DJ PROSTYLE Aside from DJing, what’s happening with you right now? My label All Pro Records is doing real good. I have three offers on the table right now, so me and my lawyer are basically deciding which is the best route to go. We’ve got Bedo, Jonny Bravo, Traffic, and Nicotene. Obviously Bedo’s the most ready to go right now. We’re working on his next single, clearing some shit right now. We haven’t finalized his release date yet, but we’re pushing for the first quarter of 2006. As far as who’s up next, it’s whoever puts out that record that takes off to where the people demand their album. Do you think it’s a conflict of interest that you’re able to plug your own artists through your radio show? It’s not how people may perceive it to be. Obviously, with me being lucky enough to be on the radio and being able to play a record, that helps, but the radio station also came down on me. I can’t just play Bedo all day or Bedo and Traffic and Bravo all on the same time. If I feel a record of one of my artists, the same way I feel with anybody else’s record, I’ll test it. With Bedo’s “Go Head,” when we started playing it on the radio it got a lot of phone calls and requests. Right now we don’t have a Bedo song on the radio. I played a few different songs, but we haven’t found one that takes off with the audience. A lot of people get it confused and feel like Bedo’s getting a lot of play because of me. If that was the case, I’d have a Bravo song, Traffic, Nicotene, and whoever else I wanted on the radio in rotation. Radio’s not that simple. Right now Treal’s record is in rotation, and that has nothing to do with me knowing Treal or anything like that. We played the record a couple times and they put in their work. A lot of artists out here in Orlando who want to be on the radio need to do the same thing. It’s not as simple as just recording a song and expecting it to get played. With Bedo, I did 10,000 street samplers alone, and 500 of the “Go Head and Do It” shirts. We did a lot of things to make it a movement so people will back it up. The radio station looks at things like that. Same with Treal; they shot a video, and the song was getting played in the clubs. It has to build up before it can get on the radio. Not too many artists can make a song that automatically gets put in rota12
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tion. Everybody’s not that lucky. The only advantage I have is being able to test a record on the radio. I can play it and see how it goes, but I can’t get a record in rotation. Who are some other local artists that you think might pop off? Of course Treal, and Grandaddy Souf, his album should be out already because he’s had heat for a long time. I think Hankadon and his people are hot. I heard that you were considered as a host for Rap City. I don’t think I’ll end up on Rap City, but BET has other ideas for me. I’m on 106th & Park every other Friday, rotating with DJ Enuff. I’m playing my position and getting more comfortable being on TV. They’ve got me DJing, cohosting, and reading off teleprompters, which shows me they have faith in what I’m doing. I have my own radio show every Thursday in New York on LaCalle 105.9, a reggaetone hip-hop station. I’ve been lucky to get down with them and they’re growing so fast that it’s blowing me up in New York. Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I’m DJing clubs in New York. I fly back Sunday nights to do radio here in Orlando and stay to do the clubs on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. After the radio on Wednesday, I fly back to New York. That’s my schedule every week. I’ve got a calendar of events up on my website, www.djprostyle.com. 102 Jamz and 106th & Park keep my name really big with the urban side of things, and La Calle is the biggest reggaetone station in the country, so that keeps me in tune with the Latin market. I got the best of both worlds right now. I can’t complain. - Words and photo by Julia Beverly