My interest in music came at the early
age of 10 years old. I would take my weekly allowance & go record
shopping, buying 45's of all the current R&B artists of those days.
Artists like Curtis Mayfield, The Jackson 5, Gladys
Knight and the Pips, Lou Rawls, The Temptations and more. I also had a brief stint
with taking trumpet lessons which didn't amount to much. Also at the
time, I was surrounded with talented neighbors like The Wells Family
(they were Newark's version of the Jackson Five), James Mtume and Robert Bell of Kool and The
Gang. You see, that part of Newark I lived in back then, Newark's
Weequahic Section, was the home for the city's upper middle class
African Americans residents.
It wasn't until 1977—after my parents separated and my siblings and I
were up-rooted and moved to the north side of town—that my interest
really took off in music. That part of Newark was a totally different world from
what I was used to in my early childhood. It took
quite awhile for me to adapt to my new life. For the most part we had
to be creative with what activities sparked our interests. For me that
started with a next door neighbor of mine. His name was Danny. He was a
bit younger than me, but he wasn't your typical
teenager. He was like an adult trapped in in a teenager's body. While
most others were out on the block playing whatever sports or games they
were interested in, Danny would spend most of his time learning how to
build electrical components. He also had a
brother named Tyrone who was in his 20's back then. Tyrone would come home from work open
the window to his bedroom during the summer and blast music from his
very nice stereo system. I believe that stereo system, along with radio
personalities like Paco of the radio station
WKTU, and Frankie Crocker of WBLS, sparked Danny’s interest in getting
into the DJ game. In Georgia King Village where we grew up, the homes
were single-family duplexes and the walls were paper thin. Since Danny
was my next door neighbor, during the day I would start to
hear music blasting through the walls from upstairs and in the basement. It was soon after that I learned Danny had pieced together a DJ set-up in his
basement.
I would go over to his place and sit and watch him practice, in awe of all the new 12-inch records singles he would buy, mainly because it was my first time seeing 12-inch singles and also because it was the same dance mix versions being played on the radio. At the time, his music programming was the same as the radio dj's—no mixing, just fade outs of the song playing and then talking on the mic and dropping in the next song. Danny and I soon joined forces and "Unique Disco, Inc" was born. He was DJ Smooth and I was DJ AK. Our first gigs were with my mother. She would have parties in the house and have us play her friends loved us! Soon after, Danny wanted to up the game and sought out learning how to actually mix music. He met dj Pierre, aka Paul Scott of the famed Jersey production group B.O.P, and DJ Deluxe. Together they were Newark's most talented mobile DJ'ing crew known as "G.O.L.D" Production, they were his mentors. After Danny mastered his craft, he and Pierre started teaching me the craft as well. Danny would have me in his basement practicing with two copies of "First Choice - Love Thang," playing it over and over again for hours on end.
It took me a little longer to pick up the art of mixing then he, but one night at a friends basement party we were booked to play, Danny proceeded to give me what would be considered scrub time towards the end of the night. Up until that point, even though I was part of Unique Disco, at most of our gigs I would simply breakdown and set up the sound equipment. This particular night was different suddenly all those endless hours of practicing paid off. This time I made the most out of my scrub time and the concept of mixing came together to me right there out of the blue! I had my first perfect mix with Blondie's "Rapture" and Peter Brown's "Do you wanna get funky with me." From that night onward I was hooked and knew this is what I wanted to do.
I would go over to his place and sit and watch him practice, in awe of all the new 12-inch records singles he would buy, mainly because it was my first time seeing 12-inch singles and also because it was the same dance mix versions being played on the radio. At the time, his music programming was the same as the radio dj's—no mixing, just fade outs of the song playing and then talking on the mic and dropping in the next song. Danny and I soon joined forces and "Unique Disco, Inc" was born. He was DJ Smooth and I was DJ AK. Our first gigs were with my mother. She would have parties in the house and have us play her friends loved us! Soon after, Danny wanted to up the game and sought out learning how to actually mix music. He met dj Pierre, aka Paul Scott of the famed Jersey production group B.O.P, and DJ Deluxe. Together they were Newark's most talented mobile DJ'ing crew known as "G.O.L.D" Production, they were his mentors. After Danny mastered his craft, he and Pierre started teaching me the craft as well. Danny would have me in his basement practicing with two copies of "First Choice - Love Thang," playing it over and over again for hours on end.
It took me a little longer to pick up the art of mixing then he, but one night at a friends basement party we were booked to play, Danny proceeded to give me what would be considered scrub time towards the end of the night. Up until that point, even though I was part of Unique Disco, at most of our gigs I would simply breakdown and set up the sound equipment. This particular night was different suddenly all those endless hours of practicing paid off. This time I made the most out of my scrub time and the concept of mixing came together to me right there out of the blue! I had my first perfect mix with Blondie's "Rapture" and Peter Brown's "Do you wanna get funky with me." From that night onward I was hooked and knew this is what I wanted to do.
