I'd like to meet:
Chukundi Salisbury
Chukundi
Salisbury (a.k.a. DJ Kun Luv) was born in Santa Barbara, California. At four
years old, his mom, dad and three brothers moved to the Central District of
Seattle where they lived for 20 years. After graduating from Garfield High
School, Salisbury attended the same black institution as his father; Elizabeth
City State University where he earned a BS in Computer Science.
Urban
Entrepreneur
Salisbury
is currently running 4 separate and distinct companies: Seaspot Media Group, DJ
Kun Luv Productions, All Metro Sportswear, and Metropolitan Barbershop and
clothing.
Seaspot
Media Group ( www.seaspotmediagroup.com )
is the largest most recognized company. In addition to Marketing, Publicity,
Event Marketing, Promotions, and Consulting, the company also publishes 2 print
magazines and several web portals. Current properties include: Seaspot.com,
Urbevents.com, Jumpoffmagazine.com, Seaspot Magazine & Jump Off Magazine.
Seaspot Media Group has been a resource to Paul Allen’s Vulcan when launching
its “Yes Yes Ya’ll†exhibit at the Experience Music Project. Other SMG Clients
include Island Def Jam, Universal, Nintendo, Lavazza, Bon-Macy’s, Cingular,
Motorola, Mecca Clothing, House of Blues, and more. Motorola & Cingular tapped
SMG for lifestyle and event marketing for the very popular Razr phone in 2005.
SMG has been featured in several publications including the Puget Sound Business
Journal.
After
carrying records for a DJ friend in college, Salisbury caught the DJ bug and
became DJ KUN LUV ( www.kunluv.com ).
After spinning his way thru college in North Carolina, he returned to Seattle.
Over the years he has become an icon in the northwest music scene and won DJ of
the Year. Strictly a club and mixtape DJ, Salisbury has amassed thousands of
fans without being on the radio. He has Provided music at shows for likes of
Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Harvey, Ludacris, New York Knick Star Jamal
Crawford, Ja Rule, The National Brotherhood of Skiers, former and current
Seattle Sonics Rashaard Lewis and Nate McMillan. Salisbury’s birthday party
has evolved to the premiere event in Seattle and last year was held at the
prestigious Qwest Field. DJ Icons such as Tony Touch and the World famous Kid
Capri have performed at the event. Although based in Seattle, he travels
across the country to DJ at events and has been as far as Sydney, Australia to
perform at the Fox Studios.
At an
imposing 6’4â€, 330lbs, Salisbury is a “Big Fellaâ€. After years of selling
one-off t-shirts in college and at festivals and faced with not being able to
find clothing his size, he started Big Fella Sportswear. Producing mostly
t-shirts, hats, & fleece, he has shipped clothing across the country. In 2003
the name was changed to All Metro Sportswear ( www.allmetrosportswear.com )
to make way for children and women’s items. The line is carried at several
locations in Seattle and has been sold in Macy’s as well.
Loyalty
has always been important to Salisbury, so when his barber of 12 years lost his
chair at the neighborhood barber shop, Salisbury saw an opportunity to keep his
barber and also start another business. Metropolitan Barbershop was opened in
2004 and has grown to be one of the most popular barbershops in Seattle.
Several Seattle Seahawks and other local celebrities get cut at the shop.
Salisbury also sells clothing, mix tapes and other items in the shop.
Metropolitan Barbershop is located at 6513 S. 38 th Avenue S, Seattle,
WA 98118 – 206.723.2500
Siblings – A legacy of entrepreneurship
Salisbury
is one of four children; all have an entrepreneurial spirit that drives them
forward. His brother Tunde with his mother as a vision specialist at an eye
glass store in Seattle. Omari is does promotions and marketing in Seattle and
Tanzania Africa. His other brother, Hiram, passed in 2005, and would have been
38 years old this year.
Salisbury ’s
other career – A different kind of trail blazer
In 1996,
Salisbury worked for the Student Conservation Association's Duwamish Youth
Initiative; he was also the regional director of the organization’s Conservation
Career Development Program which made a special commitment to enlist young women
and youth of color who live in the Duwamish corridor to help restore and
preserve the watershed. In 1997, he worked Garfield Community Center as the
assistant director of programming.
Since,
1999 Salisbury has been the project manager for the City of Seattle’s Trails
Program; an effort by the city to improve the hiking trails in the urban forest.
He is trying to encourage his peers to have an appreciation for the outdoors and
has started with his own family by taking his wife and five-year-old daughter
camping like he did as a youngster.
Community Service – his works never ends
Salisbury
understands the importance of supporting the community in which he lives and
works. He has helped countless nonprofits get their message out by supporting
local events and promotions. For example, when the Technology Access Foundation
launched its first Magic Johnson/HP Inventor Center, SeaSpot Media Group
provided sound and music during and after the event. Additionally, Seaspot and
the Family Empowerment Institute recently announced an Alliance for the Silent
War Against Violence to address violence in the black community. He has served
on the Seattle Police Chief’s African American Advisory, Mother for Police
Accountability, and several other boards.
About The Seaspot
Media Group
Founded in 1998, Seaspot.com and Seaspot Magazine are an information
source and a voice for the Seattle, Puget Sound and Northwest urban communities
focusing on hip hop culture and urban music, fashion, politics and the scene
that surrounds them. Seaspot’s mission is to promote the exchange of urban
information as it relates to Seattle and the Northwest. The goal is to tell the
stories and disseminate / distribute the information that is frequently
overlooked and sometimes hard to find in our communities. Seaspot prides itself
on "Keeping its ear to the Street" and maintaining a high level of integrity
which our community, readers, clients and visitors demand and have come to
expect.
Seaspot.com was founded by Chukundi Salisbury, also known as DJ Kun Luv or Kun,
and was actually an evolution of his personal website formed in the late 90’s:
www.chukundi.com . In 1998 Salisbury changed the name to Seaspot.com. The
website started as a place for Salisbury to post information about his own
upcoming events. Eventually, he started adding other flyers and party
announcements to his website and it started to grow. Since then, Seaspot.com
has come to be the end-all and be-all for everything encompassing the urban
lifestyle in the Pacific Northwest. Seaspot has street teams or associates in
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Vancouver B.C., and Montana.
With
35,000 members, Seaspot.com is one of the largest nightlife-based websites in
the area, with the most current and accurate listings of urban events. It also
features articles on topics ranging from album reviews and artist interviews, to
politics and fashion. This is not your average nightlife website. The site has
featured stories on AIDS, missions, changes in the seatbelt law and many other
topics that impact the community. Resources on a number of issues and how to
get involved are also available on the website.
Keeping
you informed of some of the hottest nights around, Seaspot also has a tendency
to throw some of the biggest and best parties around. The Virgo party, which
takes place every September and started as Salisbury’s birthday party, has grown
into an astrological celebration for all. The Virgo Party is probably one of
the biggest and longest running hip-hop and R&B events in Seattle and has a
reputation of being the classiest. The location changes each year but it keeps
growing. Starting as a house party in ’91 and moving to various hot spot clubs
of the 90’s, the Virgo Party has progressed to Union Station, Seahawks Stadium
V.I.P. lounge, EMP, and the Premier.
Based on
information from Neilsen Media Research, Seattle-Tacoma is the 12th largest
media market in the country. Seaspot takes full advantage of those numbers by
moving into other areas of major media. There is already a monthly magazine in
local record stores, and Salisbury and his team plan to move forward with other
ventures such as Television, retail, and national promotions
