Shout-outs
Here are some of my shout outs from throughout the years. The most notable just might be DJ Khaled's. People always ask me how I got these and how much I payed for them and the answer is I never paid a dime. Yes, some artists have asked for money but I've always declined those offers.
Most of the drops I got through Twitter or shooting emails to their management. Khaled's shout out I got from a local Miami rapper Yung Trap, who got Khaled to host his mixtape. This was in 2011. I did the cover art for him and he got me the shout out as a surprise. He sent it to me and told me to "check out my email ASAP". And I have to say, I've been the biggest DJ Khaled fan ever since his first album. You can only imagine my reaction when I heard it.
Lil Jon's shout out is also big one for me. He's actually the first artist who did a shout out for me. I first heard Get Low on Need For Speed Underground PS1 game. Then went to record store and bought his album. I listened to it for months straight. One of my all time fav albums for sure. I've always been a party/club rap fan more than 90's boom bap. Later on, I even got a signed copy of Crunk Juice Deluxe Edition CD from him.
2009
10 years ago I released my first mixtape. Overseas Hustle: Chapter One. It was hosted by local Georgia rapper Jimmy HenneC, whose music I liked very much, and Chicago rapper Bullet (he changed his name to Mr. Robotic after he did a succesful club smash of the same name with D J Bam Bam). I linked with them through Twitter like I did with a lot of other artists.
I was very good at networking on Twitter. I made friends with artists and music industry people from The States. Even before my first mixtape ever, I was signed to Poe Boy Music Group's DJ click Poe Boy DJ's and all of my mixtapes were presented by their affiliate site 24hourhiphop.com. Poe Boy Music Group was Rick Ross' stepping stone to his huge success and Flo Rida is still signed with them. DJ Khaled is also close friends with the founders E-Class and Big Chuck.
I'm very proud of my second mixtape. Overseas Hustle vol. 2: Poe Boy Edition. I linked up with DJ Smokey Bear who was running Poe Boy DJ's at the time. Smokey Bear was Brisco and Billy Blue's official DJ. They were some of my biggest rap idols at the moment. The mix was hosted by Mista Mac who had a song called "Drop That" on DJ Khaled's compilation CD Live From The 305. Later on Billy Blue was added to hosts and even Brisco dropped his shout outs. Basicly, I put together the whole tape and just added Smokey Bear's shout outs and name to gain more listeners. The tape did very well. It was posted on a lot of music blogs and I believe they sold physical copies of it in Miami too.
2010-2013
I did my first club gigs late 2010, but I still considered myself a mixtape dj. It wasn't until 2013-2014 when I started doing club gigs more seriously.
19.10.2013 I played my first set at Club Diamond and have been a resident DJ ever since. I did graphic designs for DJ Taste for a while and he started giving me opening slots on his clubs. I didn't really know how to play yet, but my song selection was always on point.
2014
May 25th, 2014, I got the chance to warm up for Schoolboy Q and that gave my club dj career a major kickstart. The rest of the year I did about 70 gigs. If anybody asks me when did you start djing, I often say 2014 was my first full on year. Only a couple months after that, I also warmed up for Angel Haze and Jamaican reggae artist Gyptian, best known for his global hit Hold Yuh.
Blockfest 2014 was probably my favorite to this date. Mikael Gabriel brought Roc-A-Fella legends Memphis Bleek and Freeway to perform with him. It was also the first official Blockfest after party where I played.
I got to know Brick & Lace duo's Nyanda, Nyla and their manager Chez through Twitter if I remember correctly. This was a huge one for me since I was the biggest Brick & Lace fan when they were popping. And of course, I still play some of their records. We planned the mix with Chez, decided the tracks together and I mixed it. Nyanda blessed me with shout outs and promo video. The mixtape did well, and it's my most listened to mixtape. We got over 8k listens on Soundcloud until Soundcloud terminated my account because of three copyright claims. After that I switched to Mixcloud. Actually we still stay in touch with them. Very cool and humble folks!
October 11th, 2014 I was opening for Kid Ink with DJ Taste in Nosturi, Helsinki. We also managed to book his DJ to play at Club Diamond after the gig. Super dope night. American way to play records really fascinates me. DJ Tech was probably doubling every single line of the songs he played.
