99 The World's Hottest DJ, DJ Irie on Hard Work, Passion, and Living the Life You Want

Greatness is living the life you want to live. - DJ Irie For show notes of everything mentioned in this show, visit LewisHowes.com/99 Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This is episode number 99 with DJ Irie.

• 0:07Speaker 00

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 0:33Speaker 00

  What is up everyone? Thank you so much for joining me today on the School of Greatness. I am very excited about today's guest. His name is Mr. DJ Irie and he is one of the most talented DJs in the world, but also one of the most passionate and considerate and loving individuals in the world as well. I was so fortunate to have him in the studio here in Los Angeles and I'm so pumped to share with you his story and allow him to share his story because it's very inspiring. And just a passionate, happy, driven, focused guy all around that anyone in business or sports or music can really learn from. So I'm so excited for you guys to learn and connect with DJ Irie. Make sure to follow this guy online. Check him out.

• 1:15Speaker 00

  He's the resident DJ of the Miami Heat. So if you're in the Florida area, go to a Miami game, you're going to see him there. He's also, you know, plays at some of the biggest venues all around the world that we're going to talk about here in this interview. So I'm very excited to bring him on here in just a second. Without further ado, let's go ahead and dive into this interview with the one and only DJ Irie.

• 1:41Speaker 00

  Here with DJ Irie. It's Irie. Is that how I say it?

• 1:44Speaker 01

  Who's that? What?

• 1:45Speaker 00

  Is it, it's how you say it?

• 1:47Speaker 01

  You got it.

• 1:48Speaker 00

  Cause I've heard different people say different things.

• 1:49Speaker 01

  No, listen, we'll keep it.

• 1:51Speaker 00

  I heard Wyclef say like, "Irie" or something.

• 1:54Speaker 01

  No, no, no. Wyclef goes, "Irie."

• 1:58Speaker 00

  I was like, what?

• 1:59Speaker 01

  And I don't like to be called that sometimes, not every time, because it's a lot of effort. So just, Irie is fine.

• 2:06Speaker 00

  Nice, man, nice. Very, very excited to hang out with you today. You're running around the world and you had like an hour window in between meetings in LA.

• 2:15Speaker 01

  We made it happen.

• 2:16Speaker 00

  And we made it happen. We've been connecting for a week, back and forth every day. Our mutual friend, Ben Sterner, big shout out to Ben.

• 2:21Speaker 01

  The Sterner.

• 2:22Speaker 00

  Who's a dear friend of mine. Yeah. We actually roomed together on the ship at Someone at Sea.

• 2:28Speaker 01

  You guys were roomies?

• 2:29Speaker 00

  We were roomies.

• 2:30Speaker 01

  I'm jealous, man.

• 2:31Speaker 00

  We were roomies.

• 2:32Speaker 01

  Aw, man, I didn't have a roomie.

• 2:34Speaker 00

  Really?

• 2:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, man. No one wanted to hang out with the DJ, man.

• 2:38Speaker 00

  You had your own suite.

• 2:39Speaker 01

  Had my own little suite. That was kinda sweet, actually.

• 2:43Speaker 00

  With the ocean view. We were in the middle, folks. We were like in the middle of this like.

• 2:48Speaker 01

  I mean, I gotta see something. Why not the ocean, you know? Like, I settled for it, you know? I'm not picky. I'll settle for the ocean.

• 2:54Speaker 00

  Yeah. So just to give some context for people listening, uh, DJ Irie. The first time I experienced him was 2000, when was that, 2010? I think it was 2010 Summit Series Conference.

• 3:08Speaker 00

  We're in the middle, we're in the middle of the, I guess, the Atlantic Ocean.

• 3:11Speaker 01

  The Atlantic, yeah.

• 3:12Speaker 00

  On the way to the Bahamas.

• 3:13Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 3:14Speaker 00

  It's like the sun is setting.

• 3:17Speaker 00

  The laser lights are about to go off. And then all of a sudden, you see this guy with this big, yeah, this big guy, this, this guy with this huge smile. It's just like jumping up and down. And they're like, DJ Irie. And we're all in the middle of this ship, like on top of it. And it's the first time I heard about you.

• 3:35Speaker 01

  Right.

• 3:35Speaker 00

  And, uh, but everyone was like, oh, he's such a big DJ.

• 3:40Speaker 00

  And you were just like spinning everything and playing all this awesome music, creating an extraordinary.

• 3:45Speaker 01

  It was great energy, man.

• 3:45Speaker 00

  Experience for everyone there.

• 3:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was, it was good, man.

• 3:48Speaker 00

  And, uh, it's.

• 3:49Speaker 01

  The best feeling actually was, obviously, was you were there, what, three days, was it?

• 3:52Speaker 00

  Three days, but it felt like a month or something. I don't know. It's like.

• 3:55Speaker 01

  It did, because there was something, there was something happening at all times.

• 3:57Speaker 00

  It was amazing.

• 3:58Speaker 01

  But it was the best experience, you know, for me, I mean, meeting all these amazing people.

• 4:02Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 4:03Speaker 01

  And actually getting to spend time with them and converse, you know, and actually make a connection and, and build a rapport. But, you know, that show being one of the first shows, you know, everyone kinda knew who I was and the word kinda spread. And everyone was like, yo, Irie, that show was awesome, man. Like, you know, what's going down again? Like tomorrow, let's do it.

• 4:20Speaker 00

  Now, how'd you get connected in that scene originally?

• 4:23Speaker 01

  Um, you know what? I met at the time, the Summit Series guys were actually living in Miami.

• 4:30Speaker 00

  That's right.

• 4:31Speaker 01

  Right?

• 4:31Speaker 00

  All in one big house.

• 4:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's how they do, right? Actually, this is really cool. So mutual friend, I think it was, it was my man, Robert Nann from Creative Rec.

• 4:40Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 4:40Speaker 01

  Right? And he connected us. He's like, you know what? My boys from Summit, you know, they're living in Miami. You're in Miami, you guys should definitely connect. You guys are all good people. And we connected and like that first day, I happened to be in Miami that day. And Elliot was like, yo, come for dinner tonight. I'm like, I happen to be hungry tonight. It works, right?

• 4:59Speaker 00

  You're every night around seven o'clock.

• 5:01Speaker 01

  Dude, I'm hungry every night. You know what I mean? Sometimes twice. So, um, I went over, right? And it was like, like 17 people there, you know? Everybody was super cool, but then, so I'm, you know, I guess, you know, we're gonna go, you know, sit down, see what's in the, in the eat, right? They're like, let's bounce. I was like, so when you tell me let's bounce, it means we're leaving, right? So I'm like, I just got here, where are we going? He's like, no, literally, let's bounce. They have this huge trampoline.

• 5:26Speaker 00

  That's right.

• 5:27Speaker 01

  In the backyard.

• 5:27Speaker 00

  I've never seen pictures of this.

• 5:29Speaker 01

  And you take off your shoes and you gotta bounce, right?

• 5:32Speaker 00

  Oh my god.

• 5:32Speaker 01

  So I was like, alright, I guess I'm gonna bounce. We're like jumping on the trampoline. Now I'm really hungry, you know? But it was great, man. It was really great. And the spirits really hit it off and.

• 5:42Speaker 00

  And they said you should come play.

• 5:43Speaker 01

  Well, they came to like a couple of my shows, uh, in Miami.

• 5:46Speaker 00

  In Miami?

• 5:46Speaker 01

  Yeah. I was playing like Mansion Liv, whatever.

• 5:48Speaker 00

  At the clubs?

• 5:49Speaker 01

  And, um, they came to a couple of my shows and they're like, yo, we got an idea. Let's get you to do a show on the ship. I was like, it works. Let's do it.

• 5:56Speaker 00

  Wow. And that's how you met Ben and a bunch of other people?

• 5:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, so many people that are.

• 6:01Speaker 00

  Have a lot of things since that event supported your career? Have you got a lot of gigs from it?

• 6:05Speaker 01

  Absolutely. You know, you know what? Um, probably, I mean, a lot of cool things came out of it, but probably the one thing that's probably the coolest was, you know, I always wanted to play a, a, a big show for Google. This is one of the things I wanted to do, right? And I met a guy named Alex Ebelin, right? At Summit. He was like Google's community affairs person, um, based in New York. And we kept in touch, like we hung out when we were in Miami. I went to go see him at headquarters when, um, I, I visited New York and.

• 6:32Speaker 00

  The Google headquarters in New York?

• 6:33Speaker 01

  In New York, yeah.

• 6:34Speaker 00

  Not the main one in?

• 6:35Speaker 01

  Not the main one, yeah, the one, the one in New York, which still is no.

• 6:38Speaker 00

  It's big.

• 6:38Speaker 01

  It's big.

• 6:38Speaker 00

  Yeah, I've been, I've been.

• 6:39Speaker 01

  It's a block.

• 6:40Speaker 00

  It's amazing.

• 6:41Speaker 01

  It's a city block. It's no joke. So I went and had lunch over there. It just, yeah.

• 6:47Speaker 00

  North of Mecca, right?

• 6:47Speaker 01

  Right across from the Chelsea Market.

• 6:48Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, it's a big building.

• 6:49Speaker 01

  Huge building, huge building. So, um, went over there and had lunch with him, hung out. And then, um, I actually told him, I was like, you know what I'd love to do for Google one day? And probably like a couple of weeks later, he's like, hey, man. I actually met the girl that's planning the holiday party.

• 7:06Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh.

• 7:07Speaker 01

  And I told her about you and she's like, try to get him. And I'm like, I'm gotten.

• 7:15Speaker 01

  And you know what? We did this huge, it was at a, was it, um, was it Capital or Barafca? One of those big like party halls in New York. I mean, it was like 5,000 people.

• 7:24Speaker 00

  Wow, really?

• 7:25Speaker 01

  It was, I mean, it was, it was Google. It was like, oh, Google and like, there are like significant others, you know?

• 7:31Speaker 00

  Sure, sure.

• 7:31Speaker 01

  And Eric Schmidt was there too. And it was, but you know what? It was just an awesome party. And I was like, I got to do it.

• 7:38Speaker 00

  A bunch of tech nerds can dance, huh?

• 7:39Speaker 01

  They were, listen, man, listen.

• 7:41Speaker 00

  Down.

• 7:42Speaker 01

  Listen, they can party just as hard as anybody else, man. I was like, respect, you know what I mean?

• 7:48Speaker 00

  That's hilarious.

• 7:49Speaker 01

  They wore me out, that's for sure.

• 7:51Speaker 00

  Wow. What's been the best gig you've ever done in your life?

• 7:54Speaker 01

  That's so tough, but, uh, there's so many.

• 7:57Speaker 00

  I'm sure every weekend's probably the best, right? But what's like?

• 7:59Speaker 01

  Every weekend is amazing.

• 8:00Speaker 00

  What's one that just stands out that you're like, what? Like something out of your, like an out of a body experience that you've never felt before?

• 8:07Speaker 01

  Okay, the one that probably really stands out that I'll never forget, just because I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm a music connoisseur. I'm a music fan, you know? Um, that's what got me here. I'm just really, really passionate about music and passionate about the people behind music, you know, the artists.

• 8:23Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 8:23Speaker 01

  And so Jamie Foxx is a really good friend of mine, right? And we've done all kinds of amazing stuff and toured the world, all kinds of cool stuff. But he calls me up one day and he's like, yo, you gotta get out to Malibu. We're gonna do a birthday party for Robert.

• 8:36Speaker 00

  He lives in Malibu, right?

• 8:37Speaker 01

  So, so Jamie, Jamie lives in Thousand Oaks.

• 8:39Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, okay.

• 8:40Speaker 01

  Right? So, uh,

• 8:41Speaker 00

  I have a friend that used to live there, so.

• 8:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, so maybe, I can, you know, he used to live, he used to live like, like, uh, in, in, uh, not, not in Malibu, but he used to live in like the hills or whatever.

• 8:50Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 8:50Speaker 01

  But he's been living in, um, like Thousand Oaks, like right outside of Calabasas for, for a couple of years now. And, um, so he calls me, he's like, hey, we're doing a birthday party for Robert. So, and you know me, like, we always, we're always cool, you know? So like, I'm like, I'm supposed to know who Robert is. All right. So who's Robert? So I'm like, Robert Redford. Downey Jr. I was like, yeah, I was Robert Downey Jr. But I'm like, I'm supposed to playing it off, right? And he's like, yo, this is the date. You can make, you can get it open, right? And I'm like, I don't know what the heck is going on. I'm like, I'm like, you know what? If you say we gotta be there, yeah, date's open. We're gonna make it happen, right? I'm like, oh, my God, date, please be open. So, so he's like, Susan's gonna email you, right? So I'm like, who the heck is Susan? Cause I know Susan doesn't work for him.

• 9:31Speaker 01

  So anyway, I get an email like the next day from Susan Downey, right? And I'm like, okay, it's Robert Downey Jr., right? So, and I'm a big fan. I think he's amazing, especially like, you know, what he's been through in his life and his career. And, you know, this is roughly did Iron Man as well, right? So, um. He's great, yeah. Amazing, amazing. So fast forward, we put it all together. We do the party. He has this amazing estate in Malibu, right? We're doing the party. It is the who's who, like, thank God, nothing happened there because if something happened, literally. Hollywood had shut down. Like 75% of Hollywood would be a rap. You know what I mean? Everybody was there. It was, it was just truly, truly amazing. And you were the DJ. And I'm, I'm rocking out. Wow. I'm rocking out. Jimmy performed that night as well.

• 10:16Speaker 01

  So I'm rocking out, I'm doing my thing. And I'm kind of looking at over the crowd and I see Sting. Oh, man. Walking off to the dance floor, right? So him and his girl come onto the floor. And I was literally just about to play this Roxanne remix. Oh, no. Like, this is just out of a movie, right? So I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm starting to mix it in. How did it sound? It was like, all I heard was this little, little.

