Music has always been a huge part of my life. From my early years at around age 8 or 9, sitting in my brothers room while he played the sax. I played everything from the drums to the trumpet, even taking a stab at the violin. Nothing worked for me and after a couple of years I gave up on playing instruments. Till I came across 2 Technic 1200s at a friends house. I was about 14 years old when this happened and I was in love. Scratching, mixing throwing a Notorious BIG acapella over a Red Hot Chili Peppers song. It was a newly discovered treasured that I immediately became hooked on. A couple of months after I turned 15 I bought 2 Technic turntables, a dual deck cd player and a mixer. I started to learn the fundamentals of mixing, EQing, and arrangement of DJing. I was always into hip hop, listening to Jay-Z and DMX tear it up with Redman and Method Man on the Hard Knock Life tour. At first a lot of my records were hip hop, but for me, DJing this genre was boring. I was more into mixing rather than cutting and scratching. That's when I discovered dance music.
"House" music was one thing none of my friends listened to. When I was 15, they all hated it, often incorrectly referring to it as "techno" when in fact it was either a trance or hard house song. At the time, when I first starting mixing dance records, I was into guys like Tiesto, PVD, AVB, Paul Oakenfold, Cosmic Gate, and Dumonde. As I started to branch out and listen to the various genres of electronic dance music, before I knew it, I discovered I was into the more "housey" side of things. I started to play a lot of deep house, tech house, some funky techno hear and there, "Jackin" house, vocal house and now some minimal from time to time.
Dance music covers about 90% of the music I listen to and purchase. For me, it's all I ever need. Electronic music is always evolving, changing and improving. With an endless array of dance prodcuers and DJs, anyone can find that "sound" they love. As a DJ, for the last 8 years, I have been on a mission to find my "sound". Whether it be when I'm on the 1s and 2s or in the studio, it is important for me to be unique in this huge electronic world.
At the age of 22, I have made huge strides since I first bought my turntables. My sound, my style and most importantly my direction have for the most part, been established. Anytime I step into a DJ booth, I cherish the moment. I never forget where I came from and always keep in mind where I am trying to head.