To finish the very successful year of 2014 a foreign company Elixr reached out to me telling they wanted to bring YG to Finland and have me as a warm up. The event was crazy and YG seemed like a humble guy.
2015
We brought Memphis Bleek back to Finland. I was his DJ both of his short 15-20 min gigs. A really big moment for me, because I've been a fan of his work since my teenage years. And what's even more crazy about this was that I got his tour version tracks via email by Young Guru, who is most known for being Jay-Z's one and only engineer. Jay literally doesn't record with anybody else than him because he fears leaks.
I got to open for one of my absolute fav R&B artists - Tinashe - and met her briefly in her tour bus. She killed it in sold out Tavastia. This was Aquarius era. Still consider that album as one of my fav r&b albums of all time.
A couple of weeks after that I opened for another New York legend - Lloyd Banks. This was also a huge one for me since I practically grew up listening to G Unit.
Cam'Ron was supposed to perform at Blockfest Preparty in May 2015, but - not so - surprisingly he cancelled last minute and posted a picture on his IG telling how he's about to shit on people. Well, I was supposed to be opening for him, but that never happened. Shame..
I got to know Hot97 radio legend Cipha Sounds while vacationing in New York. He is the DJ who broke Rihanna to the world and he's also the DJ on Pon De Replay music video, He said he wanted to come to Finland and we made it happen with Taste. Ciph did two gigs, one in Tampere and one in Helsinki. Probably the best club DJ sets I've ever witnessed. Also a very great, humble and funny guy. Make sure you tune in on his new podcast Juan EP with Peter Rosenberg.
I'll never forget Blockfest 2015. I met Ty Dolla Sign and T.I. backstage. T.I. was watching Young Thug's set with his wife Tiny and they collaborated on each others sets too. I was playing at the official afterparty at Ranta. I finished my set on the main side and went to play to the VIP area. All of sudden people come rushing me to go back to main side because Young Thug just came in and he wanted to hear his own music. At the time, most DJs barely had his records. I opened my Serato and started playing, everybody was hyped and Young Thug vibed behind me. He stayed for like 10-15 mins, gave me props for a dope set and a $100 tip. On the video on top of this page you can see footage of me playing Lifestyle and people going crazy.
2016
January 2016, I travelled to Namibia for the first time and I got the chance to play at one of the main spots there - Chopsi's Bar. I was supposed to play for an hour, but I ended up playing about 2 and a half hours. The vibe was awesome. Without a doubt one of the best gigs I've ever done. I played mostly 2000's hip-hop and R&B. Local dj's in that club were mostly playing Euro EDM type of remixes and people were not feeling the vibe. So when I came in and gave them classics everybody went nuts. The crowd reaction to the songs was something different. I actually returned to play at the same club in 2018.
I met LA rapper Rene Brown when she was also warming up for Schoolboy Q in Helsinki. She was touring with Q his whole Euro tour. We linked up and I made a mixtape hosted by her. We also got him to host and do a quick live set on Club Diamond when she was touring in Europe. Click the mixtape cover to listen to the mix.
During summer I played a bunch of festivals - Project X Suomi & Blockfest party, Saaristo Open afterparty, PME Blockparty, Summer Up afterparty, Tammerfest afterparties, Weekend Festival afterparties and of course Blockfest afteparties.
I also played a couple of gigs in Tallinn, Estonia at Studio night club with DOPE collective. Shout out to Tboi. Unlike in Finland, the club opened at midnight and stayed open as long as there was people. Both times the club was shut around 5 to 6 am if I remember correctly. I played only the newest trap and people loved it.
2017
DJ Mista S landed a show on YleX January 2017. His concept included half an hour mix from different DJs. I did a mix March 2017, then again March 2018 and a special edition mix September 2018. Click the covers to listen to those mixes.
The festival season was crazy. During Summer Up festival I was playing my resident spot in Club Capital, Helsinki. Post Malone & MGK came to party to the club after their gigs. MGK's DJ Ace played a quick 15 min set on my computer.
I also played Weekend Festival and Blockfest Afterparties. After Weekend Festival afterparty we had Rae Sremmurd turning up at the club. They released a new single that day and everybody went nuts when we played it and they we right there with the people.