• 10:43Speaker 01

  Right? So you can tell it's coming, right? Oh, man. So I'm like, I'm looking at him. I'm like, just locked in, right? He's not looking at me, right? I'm being really weird and creepy, so. But I'm like, I know he's gotta feel my eyes on her, right? Well, everyone's eyes are on you. Yeah, exactly. So finally, he kinda looks up at me and it's right before the first hook's about to drop, right? And I look at him, I'm like giving him that look like, Sting, you with me, right? You don't know me, but you with me, right? And he kinda gives me like this nod. No way. We synced up. He finally looked at you. He looks at me, he kinda gives me this nod, I throw the mic. No, you did not throw the mic. It was a movie. You threw the mic?

• 11:28Speaker 01

  It was a movie. I throw the mic, he catches it. No, he does not. One hand? One hand. Shut up. Right on the first. No, and sings it right? Ah, shit. Shut up.

• 11:42Speaker 01

  So the whole place erupts. Oh, my goodness. Everyone thought it was rehearsed. Shut up. Everyone was like, wow, when did you guys get to practice that? I was like, never, right? Everyone thought it was rehearsed and I'm like, that just happened, right? And it was ninety-nine percent perfect till I screwed it up. What'd you do? Because he rocks it out and so it's towards the end of the song. So then he throws the mic back. Oh, no. At me perfectly. Right to your head. Right, I was like, put my hand out.

• 12:17Speaker 01

  Like hit you in the face. You would think it was a hot potato right out of some boiling water because I'm like fumbling. Fumbling it, it's still on.

• 12:29Speaker 01

  Right over the speakers and it drops. Big old, everyone looks at me like, really? Really? You just couldn't just catch it and everything be perfect? I was like, yeah, leave it to me to screw it all up. Oh, man. But that was like, that was an epic, epic, epic, epic night, you know? And there's just so many amazing, you know, opportunities and you know, the thing about it is I, I wanted this journey for, for music. You know, my passion for music and next you know, you're seeing the world, you know, and you're meeting the most amazing people. I imagine. And you know, sometimes at night I go back and I have like a little studio at home and I walk past the studio and there's these two turntables and a mixer. And I'm like. It's all you guys.

• 13:11Speaker 00

  It's where it starts.

• 13:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's where it starts and where it ends. Where it ends, you know what I mean? And it's pretty, it's pretty amazing.

• 13:17Speaker 00

  And I think I, I think I listened to an interview of yours where you talked about how you got into music, where you guys, your family would actually have a music room.

• 13:24Speaker 01

  My family, we didn't have a TV room.

• 13:25Speaker 00

  You didn't have a TV. And so you'd go and you'd listen to, I think you said like Bob Marley you'd listen to and other people.

• 13:30Speaker 01

  Peter Tosh, you know, the Wailers, Stevie Wonder, like all the Motown stuff. And so I was like this, this, this young kid with kind of an old soul, you know, because especially like Saturdays and Sundays, my, my dad had these speakers that literally were from the, the ceiling to the floor. I mean, it's massive, you know, he was just this whole like sound freak, right?

• 13:49Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 13:50Speaker 01

  And the house would just be just full of music all day, Sunday, all day, Saturday, you know, like on the weekends, all day. And I'll just, I'd just be pumping, you know, in my head to the point where just, I just loved it, you know? And I get home from school and now just kind of sneak in there and go through the records that I liked, you know what I mean? And then I'll just put it on and just be like, dang, that bass line is going off, you know? You know what I mean? Those lyrics are dope.

• 14:14Speaker 00

  And did you play a lot of instruments growing up or sing or were you just more?

• 14:17Speaker 01

  Honestly, I had a love affair with, with, uh, Turntable, the Turntable and vinyl, you know, to the point where it was, it was actually like an addiction, like, you know, if a song came out, if I, if I would just hear like a snippet of a song and I liked it, I had to find that vinyl. I had to own it.

• 14:35Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 14:36Speaker 01

  No matter, no matter what it took, I had to have it. So before I even graduated high school, you know, I already had like probably over 12,000 records.

• 14:44Speaker 00

  Oh my gosh.

• 14:44Speaker 01

  Right? I had stopped eating lunch. I wouldn't.

• 14:47Speaker 00

  You couldn't afford it anymore.

• 14:48Speaker 01

  I mean.

• 14:48Speaker 00

  You're only buying records.

• 14:49Speaker 01

  I had to buy records. So I hung out, I always made sure I hung out with, you know, some really cool and kind of paid friends, whatever. So I'm like, hey, you get another one of those? Oh yeah, I got you.

• 14:59Speaker 00

  We can get that slice of pizza.

• 15:01Speaker 01

  You can eat your cornbread. You know what I mean? And um, yeah, I would just literally, but you know what? They knew, they knew that, man, this guy's buying records, man, you know?

• 15:11Speaker 00

  At least better than drugs.

• 15:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, a lot better, a lot better. It was legal, so it was all good, you know what I mean?

• 15:15Speaker 00

  It was a type of drug, I guess.

• 15:18Speaker 01

  It was a drug for the soul, you know what I mean? But um, yeah, and then just literally, you know, some other things happened in my life and the whole, you know, DJ thing kinda came about, but it's all started from me having to like, collect these records. I had to have them.

• 15:30Speaker 00

  Now, you grew up in another country, right? Is that what I heard?

• 15:33Speaker 01

  So, I was born-

• 15:34Speaker 00

  On an island?

• 15:35Speaker 01

  Well, I was born in the, in the Virgin Islands, in St. Croix, right? Um, lyrics kinda just popped out, was passing through, for real. My parents, my entire family's from Jamaica, right? At the time, my mom was a nurse, and it was a much better opportunity, because there was a shortage, um, in St. Croix.

• 15:50Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 15:50Speaker 01

  So, uh, they picked up, you know, went over there, and then there was a better opportunity, actually, in California. And they're from, from St. Croix to California, California to Galveston, Texas,

• 16:01Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 16:01Speaker 01

  And then from Texas to Miami. All that happened, uh, within two years.

• 16:05Speaker 00

  Whoa.

• 16:06Speaker 01

  Because I was living in Miami by the time I was two.

• 16:08Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 16:08Speaker 01

  And then, um, stayed in Miami a couple of years up till about middle school, and then my parents were like, "Yeah, you're going to boarding school in Jamaica."

• 16:16Speaker 00

  No way.

• 16:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:17Speaker 00

  I went to a boarding school.

• 16:18Speaker 01

  Did you?

• 16:19Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 16:19Speaker 01

  Where?

• 16:20Speaker 00

  In St. Louis, Missouri.

• 16:21Speaker 01

  Ah, same thing, same, same. St. Louis, Missouri, man, I went to Jamaica, same, same.

• 16:27Speaker 00

  But I went, I went in eighth grade, I moved to-

• 16:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, but that was, that was right about, right about the time that I, that I went.

• 16:31Speaker 00

  Great experience for me.

• 16:32Speaker 01

  Listen, I, my very first year, I thought my parents hated me.

• 16:36Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 16:36Speaker 01

  I thought they just wanted me gone and discarded.

• 16:39Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 16:40Speaker 01

  By the second year, it just really dawned on me how big of a sacrifice it was for them.

• 16:44Speaker 00

  It's probably really expensive, right?

• 16:45Speaker 01

  I mean, it was expensive, you know, I'm in another country that, they're paying for all my food, they're paying for all these different things, and the fact that their kid is away from them.

• 16:53Speaker 00

  Yeah, they probably miss you.

• 16:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, of course, but it totally hit me, and I was like, "Wait a minute, I really have to make the, the most of this, because my parents are really making a big sacrifice for me," you know? And I, I learned so much, you know, and it became just, this great place for me that I didn't even want to leave.

• 17:07Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 17:07Speaker 01

  So, the only reason we're here speaking right now, to be honest with you, is because of Hurricane Andrew.

• 17:11Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 17:12Speaker 01

  Ninety-two. Hurricane Andrew, I was in Miami visiting because my parents basically threatened me because I didn't even want to come. I was like, you guys come down here. They're like, no, we have to work. Like, we want to see our kid, like, come home for the summer. And I'm like, ah.

• 17:25Speaker 00

  They were living in Miami.

• 17:27Speaker 01

  They were living in Miami.

• 17:27Speaker 00

  In Jamaica.

• 17:28Speaker 01

  I was making, so I'd come for holidays. So I'd come like Christmas.

• 17:30Speaker 00

  How far is that flight?

• 17:31Speaker 01

  Oh, it was really, it was like, it was like hour and a half, two hours. Yeah, not bad, not bad at all, you know, and I'd do it on my own, you know? And the hurricane hits and wipes out everything.

• 17:40Speaker 00

  Jamaica or?

• 17:41Speaker 01

  In Miami.

• 17:42Speaker 00

  Miami.

• 17:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, so I was here visiting. I was in Miami, I was in Miami visiting. And the hurricane comes, literally, that everything was gone. Everything I owned, everything my parents owned.

• 17:51Speaker 00

  Your house was gone.

• 17:52Speaker 01

  The house, the house was gone. We survived the hurricane by going in the cars and going in the garage and backing the car up to the garage door. I mean, I didn't even think that we would live through it. It was, it was the scariest thing in my, in my entire life.

• 18:03Speaker 00

  Whoa, how long was it? How long were you in the cars for?

• 18:05Speaker 01

  Uh, probably about two and a half, three hours, because towards the end, what happened was we were in the house and bit by bit, the roof was tearing away. So I was.

• 18:13Speaker 00

  So you could see it.

• 18:14Speaker 01

  I was in my room, like, laying down in a. I'm like, I'm like, I'm like. I'm like, who turned the sprinkler on in the room?

• 18:21Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh, really?

• 18:22Speaker 01

  It was getting wet. I look up, I'm like, wait a minute, that's the moon. Wait a second, where's the roof? And so the roof was tearing away and I went to my brother's room, roof's tearing away, go to my parents' room, roof's tearing away. And we jumped in the, in the, in the cars in the garage. And that's where we, we, we, uh, rode it out. And then it was just unspeakable destruction, man. It was, it was amazing. And I felt bad. I'm like, there's no way I'm going back to paradise. Because really, my situation in Jamaica was a really good one at that time. I mean, yeah, I mean, they just lost everything. And I was like, there's no way I can do that in good conscience.

• 18:52Speaker 00

  So this was like a Christmas holiday break type of thing?

• 18:54Speaker 01

  This is a summer.

• 18:54Speaker 00

  Summer break?

• 18:55Speaker 01

  Summer break.

• 18:55Speaker 00

  What year were you?

• 18:56Speaker 01

  This is ninety-two.

• 18:57Speaker 00

  I mean, what year in school?

• 18:59Speaker 01

  Oh, so in Jamaica, it's a little different because they don't have, they don't have grades, they go by forms.

• 19:02Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 19:02Speaker 01

  So I think I was in, um, probably, uh.

• 19:05Speaker 00

  Or how old were you?

• 19:06Speaker 01

  Probably eleventh form, eleventh forms, which is the equivalent of like, uh, like tenth gr- no, actually, it's the equivalent of like twelfth grade, really.

• 19:15Speaker 00

  So you're like a senior, you're like seventeen or eighteen.

• 19:17Speaker 01

  So when I came back, well, I stayed and I did one more year. I stayed my senior year. And, um.

• 19:23Speaker 00

  In Miami.

• 19:23Speaker 01

  In Miami.

• 19:24Speaker 00

  So you stayed one more year there. Oh, gotcha.

• 19:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, so I didn't even go back.

• 19:27Speaker 00

  Interesting. Okay.

• 19:28Speaker 01

  I didn't go back to Jamaica to stay.

• 19:29Speaker 00

  So what did that, what impact did that have on your life afterwards?

• 19:33Speaker 01

  I mean, it was, oh, my gosh, man. That was a life-changing experience, you know? I mean, I lost everything that was near and dear, everything material-wise, you know, in terms of, you know, your memories and memorabilia, you know? And it was just, you know, to start over, you know, then seeing your family go through this. You know, we all moved to an apartment, like a single-bedroom apartment, and it was four of us, you know? And it was just, it was, you know, at that time, more than anything else, it just really made me appreciate, you know, the simple things and appreciate your family. You know, because when you go through this as a family and as a unit and you get through it together, it really, I mean, you're already strong as a unit because, you know, I'm blessed with this great family. But it made us, you know, that much stronger, you know? And really, everything else came second. It was like, keep your family strong, keep it together,

• 20:18Speaker 01

  and everything else comes second, you know?

• 20:19Speaker 00

  Are you guys still pretty strong today?

• 20:20Speaker 01

  Oh, absolutely.

• 20:21Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 20:22Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 20:23Speaker 00

  And they're still in Miami?

• 20:24Speaker 01

  They're actually in Jamaica.

• 20:25Speaker 00

  No way.

• 20:26Speaker 01

  We switched.

• 20:27Speaker 00

  No, you're in Miami.

• 20:28Speaker 01

  I'm in Miami.

• 20:30Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 20:30Speaker 01

  And they don't want to come visit now. They're like, come down here.

• 20:34Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 20:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, we kind of switched. But no, I get on and visit them all the time. They come up and visit me.

• 20:39Speaker 00

  Sure, sure. Okay.

• 20:40Speaker 01

  It's cool.

• 20:41Speaker 00

  So after that experience, I guess, how did you get your first gig? You know, you're a senior, you're about to go either, did you go to college or did you?

• 20:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, so actually, I got my first gig as a senior in school.

• 20:53Speaker 00

  Are you playing like on your, in your home, in your basement?

• 20:56Speaker 01

  Yeah, I had my little setup in my bedroom.

• 20:59Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 20:59Speaker 01

  Right? And let me tell you something, man, there was nobody better than me in my bedroom.

• 21:05Speaker 01

  I was rocking that thing nightly, all right?

• 21:09Speaker 01

  I mean, because you know what? It was just my little fantasy festival, fantasy club. So I made it to anything I wanted to be because I actually had, the way I had it set up, I had the turntables, the mixer, it was on my dresser, so I had the mirror. So I looked into the mirror, but I wouldn't see myself. I would see people either going boo when I did a bad mix, you know? Or I'd do something really dope and everyone was like, oh, man, that was awesome. I'm like, thanks, bro, you know?

