krate Doc
Q: What is The Krate Doc, and where can I watch it?
A: The Krate Doc is a documentary from the Ummah Creative Group that follows DJ Krate Digga through a weekend of five gigs in Columbus, Ohio. It is available on the Ummah Creative Group's YouTube channel and on Krate Digga's website.
Q: How long has Krate Digga been DJing, and where did he start?
A: Krate Digga has been DJing since 1997, starting during his sophomore year at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky, after months of nightly practice in a dorm room.
Q: What camera did Dominic Lawson use to shoot the documentary?
A: Lawson shot the film primarily on a Pocket 3 Osmo camera, working largely alone as the single camera operator across all five events.
Q: What is the significance of the Isley Brothers and Notorious B.I.G. connection Krate Digga references?
A: The Notorious B.I.G.'s 1994 single "Big Poppa" samples the Isley Brothers' 1983 song "Between the Sheets." Krate Digga became known for blending the two records live, moving between the original sample source and the song that popularized it.
Q: Does Krate Digga think DJs should be gatekept from calling themselves DJs?
A: No. He argues instead that people define DJing differently depending on whether they come to it through hip-hop culture, wedding entertainment, or other contexts, and that critiques should account for which definition is being used.
Bibliography & References
People & Places
Dominic Lawson — Director of The Krate Doc and narrative podcast producer
Krate Digga — DJ and subject of The Krate Doc, based in Columbus, Ohio
Kentucky State University — Historically Black land-grant university in Frankfort, Kentucky, where Krate Digga began DJing
Columbus, Ohio — Setting of The Krate Doc
Sha'Carri Richardson
Florence Griffith-Joyner — Track and field sprinter profiled in Lawson's Black Is America podcast
Wilma Rudolph — Olympic sprinter profiled in Lawson's Black Is America podcast
Genres & Formats
Cinema Verité — A documentary filmmaking style favoring observed, unstaged footage over heavy direction; the approach Lawson used to shoot The Krate Doc.
Ghettotech — Also known as Detroit club, an electronic genre blending Chicago house, Detroit techno, and hip-hop, associated with producers like DJ Assault.
Dancehall — A genre of Jamaican popular music that grew out of reggae in the late 1970s, represented on campus through the Reggae Gold compilation series.
East Coast hip-hop — The regional hip-hop style associated with artists like Nas, Jay-Z, and Mobb Deep, referenced as part of the musical range Krate Digga needed to command.
Other References & Music
Official YouTube Videos and Live Performances
The Krate Doc – Trailer 1: Official trailer for the documentary discussed throughout the episode.
The Notorious B.I.G. – Big Poppa (Official Music Video): The 1994 single Krate Digga references for its sample of the Isley Brothers.
The Isley Brothers – Between the Sheets (Official Audio): The 1983 original that Krate Digga blends into his live sets alongside "Big Poppa."
Reputable Journalism
DJ Krate Digga profile, Wexner Center for the Arts: Background on Krate Digga's Columbus-based DJ career and educational work.
Check Out Krate Digga's Story, Voyage Ohio Magazine: A first-person interview feature on Krate Digga's background and career path in Columbus.