2018
2018 started with a couple of warm up gigs. The Game just might be my biggest to date. The Circus was sold out and he did a great show. I've been the biggest The Game fan ever since his debut album. Although I feel like his first three albums were classics and he fell out a little bit after those.
During spring I also got to warm up for Yemi Alade, this was my first MAJOR afrobeats event I did. During fall 2017 I decided to focus more on afrobeats scene and this fit perfectly. Yemi's live show was off the hook btw. I also did #AfroWave mix prior to the event and DJCity picked it up and shared it on their EU site. I was also invited to do a podcast mix for them summer 2018. You can listen to those mixes by clicking the cover art.
After playing at the Blockfest and Weekend Festival afterparties I travelled back to Namibia for three weeks. I managed to book three gigs there. The first one was a rooftop party. There was five dope local MC's showcasing their talent and after that I played mainly new hip-hop and r&b for a couple of hours. The next event was a lounge in a mall, Piccolo. On the very last day in Namibia I returned to Chopsi's Bar where I played back in 2016. It's a proper warehouse type of club. I was booked for an hour set and I played everything from new hiphop, trap and r&b to afrobeats and gqom house. People were really hyped and it was the perfect way to end my "vacation" there.
During my stay there I started planning a mix of all the dope songs I heard there at clubs and house parties. DJ Mista S liked the idea and he premiered the mix on his show at YleX. I got to know some local Namibian artists like Lioness, Romi and KK. They also recorded me shout outs for the mix. The mix starts with local rap anthems including Romi's Khaima Re which is in Damara language. It continues to afrobeats and ends with gqom house bangers. Gqom is an afrohouse subgenre originated from Durban, South Africa and it pretty much dominates the clubs out there.
2019
My 2019 got a great start with Tampere-talo and their new club concept Sorsaklubi. I opened for Wu-Tang legend GZA March 3rd and new school rapper Smokepurpp March 10th.
In the beginning of April I travelled all the way to Cape Town and did two gigs down there. Both of them were in premiere clubs downtown. Coco is a proper bottle service club and the night was hosted by South African celeb Khanya Mkangisa. GoldBar is very exclusive and elegant a lounge. The Coco event was definitely one of my all time best gigs. Below are some photos from there.
Here's some video footage:
After I got back I released Cape Town Vibe mix consisting of the vibes I played out there in those two gigs. Khanya dropped me a shout out for the intro. She really liked my set! I also started on working my first full on afrohouse/Gqom mix and dropped it. It got great response and was bootlegged all over the South African blogs. I have no idea how they got the mp3, but the feedback was awesome.
I've been wanting to do my own remixes/re-drums for a long time. I had made this remix for Djangomayn like a couple of years ago but we never released it. I bought Ableton Live and started practising on how to produce a decent remix. I came out with a bunch of them and some of them even got released by DJcity - the biggest platform for deejays worldwide.
My biggest remix on Soundcloud is a remix to Rosalia's single with over 17k plays. All of buy remixes combine a tropical rhythm with the original with no Major Lazer type of drops. Ranging from afrobeats to gqom, from kizomba to reggaeton and more.
Due to copyrights some of my remixes are not available on Soundcloud. However, my full collection is available at the main page.
In the beginning of summer, I got an opportunity to play at Virgil Abloh Men's Ready-To-Wear collection launch party at Louis Vuitton Helsinki Store. It was an invite only event and the vibe was crazy. People came to spend time, drink champagne and I played mostly R&B and throwback hip-hop bangers.
2019 has been big for me. I played in Cape Town, Louis Vuitton Helsinki, Blockfest and Weekend Festival afterparties, All In Cruise and literally toured through out Finland. I'm racking up about 160 gigs this year - which is an all time high for me. I've played in big cities like Helsinki, Tampere and Jyväskylä, but I also went to Joensuu, Nurmes, Varkaus, Porvoo, Valkeakoski, Hämeenlinna, Kokkola, Lappeenranta, Kotka and Vantaa.
I celebrate my 10 year run December 7th when Club Diamond returns to legendary The Circus in Helsinki. This is where the club djaying really started for me in 2013.