• 21:31Speaker 00

  So you actually visualize the crowd?

• 21:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, man. It was like my own, you know, like fantasy studio, you know? And it was just, it was wild because, you know, I just visualized myself doing all these like, you know, things and I was just in my bedroom, you know? But what really, I don't know if you knew about this part, I've spoken about it in a couple of interviews before, but the way I got my very, very, very first gig outside of my bedroom.

• 21:57Speaker 00

  Besides your family coming?

• 21:58Speaker 01

  Not even that.

• 21:59Speaker 00

  Taking a ticket to come in the room?

• 22:00Speaker 01

  No, they would come in the room and be like, yo, turn that crap off, you know what I mean?

• 22:04Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 22:06Speaker 01

  I'm like, don't you see this crowd over here? What are you talking about? So, um, this is actually a pretty wild story. So there was, there was a girl that went to my high school.

• 22:15Speaker 00

  Story starts with a girl.

• 22:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, and ends with a girl.

• 22:18Speaker 00

  That's how I got out here.

• 22:19Speaker 01

  Are you serious?

• 22:20Speaker 00

  I moved here from New York City for a girl and it ended with that girl, yeah.

• 22:24Speaker 01

  Starts and ends.

• 22:24Speaker 00

  But it all worked out a long way.

• 22:25Speaker 01

  It all worked out. Yeah, I guess it kind of worked out for me too, man. Pow, put it right there, man. So, um, this is a guy, I had a huge crush on her, right?

• 22:33Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 22:33Speaker 01

  And my next door neighbor, who was a, you know, my homie at the time, he knew and he was friends with her. I didn't even know her, right? But he was friends with her. He set me up one day, right? So they're hanging out at his place, right? Um, I get off of school. I was usually the first one home from school and you know me, first one home, yeah, you know, get off of school, like it, it all hangs out, you know what I mean?

• 22:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 22:55Speaker 01

  I had my little He-Man undies on, you know what I mean? That, some socks, that's it, you know, and a, and a bowl of Fruit Loops, you know what I mean? I'm chilling, you know, getting ready to watch my cartoons and stuff. And, um, ding dong, you know, like, I was at my door. I looked at a peephole, it's my neighbor and he's, he's with her, right?

• 23:16Speaker 00

  That you liked.

• 23:16Speaker 01

  Yeah. And I'm in my little, I'm in my little undies and socks. I'm like,

• 23:21Speaker 00

  They're like Spider-Man underwear?

• 23:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm like, Uh, nobody's home. I'm like, darn, now they don't home.

• 23:28Speaker 01

  I'm like, hold on. And I go and put some clothes on and I open the door. I'm like, uh, hi. What's going on? And he's like, yo, we're just over at my crib, just kind of chilling. We came over to come hang out with you a little bit, right? I'm like, okay, cool. So they, you know, can we come in? I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So they come inside and um, we're talking for like two minutes. And my neighbor, he's like, oh my gosh, I gotta go.

• 23:51Speaker 00

  No, he did not do that.

• 23:52Speaker 01

  I forgot I do something to my mom.

• 23:54Speaker 00

  He dipped out.

• 23:55Speaker 01

  Leaves me alone with her, right?

• 23:57Speaker 00

  Well, it's either good or bad, right?

• 23:58Speaker 01

  Nah, it's either good or bad. Now I just forget.

• 24:00Speaker 00

  That's a great wingman if you're ready for it.

• 24:02Speaker 01

  But I had no idea. He had prepared me.

• 24:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 24:04Speaker 01

  Aw, man, I had the candles lit, you know what I mean? An extra bowl of Fruit Loops, you know, I had it all set up, right? The incense, so, so he leaves, I forget the English language, right?

• 24:16Speaker 00

  You're like, oh, blah, blah, blah, blah.

• 24:21Speaker 01

  And she's like totally confident. She's like, so, you know, show me around the house, right? I'm like, oh yeah, there's some stuff over there, there's some stuff over there, some stuff back there, some stuff over there. You're good. So I wanted to do anything but show her my room because I had records everywhere. Like, I mean, records were literally everywhere.

• 24:38Speaker 00

  In the bed and the pillowcases.

• 24:39Speaker 01

  That was part of the condition to me being able to buy the records that they did, they weren't all over the house. As long as you're in your room, you can do whatever you want, right? So she insists to see my room. Fine. I'm like, oh my gosh, she's the biggest freaking geek because I'm a record collector, right? She goes and she sees all the records, her face lights up. She goes, I didn't know you were a DJ. I love DJs.

• 25:00Speaker 00

  No way.

• 25:01Speaker 01

  My face breaks up.

• 25:02Speaker 00

  You're like, yeah.

• 25:03Speaker 01

  I'm like, girl, dumb. Think all the records are for, right?

• 25:06Speaker 00

  I'm scratching right now.

• 25:07Speaker 01

  She's like, I'm like, just because you're not cool enough to come to my parties, don't mean I don't do my thing, right?

• 25:13Speaker 01

  She's like, oh my gosh, how long have you been DJing? I'm like, a long time. So anyway.

• 25:19Speaker 00

  And you're in high school right now, right?

• 25:20Speaker 01

  This is high school. This is like my senior year, right?

• 25:22Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 25:23Speaker 01

  And this is towards the holidays now too, right? So this is like early December.

• 25:27Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 25:28Speaker 01

  And um, so she's just like, you know what? So now like, everything flips. I have all the confidence now.

• 25:34Speaker 00

  Yeah, what's up, girl? Put your arm around her.

• 25:36Speaker 01

  I'm like, if you're lucky, I'll invite you to a party one of these days, right? So before she leaves, right, so we have this, now everything was great, like we're chilling, like, you know, the ice is broken, everything's all good. And so she's about to leave and she goes, wait a minute. What are you doing for New Year's? And I'm like, what are you doing for New Year's? I'm gonna hang with you. She's like, oh, you're not booked like a party or anything? I'm like, no, I don't usually do that that early. You know what I mean?

• 26:03Speaker 00

  Now that's like the biggest night of the year.

• 26:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't do that early. That's what happens. She goes, great. I'm gonna have my dad book you for our New Year's party.

• 26:11Speaker 00

  Shut up.

• 26:12Speaker 01

  Dead ass.

• 26:13Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 26:13Speaker 01

  Dead ass. Her name was Sarah.

• 26:15Speaker 00

  She hadn't heard you play yet.

• 26:16Speaker 01

  No, she just saw like I had a room full of records. We spoke about music and a lot, you know?

• 26:20Speaker 00

  Yeah, she fell.

• 26:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, you know, I had, I had the right tunes.

• 26:22Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 26:23Speaker 01

  So I'm, I'm like, okay, I had to put my foot in my mouth, right? So I couldn't backtrack now. So she leaves and I probably stood stoic at that door for like a good 20 minutes.

• 26:36Speaker 00

  Like, what did I just commit to?

• 26:37Speaker 01

  What do I do now? You know what I mean? Should I relocate? Like, should I have facial surgery? Like, what?

• 26:47Speaker 01

  Then I was like, you know what? Maybe I'll just do it.

• 26:49Speaker 00

  Right, right. And. Cause you wanted to, right? Eventually you thought about doing it.

• 26:53Speaker 01

  Just in my mind.

• 26:55Speaker 00

  Right, right.

• 26:56Speaker 01

  Not in actuality.

• 26:57Speaker 00

  But did you ever think about you wanted to be a DJ? Or you're just, you're just doing it for fun?

• 27:00Speaker 01

  I was doing it for fun because I could, in my mind, I was like, I can't be a DJ. Like, DJs are DJs, not me.

• 27:07Speaker 01

  I just have some records, you know what I mean? Like, I can't be a DJ. So, yeah, next thing you know, I just, I got the courage. I was like, all right, the dad called.

• 27:15Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 27:16Speaker 01

  And he's like.

• 27:16Speaker 00

  How much he booked you for?

• 27:17Speaker 01

  He's like, how much you charge him that? I was like, ah.

• 27:23Speaker 01

  I was like, I have a guy that talks all that stuff? What was, I'll ask him. And he's like, okay, all right, you, all right. You could tell he's like, man, this is weird, right?

• 27:37Speaker 00

  Yeah, right.

• 27:37Speaker 01

  So anyway, he's like, you know what? He was like, whatever my daughter wants will make it happen, right? So I ended up charging him like $500 or something like that.

• 27:46Speaker 00

  Which at the time you were rich.

• 27:48Speaker 01

  And I was like, I was like. Five, five, five hundred maybe? Like, I'll give you my favor. And he's like, are you saying five hundred dollars? I'm like, I'm like, yeah, five, five, five, yeah, five. And he's like, all right, no problem, you know?

• 28:02Speaker 00

  That's a steal for me.

• 28:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, I guess I was like, I was like, wow, I have like five hundred dollars now. So anyway, I didn't have the full set. So, but I had, I had friends that were DJs. So I borrowed a speaker here and it was new, so everybody's working, right? So I ended up with like this Frankenstein of DJ sets because everything, there was no two brands the same, right? But when you plugged everything in, sound came out. So I was like, all right, we're good.

• 28:26Speaker 00

  There's a Sony speaker, a Samsung.

• 28:29Speaker 01

  Onkyo, Sanyo, like, oh, it's crazy stuff. And we, um, my dad had a pickup truck, so he took me over there, right? And I remember we pulled in from the house and the dad came out and dad was like, what's that? Cause everything looked, it looked so terrible, right? And he goes, that's going in the house? I was like, if you want to party. It's like, all right, I guess.

• 28:50Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 28:51Speaker 01

  So now I'm doing this party. So, but the thing is, I didn't know how to DJ. Meaning, you know, DJs, they, they scratch and they beat mix, right? And they do all that stuff. Uh, no, that's, that's not what I did. I just played records in my room. So, but at least I had good records, right? So I had good taste in music. So I'd play a song. Can you imagine Casey Kasem doing a nightclub? That's what it was. Okay? Cause I'd play a song, all of the songs.

• 29:24Speaker 00

  Oh man.

• 29:25Speaker 01

  So I would fit it and I'd be like, all right.

• 29:30Speaker 01

  That was a goodie. Think it's over? No, it's not because here's another one.

• 29:34Speaker 00

  You're like a radio jockey.

• 29:35Speaker 01

  And I would just play the other song. And I remember one of the guests came up to me and they were like, don't you do that stuff like that DJs do? Where they're kind of like mix it all in and you kind of keep the flow going? And I was like, no. No, don't do that.

• 29:48Speaker 00

  Not my style.

• 29:50Speaker 01

  I'm just gonna play some songs. And pray that get out of here in one piece. It's about it, you know? But you know what? I don't know how or what, I mean, maybe it was because of, you know, Jose Cuervo and Johnny Walker and the rest of the homies. But, uh, people had a good time, man. To the tune of a week later, her dad calls back. Now, here's what I didn't realize, her dad was the general manager of Planet Hollywood.

• 30:14Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 30:15Speaker 01

  Right? And they had one in Coconut Grove at the time.

• 30:17Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 30:17Speaker 01

  And it was kind of like a party scene because on the weekends it can, it get kind of crazy.

• 30:20Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 30:21Speaker 01

  And just without a DJ, just, it just had that vibe.

• 30:23Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 30:24Speaker 01

  And he calls me, he goes, I'm not sure if he knows, but you know, I manage the, the Planet Hollywood. And I have an idea. I want to start bringing you as a featured DJ on the weekends. And I was like, I mean, do what I did at your house?

• 30:38Speaker 00

  The junkie system and the-

• 30:39Speaker 01

  I was like, I could probably do that again. I said, you can give me more money too? I was like, alright, let's do it.

• 30:46Speaker 01

  And that was actually my first, like, gig, you know?

• 30:49Speaker 00

  So you had Planet Hollywood for like every week, every weekend?

• 30:51Speaker 01

  Every weekend. And, uh-

• 30:53Speaker 00

  Did you start to learn how to like mix it in and like you start to see what other DJs were doing?

• 30:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, that's when I was like, wait a minute, if they're gonna like keep-

• 30:59Speaker 00

  I gotta learn how to do this.

• 31:00Speaker 01

  I need to like really get it together. So I kind of, you know, started really working a lot more and, and getting my mixing down and all that kind of stuff. And my mom gave me hell because I was getting home at like two, two thirty in the morning, you know?

• 31:10Speaker 00

  And you're like eighteen, nineteen.

• 31:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, man, I'm still, you know, exactly. I'm still, I'm still in school and stuff and she was like, nah, this isn't gonna work, you know? And-

• 31:18Speaker 00

  She's like, mom, I can pay for rent.

• 31:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, right?

• 31:21Speaker 01

  Like I could buy my own Jordans now, he could, right? And, um, so she pressured me so much that I was, I quit, you know, I stopped doing it. But at the same point in time, I had an offer from the local skating rink.

• 31:31Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 31:32Speaker 01

  In my, in my head to, to, as a DJ offer, so.

• 31:34Speaker 00

  They close at like midnight, you know?

• 31:36Speaker 01

  And then, yeah, I was a little bit earlier. So, um, yeah, and then, you know, graduated and went off to, to college, went to FIU. And that's a story in and of itself.

• 31:44Speaker 00

  Florida International.

• 31:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, Florida National University. And that was a story in and of itself because not only, uh, cause my brother didn't go to college, right? Um, he started working right after high school. And so for my parents, I was the first one that doesn't go to college, and I got a full scholarship.

• 32:01Speaker 00

  Wow, that's great.

• 32:02Speaker 01

  And, uh, uh, my parents were like, alright, well, you're gonna be a doctor or a lawyer. So, you're a pick. But you can be anyone you want. I was a doctor or lawyer, you know, that's how Caribbean parents are, man. And they were serious, you know, I was like, I guess I'll do more good as a doctor, I think.

