DJprofile |
infamous
O
utside of any DJs not named Drama or Cannon, DJ Infamous has become one of Atlanta’s most omnipresent turntablists. The newest member of the Aphilliates holds down the 9 o’clock mixtape for Atlanta radio station V103 and spins at some of Atlanta’s hottest nightspots. As the “youngest in charge” this 24-years-old DJ from Lansing, Michigan is already years ahead of the competition. Pay close fucking attention. How long have you been DJing? I’ve been DJing about 10 years now. I used to see people DJing on TV and it looked cool. My sister’s boyfriend was a DJ and I used to be around his turntables all the time. I’d be in the room, he’d be scratching, mixing, and stuff. I was like, “I wanna try it,” and he sold me his turntables. I started practicing; I really didn’t get into it until my freshman year of high school. I did my first party in ’97. I only had 25 records. I only had about 5 hot records, everything else was underground. At the time, one of the hottest records was [Uncle] Luke’s “Scarred.” I rotated that record about 20 times. Did you DJ all through high school? Yeah, I was like, if I become a DJ and I get good enough instead of these high schools hiring older cats they could hire me for a lower price. I did my first high school party in the spring of ’97. I did a high school party after a basketball game. And from there on word started spreading around that there’s this kid DJing, he’s cheaper. When I got to college it was the same thing. I went to school at Alabama A&M, and I charged less than what the bigger DJs were charging. I did the fraternity and sorority parties. People would get lodges and warehouses, and I’d DJ them. Parties on campus, picnics, club to club, shutting clubs down, everything. My junior year I got on my first radio station Power 93.3 [in Huntsville, Alabama]. How did you get with V103 in Atlanta? I’ve been on the air 2 and ½ years now. I interned with them for a whole year before I actually got on the air. I DJed all the events that the DJs at the station wasn’t doing. Say the station was having an event at a gas station, the bigger DJs didn’t wanna do that, but I’d do it for nothing. How did you get down with the Aphilliates? I had created a name for myself. I was in the hottest clubs in Atlanta, like South Beach, Visions, and Vegas Nights. I DJed for Greg Street. I was on the air four times a week. Drama came to me, like, “We’re thinking about adding some new members to the squad. We wanna put you down.” At the time I was with the Hittmenn DJs. I didn’t wanna disrespect Greg cause he’s running the Hittmenn but at the same time I thought it would have been a better move. I 80 // OZONE MAG
talked to Greg about it, made sure we were cool cause he’s my mentor. [But] I decided I was gonna be an Aphilliate. A lot of people still hate to this day but it’s a move Infamous made for Infamous. Not for anybody else. How were you affected by Drama and Cannon’s arrest? We were all affected. [Drama and Cannon] are my homies. When you see your homies in a situation, of course that’s gonna affect you. When everything got confiscated, I was there at the time. My studio was in there too. My stuff got confiscated. So when it came to recording time I [didn’t] have any equipment. When [the RIAA raid] happened a lot of people were like, “The Aphilliates are over. Drama and Cannon are over. Infamous, your team is through, y’all are done.” Nah, we’re not done. It made us all closer. This is only gonna make us stronger. I went and bought all [my equipment] again but I just appreciate all the love that everybody showed me. How did you become Young Dro’s DJ? Drama, Sense and Jason Geter called me like, “Drama gotta go start working on his album, and want you to fill in [to DJ] for Tip.” I went out [on the road] with T.I. for about a month. He was working on a movie with Denzel [Washington], so his shows started to slow down. “Shoulder Lean” was still popping. Clay [Evans], Tip’s manager, was like, “Dro needs a DJ.” He had a lot of shows. I was like, “Okay, cool.” But I thought to myself, damn, it’s gonna fuck up my radio and club shit. I got scared cause I wasn’t used to going from different cities every week with an artist and not being on the radio and in the clubs. So I went to my Program Director Reggie Rouse and talked to him about it. My PD told me to do it and everything worked out. I was still in the clubs, still on the radio every week, and still out with Dro doing all his shows. It’s hard to balance all three, but I did it. Which do you enjoy the most: radio, clubs, or touring? All three, man. It’s a different feeling I get from each one. Now that I’m doing all three, I gotta remain doing all three. All three are the ultimate rush. Do you have anything else that you’d like to say? Shouts to Grand Hustle, Snake, Clay, the whole Aphilliates family, pay close fucking attention. Shouts to Greg Street, Reggie Rouse and Tosha Love. Without Tosha Love, I wouldn’t even be here. DJ Infamous, the youngest in charge, I go hard. People have told me I’m in the game early for my age, to be doing it the way that I am. I’m not at DJ Khaled status or DJ Drama status, but that’s what I’m working towards. That’s my goal and that keeps me going. // - Randy Roper