• 32:19Speaker 00

  So you couldn't say, I really like this DJ thing, like.

• 32:22Speaker 01

  Oh, are you kidding me? That wasn't even, oh, no. I said I had Caribbean parents, man. What are you kidding? So I get this scholarship and I mean, my name's in the paper, the whole thing.

• 32:36Speaker 00

  No way.

• 32:37Speaker 01

  I mean, my mom is walking around with this thing like taped on her forehead, like, that's my son. You know what I mean? It was like their proudest moment.

• 32:44Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 32:45Speaker 01

  And my very first year, here's what happens, right? So remember I'm doing the DJ thing. So I'm doing.

• 32:50Speaker 00

  On the side.

• 32:51Speaker 01

  On the side, but now the people at the skating rink are also going to the clubs. And they're like, yo, there's this, this guy that's like kind of killing it at the skating rink. You guys should have him at this club. And I started getting some opportunities at the, at the clubs.

• 33:06Speaker 00

  In Miami, which is a big scene.

• 33:08Speaker 01

  In Coconut Grove though, not, not in South Beach yet, right?

• 33:11Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 33:11Speaker 01

  So like the world of college crowd, right? And I'm doing like the fraternity parties and sorority parties and kind of making a little name for myself. To the point where in the middle of my first semester, I was doing like six nights a week.

• 33:23Speaker 00

  Shut up.

• 33:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, man.

• 33:24Speaker 00

  And getting paid.

• 33:25Speaker 01

  And getting paid.

• 33:26Speaker 00

  Six nights a week?

• 33:27Speaker 01

  Six nights a week, right? I bought a new car.

• 33:29Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 33:30Speaker 01

  Of course I had rims on that thing.

• 33:31Speaker 00

  Of course, spinners back then.

• 33:33Speaker 01

  You know, I had a lot of the big sound system. But the problem was I also had classes at like eight 25 in the morning.

• 33:40Speaker 00

  And you're going to bed at like four.

• 33:41Speaker 01

  And I'm going to bed at like four, if I'm even going to bed.

• 33:43Speaker 00

  Oh, man.

• 33:44Speaker 01

  If I get to class, I'm sitting in the back, I'm dozing off. And my grades took a huge hit, right? To the point where the first semester I lost my scholarship.

• 33:54Speaker 00

  Ooh, because you got like a, you know, a C minus average or something, whatever, D or whatever.

• 33:59Speaker 01

  I fell below the average I had to maintain, lost the scholarship.

• 34:02Speaker 00

  It was academic scholarship.

• 34:04Speaker 01

  Academic scholarship.

• 34:04Speaker 00

  Oh, man, that's, yeah.

• 34:06Speaker 01

  It would have been the most devastating news my parents could ever.

• 34:10Speaker 00

  Of course.

• 34:11Speaker 01

  Okay, so after it happens, it just, a bolt of reality just hit me. And I was like, I need to, I need to. Figure this out, right? And I gotta figure this out without involving my parents, right? Yeah. And, um. So they didn't know you lost the scholarship? Well, yeah, the reason I didn't know is that I literally, I knew the process and they sent a letter. And you were like, get in that mailbox. Single day. I was there before the mailman pulled up. Oh, my gosh. I collected the mail and it took about four or five days as I timed it out and I intercepted the letter. No way. And I didn't even go into the house. I tore it up right. You didn't even read it? Eighty, well, I opened it, make sure it was in. Make sure that you lost it. It was in, tore it up and we had a little gutter right there and it went right down the gutter.

• 34:56Speaker 01

  Oh, man. And that was it. That was it. So then, uh, the next semester is coming around. Uh huh. And I had to still go to school. And it's like ten grand and bills coming in. Exactly, books, right? There's books, there's fees and but guess what? I'm working. You're making money now. I'm making money, but I can't buy the new kicks anymore and I can't do this stuff to the car. I literally took every penny that I had and paid. That's, I still remember writing that first check for the tuition. That's expensive too. Oh, my gosh. You're like, that could have been a new car, Escalade. I, no, I was, I was like, man, all those hours, those late nights. Oh. I wrote that check and I gave it to him. Oh. And that was a life-changing moment. Wow.

• 35:41Speaker 01

  Because I still worked, actually I worked more. Uh huh. I worked more, right? I was doing all those late nights, but guess what? I was early to class. Hmm. I sat in the front because I said, you know what? I can't let all this money go to waste. No. You know what I mean? Of course. I was asking every question that needed to be asked, right? I was staying after class and saying, okay, we gotta do this again, professor. Wow. Cause I gotta get this and my grades went right back up. And unfortunately, once you lose. You can't get it back. You couldn't get it back, right? Um, and because I was already, you know, so deep into it, I couldn't, you know, apply for, for the way I could think I got was like financially A or whatever. Sure. And I was like, no, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna do it. And I worked and I paid. Three and a half years. I did it all. You paid for it all? My parents never knew.

• 36:26Speaker 01

  Shut up. They know now, obviously, right? I told them a couple of years ago. Shut up. And they were like, shut up.

• 36:34Speaker 01

  They were like, are you serious? And they didn't believe it, man. I was like, yo, that's exactly what happened. They were like, wow.

• 36:41Speaker 00

  You never told them. I don't know how you keep that a secret.

• 36:43Speaker 01

  I shoot, very carefully.

• 36:46Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 36:47Speaker 01

  Man, listen, when you had the kind of whipping coming that I was gonna get, trust me, you figured it out.

• 36:51Speaker 00

  They would have kicked you out of the house, who knows?

• 36:52Speaker 01

  Oh, my God. They would just talk to me, man. Quick.

• 36:55Speaker 00

  Oh, my goodness. But what a great lesson and experience for you to like, to be disciplined moving forward.

• 37:00Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 37:01Speaker 00

  In the rest of your life with your business, your career.

• 37:03Speaker 01

  And that was it. And that was it.

• 37:04Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 37:05Speaker 01

  So that was one of the first major, major lessons that I actually put myself into. And I remember, remember before you mentioned how Miami, that scene is such a big scene, so important. My dream at that time was to play a club on South Beach.

• 37:17Speaker 00

  Right, because it's like the biggest clubs in the country are South Beach.

• 37:21Speaker 01

  We look at the scene, right, this whole music in the Mecca. I mean, you're talking about like Vegas, you're talking about like Ibiza, and you have to talk about South Beach. You gotta talk about Miami, right?

• 37:31Speaker 00

  Because what's the big event there every year?

• 37:32Speaker 01

  Oh, we're in a music conference.

• 37:33Speaker 00

  Yeah, we're in a music conference, yeah, Ultra.

• 37:35Speaker 01

  So it really is, we talk about a staple in the nightlife, Mecca, whatever, Miami is up there, right? And so I was always in the outskirts, you know, I was downtown, I was in the Grove.

• 37:47Speaker 00

  You hadn't made it yet.

• 37:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, because any club that was a club, they're booking the top talent.

• 37:52Speaker 00

  All these other people are coming in, whatever.

• 37:53Speaker 01

  Back then, it was, it was, it was, you know, no matter who it was, it was just the best.

• 37:58Speaker 00

  Right.

• 37:58Speaker 01

  You know, and I was like, gosh, I want to play in a club on the beach one day, right?

• 38:01Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 38:02Speaker 01

  And I remember there was this promoter that actually used to work at the skating rink that now is like the kind of hot promoter.

• 38:08Speaker 00

  Shut up.

• 38:09Speaker 01

  On the beach, right? And he was like all arrogant and all that because, you know, one of his underlings was a good friend of mine. He kept barking his ear like, come on, man, you gotta give her a shot, he's ready for it, he's ready for it, you know? And.

• 38:22Speaker 00

  This is after a few years of you practicing and honing in your craft.

• 38:25Speaker 01

  Now, now, like. The boy was okay.

• 38:29Speaker 00

  I got some moves.

• 38:30Speaker 01

  I mean, I could keep a record holder room together. You know what I mean? It was, I'd put in a lot of work by this time, you know? And I felt confident that I was ready, right?

• 38:37Speaker 00

  He'd mastered the craft to that point, yeah.

• 38:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, I felt like I knew, you know, what to do to keep the, the party going and, and, and make people respond. And out of the blue, I'm actually at the skating rink. It's a Saturday night, right? And I remember that my homeboy's name was Daryl.

• 38:51Speaker 00

  Still playing at the skating rink?

• 38:52Speaker 01

  I'm, I'm, I'm just learning my, I just started my session. I did like two sessions on Saturday, right?

• 38:56Speaker 00

  And now there's a crowd coming to, for you at the skating rink.

• 38:58Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, yeah, it's my, it was my thing. It was, it was called, it was called like Ivory Fridays. It was like my thing, right? And I remember Daryl running on the skating rink. Cause you couldn't, you, you, you know how to walk in the rink, right? You have to have your skates on. And he's running, right? And the skate guards like, hey, you whatever. And he's just running, he's going against the traffic and he's getting over to me. And I'm like, what, what's going on? It's my, and he busted the door. He's like, you gotta DJ the club tonight.

• 39:25Speaker 00

  Shut up.

• 39:26Speaker 01

  I go, wha- what? Right? He goes, I just spoke to Angel. The DJ that they had isn't coming.

• 39:34Speaker 00

  Shut up, they need a replacement.

• 39:35Speaker 01

  He's giving you, he's giving you the job.

• 39:36Speaker 00

  Oh my gosh.

• 39:37Speaker 01

  And I'm there working, right? And it was probably like, like in two hours, I needed to be there, right?

• 39:41Speaker 00

  When's your setup? Is it gonna be, your set's over at like a midnight? And then you gotta show up or do you?

• 39:46Speaker 01

  Well, I was supposed to be playing, so I did my first session. I would have had to miss my second session, right? Thank God the manager, I remember his name was Richard, cool dude. I just grabbed my, told him, I said, hey, man, I have a shot to DJ in South Beach.

• 39:57Speaker 00

  I gotta go.

• 39:58Speaker 01

  Like, he's like, oh, who's gonna do Ivory Fridays?

• 40:04Speaker 01

  Like, do you have another Ivory? I'm like, no, but can you work this out? He's like, get out of here, man.

• 40:11Speaker 00

  Wow, he's like, we'll put some music on or whatever.

• 40:13Speaker 01

  We'll figure this out, just get out of here and get their own time.

• 40:15Speaker 00

  Cause you made him a bunch of money, you've been, you know, like a state.

• 40:18Speaker 01

  He was a cool dude and he just saw something in me. He's like, man, this is a good opportunity for you. He didn't, he didn't, he didn't hold me back, he could have, you know?

• 40:24Speaker 00

  Yeah, of course.

• 40:25Speaker 01

  Um, if you would've said, hey, man, you can't go, I would've stayed and do what I have to do, you know? But I went down there.

• 40:31Speaker 00

  How nervous were you on the way over?

• 40:33Speaker 01

  So, so nervous, man. And I didn't even have all of my records, right? Cause that's the stuff I was using at the skating rink, not stuff I'd do at the club, right?

• 40:40Speaker 00

  Different stuff.

• 40:41Speaker 01

  But I just, I just.

• 40:42Speaker 00

  Not old school punky like where you can dance it out for the skates, you know?

• 40:46Speaker 01

  Look out, weekend, cause here I go, you know what I mean?

• 40:48Speaker 00

  Like, uh, electric slide, you know?

• 40:52Speaker 01

  I mean, all that little skating rink stuff, but you know what though? I just kind of like. Worked it out.

• 40:56Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 40:56Speaker 01

  Made it happen. I had a friend there, bought some of his records and I just, it was an awesome party. It went off, man. It went off. And then at the end of the night, the promoter says, you know what? I'm starting a new party at a new club and I'm gonna have two rooms. I'm gonna have a retro kind of eighties room, whatever, and I'm gonna have like a hip hop R and B room, right? He goes, I'm gonna give you the hip hop and R and B room.

• 41:22Speaker 00

  Wow. After that night, first night?

• 41:24Speaker 01

  Yeah. And, but it was just a smaller room, right? And he goes, but here's the deal. The room had no equipment. So no lights, no stuff. It was just four walls.

• 41:33Speaker 00

  So you gotta bring your own stuff.

• 41:34Speaker 01

  Had to bring my own stuff. And he's like, I pay you $200.

• 41:38Speaker 00

  Oh, a night?

• 41:39Speaker 01

  To perform from 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM.

• 41:43Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 41:44Speaker 01

  I was like, absolutely.

• 41:48Speaker 00

  And how much were you making at the skating rink?

• 41:49Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh. First of all, between the skating and, and parties I was doing like in Coconut Grove and all that kind of stuff. Oh, man, I was doing my best party. I was doing close to a thousand dollars a night without bringing any equipment.

• 41:58Speaker 00

  Again, as a 22, 23 year old.

• 41:59Speaker 01

  As a kid, are you kidding me?

• 42:00Speaker 00

  Making money, baby. That's a good tactic there.

• 42:02Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, it was, matter of fact, no, I wasn't, I was like, I was like, like 19, 20.

• 42:07Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 42:08Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? I wasn't even legal yet, right? So.

• 42:11Speaker 00

  Thousand bucks a night, that's.

• 42:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, man. It was, it was amazing. It was absolutely amazing, you know? So I was like, yeah, because he was like the hottest promoter and it was a club on the beach. But now here's the problem. I had like turntables, but I didn't have speakers. I didn't have amps.

• 42:26Speaker 00

  It's like 50 grand, 20 grand or something.

• 42:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, first of all, I didn't have the money to buy it, right?

• 42:32Speaker 00

  You had to rent it every time.

• 42:33Speaker 01

  So, but I had a friend that was a DJ, had all the equipment. But remember it was a Saturday night.

• 42:37Speaker 00

  He's booked, he's booked.

• 42:38Speaker 01

  He's usually booked, but he's like, you know what? I can just, I'll, I'll hook you up.

• 42:43Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 42:44Speaker 01

  He goes, give me a hundred bucks.

• 42:46Speaker 00

  Half of what you're making. Oh, my gosh.

• 42:48Speaker 01

  And I'm like, ah.

• 42:51Speaker 01

  I go, all right, all right.

• 42:52Speaker 00

  But it's your shot.

• 42:53Speaker 01

  I gotta do it. Boom, a hundred bucks, right?

• 42:55Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 42:56Speaker 01

  He's like, you gotta have lights too. You can't just have a dark room. I didn't have any lights at all. Found somebody with lights. He's like, man.

• 43:03Speaker 00

  Give me a hundred bucks.

• 43:04Speaker 01

  Give me a hundred bucks.

• 43:06Speaker 00

  Wow, okay.

• 43:07Speaker 01

  So now I'm working my ass off for nothing.

• 43:10Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 43:10Speaker 01

  Right? Still one more problem. How am I gonna get it all there?

• 43:14Speaker 00

  Hmm, you need a truck.

• 43:15Speaker 01

  I didn't have a truck. I had a, I had a, I had a car, right? I had a little cute Aker Integra, right? And um.

• 43:21Speaker 00

  But it had speakers in it.

• 43:22Speaker 01

  I had a friend.

• 43:22Speaker 00

  It had speakers. It had the rims, you know what I'm saying?

• 43:24Speaker 01

  Sounded good. So I had a buddy that had like a little, uh, he did pool cleaning. Um, so he had a pickup truck.

• 43:31Speaker 00

  A van or something.

• 43:31Speaker 01

  He had a little, yeah, he had, he had, he had a pickup, everything fit in. And, but he had to, his schedule, he would work early. Cause Sunday mornings was like his peak time to do his thing, right? So he's like, man, I'm about to start like, you know, a couple hours later now and I'm gonna lose some money. He's like, man, I'll still hook you up. Just give me 50 bucks.

• 43:49Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 43:50Speaker 01

  I paid $50 to work all night for a good, probably seven months.

• 43:57Speaker 00

  Seven months? I thought you were gonna say like a month and then he was like, okay, now we'll pay you some money.

• 44:01Speaker 01

  Seven months, seven months. But you know what happened? What happened was.

• 44:06Speaker 00

  What a schmuck for not paying you.

• 44:07Speaker 01

  Seven months I did it for, every single weekend.

• 44:09Speaker 00

  Every Saturday night?

• 44:10Speaker 01

  Every Saturday night.

• 44:11Speaker 00

  It was like the hottest night, right?

• 44:12Speaker 01

  Didn't, it was the hottest night. But remember, it was, the club had two rooms. It was a big room, big main room, right? Where, you know, that's the, the big money and the, you know, and it had a little side, the, the small room. And, but it was one entrance to the club. So if you got through the ropes and you're in the club, then you're in the main room, right? And then you had to go through another entrance to get into my room, right? What happened in that seven month time?

• 44:34Speaker 00

  Everyone was in the small room.

• 44:36Speaker 01

  Everyone, to the point where the room would be packed, like in the first 45 minutes. And outside, that whole other part of the club was just people standing around waiting to get into that room. To the point where it only made sense to switch.

• 44:51Speaker 00

  Of course.

• 44:52Speaker 01

  Right? So what he did was, but he didn't wanna like succumb to, wow, this guy ended up being.

• 44:57Speaker 00

  The man and bringing everyone together.

• 44:58Speaker 01

  And he was like, you know what I'm gonna do? I'll pay you like 250.

• 45:02Speaker 00

  Oh my.

• 45:03Speaker 01

  But just come in the main room and do like a 30 minute set during the other guy's stuff, right? So I was like. I was like, you know what? I said, you're done messed up now.

• 45:13Speaker 00

  Everyone's gonna be, you're never, I'm never gonna leave, I'm never gonna leave.

• 45:16Speaker 01

  I said, you know what? Now in my hands in the morning, it's gonna be the crap, right? Because I would go and do my 30 minute set and the place would go crazy, right?

• 45:25Speaker 00

  And everyone would be in that room.

• 45:26Speaker 01

  And then they would stop.

• 45:27Speaker 00

  And then they move.

• 45:28Speaker 01

  Well, no, no, I wouldn't. They closed that room.

• 45:29Speaker 00

  Oh, wow.

• 45:30Speaker 01

  They closed the side room because it didn't make sense. It was like a hazard at that point in time because the only way someone would get in, someone would go out to go to the bathroom. And then they're pissed off because the bathroom quick and then it can't get back in. So it was like, it was like a big problem of this. They closed it, right? And I would do my little 30 minute set. People would go crazy because the whole music was changing at the time, right? And the other guy would go back on and people would be like, oh, right?

• 45:53Speaker 00

  They're not buying.

• 45:53Speaker 01

  Not that he was, not that the guy was bad, but just the taste in music was changing. You know what I mean? Like, so. And I, and I said, and I wouldn't leave. I would just sit inside and be like.

• 46:04Speaker 00

  How you like me now?

• 46:05Speaker 01

  Look, I was just giving that look, you know what I mean? And, um.

• 46:09Speaker 00

  And how much was the other guy getting paid?

• 46:10Speaker 01

  Oh, the other guy was probably making like, like 1,500.

• 46:12Speaker 00

  Oh, man.

• 46:13Speaker 01

  He was making like 1,500 a night. And I remember, um, they did for like two or three weeks. They tried that, right? And then like by like the fourth week, he, he came up to me and he's like, you know, I'm, I'm, next week I'm just gonna like try something.

• 46:29Speaker 01

  And just like.

• 46:30Speaker 00

  See if this works.

• 46:31Speaker 01

  Probably just have you play this room. But he tried to like kind of sneak it by like, I'm gonna just do your favorite. And I was like, nah.

• 46:39Speaker 00

  I got some other gig.

• 46:40Speaker 01

  I was like, you know what? And this time, you know, other people are already calling.

• 46:42Speaker 00

  Right, of course.

• 46:43Speaker 01

  And I was like, nah. But you know what though? I was extremely appreciative that he gave me a shot. And he's still one of my, my best friends today, right? And but as a businessman, right? And as someone that need to establish, you know, a certain brand, a certain level, you know, I had to play some hardball. This is the time to play it, right?

• 47:02Speaker 00

  He messed up.

• 47:02Speaker 01

  He messed up, right? You know, he.

• 47:04Speaker 00

  He should have tried to find a win-win. He said, listen, you've been killing it. Like, I appreciate you.

• 47:08Speaker 01

  Exactly, exactly.

• 47:09Speaker 00

  Everyone's here because of you. So what we want to do is we want to give you the big room and we're gonna pay you quadruple.

• 47:13Speaker 01

  You know what? I would have totally just worked. Whatever he would have done at that, at that point, I'd have been cool with, you know?

• 47:18Speaker 00

  Just acknowledging and be like, let's make a win-win.

• 47:20Speaker 01

  It was like, like, like pulling nails, you know what I mean? For him to succumb to, wow, you know, this is the right thing to do.

• 47:26Speaker 00

  And he's probably a thirty or forty year old in your twenty.

• 47:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, as a matter of fact, he was thirty two.

• 47:30Speaker 00

  So he doesn't want to lose his ego.

• 47:32Speaker 01

  And the music at the time was like, it was still like his taste and I'm playing the stuff that

• 47:36Speaker 00

  People want to hear.

• 47:37Speaker 01

  Younger generation wanted to hear, you know? And so he was just like, well, you know, I was like, no, we're not gonna try that. I said, you know what? This has been fun, but this is not really what I want to do. I'm gonna look at some other opportunities. He's like, what do you mean? You're like, you, you gotta work with us. Like, you started with us, you know what I mean? So you have the whole like, I own you kind of syndrome. And I was like, I was like, reality check.

• 48:00Speaker 00

  I haven't been making squat for seven months.

• 48:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, I said, so reality check. I said, listen, man, this is, this is, you know, I earned, I earned my, my, my spot here, you know?

• 48:08Speaker 00

  By paying for, working for free.

• 48:09Speaker 01

  And, and you know what? Uh, he called me the next day and he apologized.

• 48:13Speaker 00

  Wow, that's nice.

• 48:14Speaker 01

  And he was just like, you know what? This is just a transition that wasn't really like anticipating, whatever. And, um, he ended up paying me like twenty five hundred dollars or something like that.

• 48:24Speaker 00

  Up front, just as like a.

• 48:26Speaker 01

  Rebranding the party like around me. And it was, we had like the sickest run ever, man.

• 48:32Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 48:32Speaker 01

  You know, for a time I was, I even said, you know what? This is my guy. Like, I put it out there that this is why I work. Because everybody wanted to do different things. And I said, you know what? This is, this is who I work as, my guy.

• 48:42Speaker 00

  He made it right.

• 48:44Speaker 01

  He made it right. And I was just like, you know what? At the end of the day, even though you did it for various reasons, you gave me that opportunity.

• 48:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 48:50Speaker 01

  You know?

• 48:50Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 48:51Speaker 01

  And we're still like great friends today. But you know what? Like I said, no one, I mean, people might, might look at me today and they'll see me doing a festival, doing, you know, GMA or whatever. And no one would ever think that, well, my first opportunity, real opportunity to DJ, somewhere I wanted to DJ. I was paying fifty bucks, you know, and working all night, you know?

• 49:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, but you saw the vision of like, okay, this is the hottest

• 49:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:11Speaker 00

  Strip to work on in the country.

• 49:13Speaker 01

  I knew, yeah, I knew, I knew what it can be.

• 49:15Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 49:16Speaker 01

  And listen, after that, it wasn't long before people were coming up to me at the end of the night and saying, hey, I have a club in Hamburg, Germany, you know? I have a club in Rio, Brazil.

• 49:27Speaker 00

  People from all over the world come there.

• 49:28Speaker 01

  Everybody comes to Miami.

• 49:29Speaker 00

  They're like, dang, this kid is hot.

• 49:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, you know what I mean? And now I'm like, cause one of the things I was like, you know what? I remember when I started doing clothes, I was like, what if one day? What if one day I can actually like take my music and go like on a plane or maybe a bus or something, I don't know, but go somewhere else than Miami and play music and kind of perform. That'd be so cool, right?

• 49:52Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 49:53Speaker 01

  And I was on a plane going to Germany, doing like a six city tour. You know what I mean? And I was like, what is happening right now, you know, like you guys, I want to go there and play musics, you know?

• 50:08Speaker 01

  I was like, all right, they could do this, you know? And that was, that was wild. That blew my mind, man.

• 50:15Speaker 00

  And now you go all over the world, every week you're flying back and forth from another country, it seems like.

• 50:19Speaker 01

  Well, yeah, get around quite a bit, you know, but it's just, but it all stays in perspective, you know, when you have, you know, a start like that, you know, it's, it's never far from my mind, you know?

• 50:30Speaker 00

  What's the dream now? It seems like you've, you know, the dream then was to just get a gig and like say that you could like do some stuff.

• 50:37Speaker 01

  Okay, here's what's, what's kind of been crazy about my career, right? If I.

• 50:41Speaker 00

  We've been doing this about 15 years now, right? It's about 15, 17 years of DJing.

• 50:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, at least, at least, you know what I mean? And all these different things have happened, you know, from the Miami Heat situation, you know, I mean.

• 50:52Speaker 00

  Are you still, you're still doing the Miami Heat?

• 50:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm going on my, I'm going on my 15th season and that kind of happens.

• 50:58Speaker 00

  15 seasons?

• 50:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, my, listen, my very, uh, my very first year DJing on the beach is when they called me.

• 51:05Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 51:06Speaker 01

  And I was like, what do you mean official DJ for the team? Like.

• 51:11Speaker 00

  So you show up at every home game?

• 51:12Speaker 01

  So, yeah, so we, I mean, it's crazy because it's like, you know, we're, we're part of the fabric of the entertainment, you know what I mean? I mean, it's, it's really, I mean, I'm, you know, I'm sure, you know, some of you have been to a game, if not, please come because it's very entertaining, you know?

• 51:25Speaker 00

  I'm sure it is.

• 51:26Speaker 01

  And we're very friendly down there, it's all good. But it really isn't, it really isn't experience, you know? But I mean, from, from that and have three championship rings, like I can, I can barely dribble a basketball, man. I have no.

• 51:38Speaker 00

  I just played today. I'm a big basketball fan.

• 51:40Speaker 01

  Really? You're better than me, just so you know, right? We've never played, but you're a lot better than me.

• 51:45Speaker 00

  Are you sad that uh I'm from Ohio?

• 51:47Speaker 01

  Oh, are you else you're happy?

• 51:48Speaker 00

  I'm very.

• 51:49Speaker 01

  You're happy, I'm sad. Great, alright, cool.

• 51:51Speaker 00

  But I was sad for the last three years with this guy, yeah, or four years.

• 51:54Speaker 01

  You know what, man, the whole, the whole, uh, you know, LeBron situation, I mean, I mean, do we wish that he stayed in Miami? Absolutely, of course. I mean, hey, we, like, four straight trips to the NBA Finals, yielding two championships? Like, that's amazing, you know what I mean? And I think, um, I, I personally, I think that, that, that chapter kind of ended prematurely. I think they had a lot more greatness to achieve, you know?

• 52:17Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 52:18Speaker 01

  But, you know, at the end of the day, you know, everyone's got to make a decision, you know?

• 52:20Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. So why do you continue to, you know, obviously now since LeBron's gone, why do you continue to come back?

• 52:26Speaker 01

  I'm a call, you know what, I'm a call, and you know what? I feel like now, and, and don't get me wrong, it's a huge commitment to do it.

• 52:34Speaker 00

  Every home game, right?

• 52:35Speaker 01

  It's, I mean, it's obviously, obviously, like, Super Bowl and, you know, Sundance, you know, all these places that have to be. And they're extremely supportive and they work with me, you know what I mean? But it's still a huge, huge commitment.

• 52:46Speaker 00

  Because you could get a big paying gig somewhere else, it's like a hundred grand.

• 52:50Speaker 01

  This is true.

• 52:51Speaker 00

  Where you're like, ah, you know?

• 52:52Speaker 01

  And I'm not making a hundred grand at the gates, alright?

• 52:55Speaker 00

  I can imagine.

• 52:56Speaker 01

  But get me wrong, for the situation and what it is, they do their best to take care of me.

• 53:00Speaker 00

  Of course.

• 53:00Speaker 01

  No question about it, you know what I mean, in, in various ways, you know, I mean, they are just a, a, just top of the top organization.

• 53:07Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 53:07Speaker 01

  You know, um, I, I love them for who they are and love them for the opportunity that they, that they've given me, you know, and they have given me.

• 53:12Speaker 00

  And you get exposure from being there.

• 53:15Speaker 01

  A hundred percent. I mean, listen, just the fact that I can wear three championship rings.

• 53:19Speaker 00

  You got rings too?

• 53:19Speaker 01

  I have three rings, man, that's a DJ Iri on them. No, they don't leave Miami, man, yeah, I'm not.

• 53:27Speaker 00

  Like, yes, you know, if, if you're entertaining them.

• 53:29Speaker 01

  There are some dishonest people in this world, believe it or not.

• 53:33Speaker 00

  That's true. That's pretty cool.

• 53:35Speaker 01

  Um, but yeah, I have three championship rings, you know what I mean?

• 53:37Speaker 00

  That's awesome.

• 53:38Speaker 01

  If that's not family, what is? You know what I mean? So, but yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm what you call, I'm, I'm a, I'm a Heat lifer, that's, that's our term for it, you know what I mean? And it's not about, you know, this player or that player.

• 53:50Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 53:50Speaker 01

  It's about, it's about this organization, this team, you know what I mean? And, and it runs really, really deep for me. Really does, you know.

• 53:55Speaker 00

  So you're gonna keep coming back for as long as you can.

• 53:57Speaker 01

  So, yeah, but I mean, obviously, you know, in life, there's there are transitions.

• 54:01Speaker 00

  Always.

• 54:01Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? And and and there's different chapters, you know? Um, so I, you know, to say I'm gonna be there the rest of my life and definitely is is is is probably afar. Far out there, but I do make a a very large concerted effort, you know what I mean? To be there as much as I can. And I think especially this particular year and this season coming up, it's important.

• 54:21Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 54:21Speaker 01

  You know, to be there, you know, I mean.

• 54:23Speaker 00

  Needs some entertainment.

• 54:26Speaker 00

  All those losses.

• 54:27Speaker 01

  Listen, with with, there's been some changes, but there's also a lot that's still in place.

• 54:32Speaker 00

  Of course.

• 54:32Speaker 01

  At least I can be counted as something that's still in place.

• 54:34Speaker 00

  That's great. Nice. Very nice.

• 54:35Speaker 01

  So that's important to me.

• 54:36Speaker 00

  Interesting. So, you know, what's the dream moving forward then? Because you've done a lot of great things.

• 54:41Speaker 01

  Also, what I was saying, so here's here's the thing. So do I have, you know, dreams and aspirations in the the next chapter? Absolutely. But you know, it's funny, a lot of people, you know, say like, what's, you know, what's the plan? Was, you know, I made it a point to not plan. And here's and here's why. And and and this is for me, okay? And and this might apply to to other, uh, particular careers, you know, and other and other, you know, disciplines. But here's the thing with me, right? If I would have plotted a course for myself, let's go back 10 years. If I'd plotted a course for myself, right, that course probably could, you know, uh, incorporate a lot of different things. There's no way that course would have official DJ of the Miami Heat.

• 55:26Speaker 01

  There's no way that course would have had, uh, DJing on Good Morning America. There's no way that course would have had during the World Cup. There's no way it would have had all these amazing things that have happened, you know, in my life, right? And it could have been a really cool course still, right? But I kind of feel like if I did set a course and destination for myself, I probably would have been setting myself up for something else and not those opportunities, right? So what I did was a little bit different, right? What I did was, I kind of started to self-assessment. And I said, it's one thing, but it was a couple of things that are very consistent. And that is, anything that I do, and every any performance that I do. I do it to the best of my ability, right?

• 56:07Speaker 00

  Every performance, no matter where it is, from the skating rink to the World Cup.

• 56:10Speaker 01

  No matter what it is, right? If it's, if it's three people in a club or 5,000 people, I'm going to give them the best show possible, right? And I'm going to stay consistent as possible, right? I'm going to take the best care of my, my clients and partners as possible, right? And maintain the best relationship as possible. And I'm going to try to do all these things at a very, very high level. And what I understood was if you do these things consistently at a high level, the right opportunities, the right people, the right, we'll take notice of that, right? Cause you know, hard work never goes unrewarded, right? And if I'm working, getting myself in the circles, right?

• 56:52Speaker 01

  Of, of people and of, of opportunities that I want to be around, it's going to create that, that positive and opportunities will present themselves, right? I, I truly believe that, right? So I focused on keeping those things positive. The next thing you know.

• 57:06Speaker 00

  Every moment.

• 57:07Speaker 01

  Next thing you know, I'm playing at the finals at the World Cup.

• 57:10Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 57:11Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? I could never have set that as a goal, you know what I mean? How do you do that? Give me the president of people's number. He's got to have me, you know?

• 57:22Speaker 01

  How do you do that, you know?

• 57:23Speaker 00

  But when you're consistently working hard and creating a great experience, people are going to come to you.

• 57:27Speaker 01

  You know what? Because it's, it's attractive. Like who doesn't want to work with that? You know what I mean? I want to work with that. You know what I mean? Like when I have the opportunity to, you know, hire talent to be around, that's what I look for. You know what I mean? And, and there's so many people that, um, I have some amazing, they're kind of based in Miami, that have amazing opportunities now in of themselves that, you know what? I noticed them and I was able to put them in an opportunity that really changed their life.

• 57:52Speaker 00

  Of course.

• 57:52Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? Um, and a lot of times they'd tell me, hey, you know what? Like I, I see how you do your thing and I see you operate and like, um, um, that's, that, that's for me. You know what I mean?

• 58:01Speaker 00

  Who did you look up to that was this way? When you were kind of growing in the business that you're like, okay, I need to set this standard because that's what, you know, how did you know to do this, what you're doing now?

• 58:13Speaker 01

  Um, you know what? Not to sound, not to sound narcissist or whatever, but

• 58:18Speaker 00

  Right, right.

• 58:19Speaker 01

  Um, a lot of it was, was intrinsic.

• 58:21Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 58:22Speaker 01

  I would probably say, and this is, this is true. I probably had more examples of what not to do.

• 58:27Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 58:28Speaker 01

  Than what to do.

• 58:29Speaker 00

  So you're like, I'm just not gonna do those things.

• 58:30Speaker 01

  And yeah, it was more motivating because you know what? Especially as a DJ, there was such, there was such a negative connotation of being a DJ in the corporate world.

• 58:39Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 58:40Speaker 01

  Right? Like back, I mean, it's, it's definitely changed quite a bit now, but um, at that time, if you went to a, a CEO of a major, you know, brand or whatever, and probably or VP of marketing, whatever, and you say, hey, what's your opinion on a DJ? They'd just be like, oh, just probably somebody that, you know, drinks all night and sleeps all night, you know, maybe can sleeps all day.

• 58:58Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 58:59Speaker 01

  You know what I mean?

• 58:59Speaker 00

  Hooked up with women.

• 59:00Speaker 01

  And yeah, definitely not the most responsible, you know, hardworking person in the world. You know what I mean?

• 59:05Speaker 00

  Right.

• 59:06Speaker 01

  And it takes you, a lot of DJs are like that. Right? I know a lot of them, right? And, you know, those are kind of examples that I said, that's, that's, that's not what I wanna do.

• 59:16Speaker 00

  If you wanna build a brand and a business.

• 59:17Speaker 01

  Exactly. And that's, and so you know what? So my examples really came from not so much, you know, other DJs. I mean, musically, I was inspired by the DJs, right? But in terms of thinking as a brand and as a business, um, you know, I looked, you know, to, to entrepreneurs, you know, and I looked up to other, other, other, uh, business luminaries.

• 59:35Speaker 00

  Who were some?

• 59:35Speaker 01

  And CEOs.

• 59:36Speaker 00

  If you haven't even, that stood out.

• 59:37Speaker 01

  Um, this man, you guys might, you guys might think I'm totally weird.

• 59:41Speaker 00

  My audience won't think that, don't worry.

• 59:43Speaker 01

  All right, uh, Jamie Dimon.

• 59:45Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 59:46Speaker 01

  I think he's absolutely amazing, you know? Scott McNeely, Larry Ellison.

• 59:51Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 59:52Speaker 01

  Wow. Who else? Um, Wayne Heisinga, um, so many, you know, you know, guys is really like, you know, uh, trailblazers, you know what I mean? Um, and there's so many more, you know?

• 1:00:03Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 1:00:04Speaker 01

  You know, I mean, I was, I was, if you have a plan, I was reading Fortune in Forbes. You know what I mean? Like all the time, you know what I mean? Entrepreneur, whatever, you know what I mean? And it didn't take long, uh, for me to really change my trajectory and say.

• 1:00:18Speaker 00

  We're gonna get you on entrepreneur.com, just FYI.

• 1:00:20Speaker 01

  Oh, I'm down, no problem.

• 1:00:21Speaker 00

  This gets syndicated on entrepreneur.

• 1:00:23Speaker 01

  Oh, you serious?

• 1:00:23Speaker 00

  Yeah, so this episode will be out there.

• 1:00:25Speaker 01

  Big shouts off entrepreneurs.

• 1:00:29Speaker 01

  Um, you know, it didn't take long for me to really kind of change my trajectory and reassess what I was doing from a business perspective, right? And, and it was a drastic change because one of the first things I did at, at, at this particular time in my life, I was doing what's called residencies, right?

• 1:00:48Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 1:00:48Speaker 01

  But home residency, so I was playing at Club A every Monday, Club B every Tuesday, Club C every, and-

• 1:00:55Speaker 00

  And then you pay a flat rate every time.

• 1:00:56Speaker 01

  Yeah, so it was great because I can go and, and, and financially plan and say, okay, I'm gonna do X amount of revenue-

• 1:01:03Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:01:03Speaker 01

  For the month.

• 1:01:04Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:01:04Speaker 01

  You knew, you know, because I'm gonna do, I'm gonna work this many days, whatever. And so that part was great. It brought you a certain level of comfort, right? But that's not how you, how you build a brand, especially in entertainment, because there's nothing really special about that, because especially for the folks in, in Miami, hey, if they didn't catch you-

• 1:01:19Speaker 00

  Go next week.

• 1:01:19Speaker 01

  Oh, I'll go tomorrow, whatever, you know?

• 1:01:21Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:01:22Speaker 01

  These are around, you know what I mean? It's not, it's not an event. It's just something that's kind of happening, right? And the first thing I said, you know what, anytime I, I perform, it needs to be an event. You know, it needs to be something that people are gonna put on their calendar and they're gonna, you know, make a point, you know what I mean?

• 1:01:36Speaker 00

  They're gonna miss out.

• 1:01:37Speaker 01

  To be a part of it. Yeah, exactly. You know what I mean? FOMO, major FOMO. So, I started calling all the promoters in the club and say, hey, listen, nothing, no disrespect, nothing against you personally, whatever, but I'm not gonna do this anymore, you know? And I got tons of backlash, you know? But it was one of the toughest and one of the best decisions I ever made, you know?

• 1:01:58Speaker 00

  Because you start seeing other people doing that as well, like some of the bigger names who are not doing-

• 1:02:03Speaker 01

  Well, not in Miami. No one else was doing it. I was probably one of the first ones to really take that dive.

• 1:02:07Speaker 00

  But in the world-

• 1:02:08Speaker 01

  But in the world, I would see other guys that are, that are building brands-

• 1:02:11Speaker 00

  And you were like, oh, that's how they do it.

• 1:02:13Speaker 01

  Exactly. You know, they're doing a show.

• 1:02:14Speaker 00

  You're reverse engineering their success.

• 1:02:16Speaker 01

  Exactly, exactly. You know what I mean? I was like, you know what, I need to be doing a show once a month in New York, or once a month in, in Vegas, those different places, you know what I mean? And really spreading, spreading the brand, you know? And so that was the first thing I did. You can't do that if you're stuck, you know, in one, one place all the time, you know?

• 1:02:30Speaker 00

  Wow, interesting. What was this?

• 1:02:32Speaker 01

  That was the very first thing. This was probably like two thousand, maybe two thousand- Five.

• 1:02:37Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:02:37Speaker 01

  Well, almost ten years ago. Yeah, like, yeah, like, like four or five, you know, that was the first major move, you know?

• 1:02:41Speaker 00

  Interesting.

• 1:02:41Speaker 01

  And then other things started, you know, falling in place and you know, it's as, as a talent, it's commonplace for a talent to have an agent and a manager. So it's just, something that's just a manager.

• 1:02:51Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:02:51Speaker 01

  But a lot of times if you're at that level, you have an agent and a manager, right? And your.

• 1:02:55Speaker 00

  Manager's managing your day to day.

• 1:02:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:57Speaker 00

  Your agent's shopping you.

• 1:02:58Speaker 01

  Exactly, and booking you and getting, yeah. So I had an agent, right? And, and my agent's job was to book, uh, my, my club appearances, my shows, right? But then there's this whole other part, you know, the whole, um, managerial side of things. And I was like, I can't have a manager. And I'm also not gonna be quote unquote self-managed, right? That's, that's a whole other part. Anyway, but I said, I said, I was like, you know, what structure? What is the right structure, right? And it, it, it really hit me because of all these other guys I was looking up to and, and how things happen in corporate America, right? And I was like, a corporate structure, right?

• 1:03:42Speaker 01

  Um, cause at this time, this is when we first started doing some of our brand partnerships.

• 1:03:45Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:03:46Speaker 01

  Right? So like our legacy brand is a company called Premier Beverage. Uh, they're a distributor. Um, they operate in a bunch of different states, but they're huge in Florida. Like their portfolio includes, you know, Red Bull, all the Bacardi, um, brands, um, all the, um, Brown Foreman brands, et cetera, et cetera, you know, huge, right? So they were the first ones to actually do a formal brand ambassadorship, you know?

• 1:04:08Speaker 00

  And what does that mean, that type of partnership?

• 1:04:10Speaker 01

  So that part, basically what we do is not only do I personally, you know, endorse their portfolio and their products, but it goes beyond that. And we find, um, unique opportunities, uh, for partnership and exposure, you know, for their brands, you know? Product example.

• 1:04:26Speaker 00

  At your events, they would put signage up?

• 1:04:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, so for instance, if, uh, a lot of times we're the first, it's either the venue and the DJ, the first thing people try to secure, then everything else kind of comes together.

• 1:04:35Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:04:36Speaker 01

  So for instance, so we know about the big events that are coming up because we'll be a part of it, right?

• 1:04:41Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:04:41Speaker 01

  And we have that connection with the promoter, right? So what we'll do for them.

• 1:04:46Speaker 00

  Activate this new brand or this product.

• 1:04:48Speaker 01

  So we actually have a thing that we do where we, it's actually, they're called activations, right? And what we'll do is we'll say, hey, you know what? Instead of paying us our, you know, hundred thousand dollar fee, you know, we're gonna do the show for eighty grand, right? But you're gonna let us bring in our spirit partner and activate, and that partner could be Stoli or Goose, whatever, right?

• 1:05:07Speaker 00

  And they're gonna give away free samples and have people talk to them.

• 1:05:10Speaker 01

  If Goose would have approached them directly and said, hey, listen, we wanna do an activation.

• 1:05:15Speaker 00

  It's a hundred grand for them.

• 1:05:16Speaker 01

  It's a hundred grand at the top.

• 1:05:17Speaker 00

  Off the top, yeah.

• 1:05:18Speaker 01

  Right at the top.

• 1:05:19Speaker 00

  So you can partner with them and say, hey, give us seventy grand or whatever.

• 1:05:23Speaker 01

  So we already have our, we have our, we have a long-term deal, right?

• 1:05:26Speaker 00

  Great.

• 1:05:27Speaker 01

  And it's, it's, it's amazing, you know what I mean? So now, so it's huge value on their part, you know what I mean? Um, there's a bunch of other things that, that, that we do, but the, one of the biggest things is, is access, you know what I mean? So, so that's, and, and there's, I mean, today, I mean, we have probably about fourteen, uh, different partnerships.

• 1:05:44Speaker 00

  That's awesome.

• 1:05:45Speaker 01

  But, but we work with probably about forty brands in different capacities, right? Some of the things don't even involve me at all.

• 1:05:52Speaker 00

  That's great.

• 1:05:53Speaker 01

  It's just some of the services we provide. But now going back to that structure, right? When I fully realized the potential of that particular partnership, right? I was like, you know what? They can't speak to a manager, but they should be speaking to the vice president of business development, right?

• 1:06:10Speaker 00

  For your brand.

• 1:06:11Speaker 01

  For, for our array of services, because.

• 1:06:15Speaker 00

  The DJ Iri.

• 1:06:16Speaker 01

  Because DJ Iri is just a cog in this system. It's, it's, it's, it's bigger than DJ Iri, right? DJ Iri definitely brings lots of talent because he has access here or there, and he has these different resources. But this particular team carries an amazing set of skills, right? And we're able to communicate those skills because we're not talking to a manager. You're not talking to a manager, and the manager's like, oh, yeah. No, the manager's job is to talk about their artists, right? And so if my man, if I had a manager having that conversation, the manager would say, and no disrespect to managers, managers are great, right? But just my particular vision was a different vision. You know, a manager would, would say, hey, let's lock in Iri for ten shows.

• 1:07:01Speaker 01

  And he'll do five appearances and he'll make you a mix. Sweet. All right. Good.

• 1:07:07Speaker 01

  Well, hey, you know what? We can do that any day of the week, right?

• 1:07:10Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 1:07:10Speaker 01

  There's a lot of other needs as a, as a company that this company has that we can actually fulfill.

• 1:07:15Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:07:16Speaker 01

  But it takes a different person to have that conversation. So now my, our, our vice president of business development, they have a conversation about the entire entree of services, right? Give you a perfect example. Cadillac is one of our, one of our partners, right? They're great.

• 1:07:31Speaker 00

  I've got a Cadillac.

• 1:07:32Speaker 01

  Do you really?

• 1:07:32Speaker 00

  Nineteen ninety-one.

• 1:07:33Speaker 01

  Ah.

• 1:07:34Speaker 00

  Eldorado.

• 1:07:35Speaker 01

  Look at you.

• 1:07:36Speaker 00

  Uh, Berets. Yeah.

• 1:07:38Speaker 01

  Ah.

• 1:07:39Speaker 00

  They only made sixteen thousand of them.

• 1:07:41Speaker 01

  Are you serious?

• 1:07:42Speaker 00

  And it's got fifty thousand miles on it from nineteen ninety-one.

• 1:07:44Speaker 01

  You're not riding dirty though, right?

• 1:07:45Speaker 00

  No, no.

• 1:07:47Speaker 01

  Make it short, make it short, make it short.

• 1:07:49Speaker 00

  No, yeah.

• 1:07:49Speaker 01

  Nah, that's, that's dope, man.

• 1:07:51Speaker 00

  I, I do the big seats, man, because I'm a big guy.

• 1:07:53Speaker 01

  There you go.

• 1:07:53Speaker 00

  I had a Prius when I moved to LA and it was so small.

• 1:07:56Speaker 01

  Switched that up, man.

• 1:07:57Speaker 00

  I was like, I need to relax.

• 1:07:58Speaker 01

  You went from one expecting to the other, man. Good lord.

• 1:08:02Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:08:02Speaker 01

  That's awesome, man. But you know, with Cadillac, they were doing, uh, they had the, the, they had the new, uh, the new Escalade, the twenty fifteen Escalade. So this is going back last, um, last October, November, right?

• 1:08:13Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 1:08:13Speaker 01

  They wanted to do the event early December and they wanted to book me to host the event.

• 1:08:19Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:08:19Speaker 01

  That was their intention of picking up the phone, right?

• 1:08:22Speaker 00

  And you were like, wait a minute.

• 1:08:23Speaker 01

  Well, well, once I, I understood, once I understood what the nature of the event was and the fact that that was one of the first phone calls that they made, they didn't, they knew that the event was going to happen and they're just starting to get together. I immediately had them speak to our vice president of business development, right? Um, her name's Lacey. She's just amazing, amazing talent. She just gets it. And by the end of the phone call, we had secured the contract to produce the entire event.

• 1:08:50Speaker 00

  Wow. So it's much more than you just showing up and playing and getting a fee. It's the entire event with, with brands and sponsors and you know.

• 1:08:57Speaker 01

  So, so give you, give you the big picture now because synergy is a big thing for us, right? So one of the interests that we have business is actually an exotic car rental company. And we did things a little bit differently that we actually have a showroom, um, for, for the fleet. And it's not your average showroom. We have like art. Work, you know what I mean? It's it's it's it's very attractive place.

• 1:09:18Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:09:18Speaker 01

  But it's great for events as well.

• 1:09:21Speaker 00

  Oh, so you have it there.

• 1:09:22Speaker 01

  So we had it there.

• 1:09:22Speaker 00

  So you're also promoting your stuff.

• 1:09:24Speaker 01

  Yeah. So we had it there, right? We had there. Guess who provided the cocktails?

• 1:09:30Speaker 00

  Your brand.

• 1:09:30Speaker 01

  Premier beverage, right? And at the time, we had a partnership with Heineken as well.

• 1:09:34Speaker 00

  So you're getting paid.

• 1:09:34Speaker 01

  We run Heineken. Well, you know what? It was it's it's it's the synergy.

• 1:09:37Speaker 00

  Of course.

• 1:09:38Speaker 01

  Right? So first and foremost, we bring in our partners, right? Um, and we really try and make it an all encompassing type of experience, right? Um, it's a different, totally different experience when working with your partners because you know, you have a rapport with them. Right? So you're getting things done really quick and really great, you know? And the event just was, it was, it was amazing. It was absolutely amazing. I still hosted.

• 1:09:59Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:10:00Speaker 01

  I still hosted the event. Um, but now we were able, we got that credential as, hey, we produced this huge unveiling. You know what I mean? For, for Cadillac. But that never would, would have been an opportunity if they would have spoke to my manager and manager said, okay, hey, well, listen. Yeah, well, I will do it this time, but can we do the one for the next car too? Like, oh, hey, like, oh, big win. We're hosting twice, you know what I mean? So I mean, but listen, some people, that's, that's their thing. But I just, my thing is, I just kind of see a much bigger, you know, opportunity. And we have those skill sets because we've been around for so long. I, I know the right people. You know what I mean? We have all the resources. Why shouldn't we be, you know what I mean? Retaining that business.

• 1:10:39Speaker 00

  Of course.

• 1:10:40Speaker 01

  And we know we can execute at a very high level. You know what I mean?

• 1:10:42Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:10:43Speaker 01

  Why wouldn't we? You know what I mean? Um, so that's really the, the, the approach that we take. And, and today we're doing, I mean, all kinds of things for, for our partners. You know what I mean? You know, from digital marketing, you know what I mean? To like event production, you know, you name it, you know? And it's because I changed the trajectory and I changed that, that, that vision, you know?

• 1:11:03Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:11:04Speaker 01

  I mean, what good is it to have an amazing relationship? You know, with the VP of Marketing or with, or the CEO of an amazing company? And they, and they want to do things with you.

• 1:11:14Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:11:14Speaker 01

  And you're just going to limit it to just this one little, you know, niche. You know what I mean?

• 1:11:19Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 1:11:19Speaker 01

  Um, when you can really kind of, you know, spread your wings and bring in people with different talents. You know what I mean? And skill sets and be more of an asset to them. You know what I mean?

• 1:11:30Speaker 00

  Right. Yeah.

• 1:11:31Speaker 01

  And that's uh, that's what, that's what we did.

• 1:11:33Speaker 00

  So cool. I could, I have so many other more questions I want to ask you. And there's so many, there's so many things I want to ask you after this about business and just, you know, what you're up to, because I think it's fascinating what you've created.

• 1:11:43Speaker 01

  Whatever you want, man.

• 1:11:44Speaker 00

  So hopefully we can connect more, maybe uh, um, you know, I'll come to some shows if I'm in Miami or Vegas. Where's your, where's your residency in Vegas again?

• 1:11:51Speaker 01

  Um, it's at Dre's.

• 1:11:52Speaker 00

  Dre's, okay.

• 1:11:53Speaker 01

  So it just opened in um, opened on Labor Day weekend.

• 1:11:56Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:11:56Speaker 01

  Uh, it's past, yeah. No, no, Memorial Weekend.

• 1:11:58Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:11:59Speaker 01

  It is the most beautiful nightclub.

• 1:12:00Speaker 00

  Really?

• 1:12:01Speaker 01

  In the world.

• 1:12:01Speaker 00

  And it's a sick.

• 1:12:02Speaker 01

  The most beautiful nightclub in the world. If you haven't been there, go online, look up Dre's nightclub and beach club.

• 1:12:08Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:12:08Speaker 01

  It's at the Cromwell. It's right, it's on the strip, like right across from Bellagio and Caesar's.

• 1:12:13Speaker 00

  Sweet.

• 1:12:14Speaker 01

  Like 5,000 person capacity.

• 1:12:16Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 1:12:16Speaker 01

  Absolutely amazing.

• 1:12:17Speaker 00

  When do you, when do you um?

• 1:12:18Speaker 01

  I play the club, the nightclub on Thursdays.

• 1:12:22Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 1:12:22Speaker 01

  So twice a month on Thursdays.

• 1:12:25Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:12:25Speaker 01

  And then um, during pool season, which it's, pool season's ending.

• 1:12:29Speaker 00

  Now.

• 1:12:30Speaker 01

  Now. But next pool season, um, we'll also be playing the pool.

• 1:12:35Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 1:12:35Speaker 01

  During the pool parties there.

• 1:12:36Speaker 00

  Is that Saturday's or?

• 1:12:37Speaker 01

  And that's uh, Friday afternoons.

• 1:12:38Speaker 00

  Friday afternoons. Okay, cool. So Thursday, every, so you can just go to your website and find out when you're?

• 1:12:42Speaker 01

  So yeah.

• 1:12:42Speaker 00

  So DJRE.

• 1:12:44Speaker 01

  Uh, DJRE.com.

• 1:12:45Speaker 00

  Dot com, yeah.

• 1:12:45Speaker 01

  You know, or on our Facebook or.

• 1:12:46Speaker 00

  And um, so I've got two more questions for the show, then hopefully we can connect some other time.

• 1:12:51Speaker 01

  No worries.

• 1:12:52Speaker 00

  But this is, I could talk to you for like hours, because this stuff's fascinating to me.

• 1:12:55Speaker 01

  Man, yeah, you are really easy to talk to, man. No wonder you do this, man. Yeah, good lord. This is like, I was like, and then when I was five.

• 1:13:05Speaker 01

  My mama said.

• 1:13:06Speaker 00

  Well, there's so many more questions that I'm fascinated. You know, my brother, my brother Christian, he's the number one jazz violinist in the world.

• 1:13:13Speaker 01

  What?

• 1:13:13Speaker 00

  He played with Les Paul for 10 years in New York City.

• 1:13:16Speaker 01

  Goodness.

• 1:13:17Speaker 00

  Played all over the world, you know, he goes on tour 200 days a year.

• 1:13:20Speaker 01

  In the family, man.

• 1:13:21Speaker 00

  I, all I could, I learned about guitar because I felt so ignorant that I couldn't play an instrument. So when I was 18, I picked up the guitar, I was like, I'm learning some Bob Marley.

• 1:13:29Speaker 01

  Well, the turntables in this man, I play that.

• 1:13:32Speaker 00

  Right? So it's just, I'm fascinated by music. I really appreciate the art, the creativity. You know, even though you're not a, let's say musician, you're really creative.

• 1:13:40Speaker 01

  No, absolutely.

• 1:13:41Speaker 00

  The whole process of it. The whole thing is art.

• 1:13:43Speaker 01

  Absolutely. It really is. It really is.

• 1:13:45Speaker 00

  It's not easy, so I can really appreciate.

• 1:13:46Speaker 01

  A hundred percent.

• 1:13:47Speaker 00

  Captivating an audience, keeping them engaged, understanding the energy of the room and knowing how to turn it up.

• 1:13:52Speaker 01

  A lot of moving parts, man. Yeah.

• 1:13:53Speaker 00

  What to, you know, put on the music, the lights.

• 1:13:55Speaker 01

  Timing, everything. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's all an in sync, you know, performance. You know what I mean? And, and it's really got to come natural.

• 1:14:01Speaker 00

  Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And this is.

• 1:14:02Speaker 01

  It's got to exude from you.

• 1:14:03Speaker 00

  Years and years of hours and dedication of you and learning and practicing.

• 1:14:07Speaker 01

  More than a little bit.

• 1:14:07Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I definitely appreciate that. I want two final questions. One is, what are you most grateful for recently?

• 1:14:17Speaker 01

  Um, I'm grateful for so, so much, but recently, uh, if you think that maybe it's something else, you go, but for me, I was able to have a dream kind of materialize, uh, recently. I, I started my own foundation, uh, two years ago.

• 1:14:33Speaker 00

  What is that?

• 1:14:33Speaker 01

  Uh, it's called the Ari Foundation.

• 1:14:34Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:14:35Speaker 01

  Um, our focus is at-risk youth, like the middle school level. Um, and we're, we're starting in our hometown in South Florida and kind of, you know, working on there first and kind of spreading our outreach, you know, from there. And I wanted to build a, uh, music and literacy facility, right? I spent a lot of time in different, different schools, like literally like with the kids and speaking to the kids. Do a lot with Teach for America and I've been teaching for days so many times. And I, I, I get to, you know, speak to them firsthand and, and, and hear about, you know, their dreams and aspirations and things that, you know, they wish they had access to, but they don't, you know? And really after school is a, is a major issue because, you know, a lot of the kids, especially in the inner cities,

• 1:15:18Speaker 01

  they don't have many options, right? And even though they, they want to do well, right? And they want to, uh, continue learning and, and, and be able to go into higher education, all those different things. The second they're out of school. It's survival mode, you know, because, you know, they're in the streets. Or when they go home, it's a, it's a, it's a broken family. So it's only, you know, one parent and that parent is the sole, you know, breadwinner. So they're working three or four jobs. So they're not even home till, you know, late at night, you know what I mean? So these children are fending for themselves, you know? Um, so they, they really need more programs that kind of provide a, not only the safe haven, but somewhere that's, that, that they can be productive.

• 1:15:54Speaker 00

  Be creative and expressive.

• 1:15:55Speaker 01

  Exactly, you know, and music is, I mean,

• 1:15:59Speaker 00

  Great.

• 1:15:59Speaker 01

  You see how the music is driving the youth, you know, that is, you know what I mean? So, you know, they want to be able to, you know, express themselves or at least have the opportunity to, to, to kind of give it a shot, you know?

• 1:16:08Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 1:16:09Speaker 01

  And, um,

• 1:16:10Speaker 00

  So you built a facility?

• 1:16:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, we partnered with, we partnered with an organization called Motivational Edge. And, um, we came up with our, our game plan and we worked hard and we raised the funding and, and we got it done and it opened, uh, last week.

• 1:16:24Speaker 00

  What? No way. Congrats, man.

• 1:16:26Speaker 01

  It's called the Ari Foundation Alapata Music and Literature Center.

• 1:16:28Speaker 00

  That's awesome. Well, where is it in Miami?

• 1:16:30Speaker 01

  It's in an area called Alapata.

• 1:16:32Speaker 00

  Alapata?

• 1:16:32Speaker 01

  It's like, like north, like northwest 33rd street. So it's, it's,

• 1:16:35Speaker 00

  All I know is South Beach.

• 1:16:37Speaker 01

  So how far from there is that? It's about, it's about 20 minutes from South Beach.

• 1:16:41Speaker 00

  Okay, cool.

• 1:16:42Speaker 01

  Kind of over the bridge, you know what I mean? And I, I implore people to really, really explore because Miami is so much more. I mean, South Beach is awesome.

• 1:16:47Speaker 00

  I'm not a fan of Miami because that's the only place I've been and it's not like,

• 1:16:51Speaker 01

  No, there's so much more to Miami. It's so much culture, you know, a little Haiti, a little,

• 1:16:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, I gotta check it out next time.

• 1:16:56Speaker 01

  There's, there's so much there, you know what I mean? So explore it all, you know?

• 1:16:59Speaker 00

  Okay, cool. Awesome.

• 1:17:01Speaker 01

  That's one, but, um, do you think of something else?

• 1:17:05Speaker 00

  No, that's,

• 1:17:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:06Speaker 00

  That's pretty, I mean, that's pretty awesome right there.

• 1:17:08Speaker 01

  There's all kinds of great things that's, that's gone in my life, you know?

• 1:17:11Speaker 00

  No, and the reason I asked you that question openly is because like, I'm not saying what are you most grateful for in your business. It's like, what are you most grateful for?

• 1:17:17Speaker 01

  No, yeah, in my, in my, in my, in my life, that's, that's, and that's, it's, it's such, it's a dream come true, man, you know? I literally, you know, sat down and said, man, we actually had a place, you know, and they can come and it's there.

• 1:17:29Speaker 00

  Amazing.

• 1:17:30Speaker 01

  And there's equipment and you can go in there and make, Yeah, absolutely.

• 1:17:32Speaker 00

  We'll post them, we'll post them on the show notes on the podcast.

• 1:17:36Speaker 01

  Great, great, yeah, it's, uh,

• 1:17:37Speaker 00

  Is it your website?

• 1:17:38Speaker 01

  So it's, it's, uh, I foundation dot org.

• 1:17:40Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:17:41Speaker 01

  As the website, it's I foundation on Facebook, I foundation FB. Foundation Instagram, I foundation.

• 1:17:48Speaker 00

  We'll link everything up.

• 1:17:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, that'd be great. That'd be great.

• 1:17:51Speaker 00

  Um, and final question, before I ask you the final question, I wanted to acknowledge you for the amazing energy that you have. And the positive, the positive force that you are in the world.

• 1:18:02Speaker 01

  Ah, I appreciate that, man.

• 1:18:03Speaker 00

  You know, everything I've, from the moment I saw you at summer series to the videos and you know, the exchanges with Ben.

• 1:18:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, man.

• 1:18:11Speaker 00

  About what you're up to, you're just up to so many amazing, inspiring, positive things.

• 1:18:17Speaker 01

  That's very cool, man.

• 1:18:18Speaker 00

  It doesn't matter what profession anyone's in, but that you're in the space where a lot of negative things could happen late at night.

• 1:18:25Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, I, I see it.

• 1:18:27Speaker 00

  Yeah, I, I just want to really acknowledge you for the gift that you are in the world.

• 1:18:32Speaker 01

  Appreciate that, man. Thanks, man.

• 1:18:33Speaker 00

  And the, the joy you bring to everyone. So, thanks for.

• 1:18:36Speaker 01

  I will share that same sentiment with you, man. Seriously, man. You're, you're really, really doing your thing, man.

• 1:18:41Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 1:18:42Speaker 01

  You are, you are blessed with a certain personality and a certain energy that really just kind of brings that out of other, other folks. You know what I mean? I felt a certain sense of just, just comfort, just kind of sitting here hanging with you, man. I was like, I get it.

• 1:18:55Speaker 01

  I was like, Louis is that guy. He's that guy.

• 1:18:59Speaker 00

  I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you.

• 1:19:00Speaker 01

  Get it, man. I get it. I get it. I see what you mean, Ben. I see what you mean, man.

• 1:19:06Speaker 00

  Well, thank you for that. Uh, the final question, uh, it's what I ask all my guests at the end is what's your definition of greatness?

• 1:19:13Speaker 01

  Ooh, ooh. Truthfully, I would say, I mean, greatness could be so many different, uh, shapes, forms, sizes, you know, but really, and this is something that, that, that I applied to myself, you know? It's greatness is, is, is, is living the life you want to live. Okay? This applies on so many different levels, right? The one thing that bothers me most is to see individuals in situations that they don't want to be in, that's causing them strife, that's causing them misery. And what they're not understanding, getting is that the person that has the power to change that.

• 1:19:59Speaker 01

  Is in the mirror. Mm hmm. It's you. Mm hmm. You know what I mean? Yeah. And so many individuals do make that choice and say, hey, you know what? Yeah. I'm going to live the life that I want to live. I'm gonna, you know, do the things that make me happy, right? And that's going to lead to greatness, because if you're doing something that you're passionate about and you're doing something that makes you happy, you want to do it. You want to do it at a high level, right? Matter of fact, if you don't do it at a high level, you won't be happy. Right. You see what I mean? Yeah. And that's what leads to greatness. Have you ever seen anybody be absolutely great at something that they hate? And that they're miserable at, you know what I mean?

• 1:20:41Speaker 01

  I don't know, maybe it exists, but I haven't seen it recently, you know what I mean? Um, but tha- tha- that is greatness, you know what I mean? And it's, it's, it's, it's a decision, you know? A lot of people just feel like whatever, you know, they're, that's what life dish dips. That's what it's gotta be. It doesn't have to be that, you know? What's gotta be is what you say it's gotta be. You see what I mean? Because anybody, if you take two people and you juxtapose them and you have one person that is living the life that's making them happy and they're experiencing greatness on whatever level, because it's not about money or social status, whatever. It's just about, hey, this is what I want to do. Yeah. Right? That's it, period. That's it, whatever level it is. And you juxtapose that person with the person that is doing something that they just hate doing and their life is just, all kinds of terrible stuff is going on.

• 1:21:26Speaker 01

  The only difference between them, it's not attitude. It's not that one's smarter than the other and one has, you know, it's that one wanted this for themselves and the other doesn't believe, right? Wow. They don't believe that they can create that for themselves. And they don't take those steps and they don't take that ownership of their lives and say, hey, I am going to create this and I'm not gonna stop until I get there. You know what I mean? Sure. But that, and no matter if it's a long journey or a short journey, that window is the greatness. Hmm. You understand what I'm saying? I love it. That's that window of greatness, because you've now taken control of your life.

• 1:22:09Speaker 01

  You've now taken control of your destiny and you're gonna create something that makes you happy. You're creating your own bliss. If that's not greatness. I don't know what is. You know what I mean?

• 1:22:20Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:22:21Speaker 01

  And it doesn't matter how, how, you know, socially impactful it is, because it's not about anybody else but you.

• 1:22:28Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 1:22:29Speaker 01

  But you, if, if, if you want to work at that ice cream parlor, because you know what, you just love being around ice cream. That is your thing, you know, and you're selling shoes. Going through what it takes to make that decision to get to that ice cream parlor is greatness.

• 1:22:45Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:22:45Speaker 01

  Because now you've gone from being not so happy to being happy. You're around ice cream.

• 1:22:52Speaker 01

  You know what I'm saying? You're around ice cream. It's not about anybody else. You've changed your life and the fact that you've changed your life and now you're a happier person. Guess what? Other people around you will be happier.

• 1:23:03Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:23:03Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? And you can be a more positive influence because that happiness is contagious, man. You know what I mean? How'd you get so happy? Man, I started some ice cream. What?

• 1:23:12Speaker 01

  You know? I mean, it's cool, man. But yeah, man, just, you know, taking, taking, taking, taking charge of your life, man. Doing what you want to do.

• 1:23:19Speaker 00

  I love it. Thank you for the definition. DJ Irie, you are the man. I appreciate you coming on. Hopefully, uh, we'll have you back sometime when you got another big, uh,

• 1:23:28Speaker 01

  Dude, absolutely, man.

• 1:23:30Speaker 00

  event or something you want to promote. We'll bring you back on and, uh,

• 1:23:32Speaker 01

  I'm all in, dude.

• 1:23:33Speaker 00

  celebrate your life and what you're creating.

• 1:23:36Speaker 01

  Hey, man, I'm just, I'm just happy to be here, man. This is, this, this has been a blessing, man. Great conversation, man.

• 1:23:40Speaker 00

  Thank you, brother.

• 1:23:41Speaker 01

  Appreciate it, man. Thanks, man.

• 1:23:48Speaker 00

  There you have it, guys. I hope you enjoyed this awesome interview with DJ Irie. And again, make sure to follow him online everywhere. Uh, check him out if you get a chance in Vegas some night to see him at his residency there. Or if you're in Miami, check him out at a Miami Heat game. And, uh, you're going to get all the show notes to where to find him over at lewishouse.com/99. LewisHowes.com/99. If you enjoyed this interview, if you, if what DJ Irie said spoke to you or you connected with him in any way, then please share this online over on Twitter, on Facebook with your friends and let people know about this inspiring interview. I feel like everyone could benefit from hearing his story and his message. So please share this. Online again, LewisHowes.com/99 for all the show notes.

• 1:24:32Speaker 00

  I'm so appreciative. We are one episode away from 100. Very pumped about this milestone. If you guys have not listened to a couple of previous episodes, Krista Tippett from On Being was at an extraordinary interview that we had. I'm getting so much great feedback from this online. People were just in shock of the answers in the interview that she gave. And then, you know, we've had some incredible guests before. Make sure to check those out. We've also got some awesome guests coming up, so stay tuned. I'm so pumped for you guys. We're almost at 100 and we've got 100 more in the next round. So, thank you guys so much for all you do to support the School of Greatness podcast. Please leave us a review over on iTunes if you have yet to leave one. And you know what time it is.

• 1:25:15Speaker 00

  It's time to go out there and do something great.