Words Tewauna Shante
A big conglomerate is what we can call him. Some DJ’s are just nice on the reggae tip. Some are nice on just a Hip-Hop tip. When you have a DJ that can play Fall Out Boy in a Hofstra USA party on a Friday night, you know you have something special on your hands. His love for music has always been evident but he surfaced as a more-than-serious college DJ about ’99, 2000. A millennium DJ; maybe, the DJ of the millennium. Wouldn’t go that far? Honestly it doesn’t matter what you think. After all, this isn’t a scene; this is an arms race. Rival DJ’s get your black suits up…
UH- We’re gonna start this off kinda like the movie; When did you fall in love with Hip Hop?
DJ Spynfo- I was surrounded by a lot of different genres of music. I was brought up here, my father is from Honduras, and my mother is from Jamaica. I started loving Hip-Hop in the mid nineties. I’m the youngest of nine siblings: four brothers, four sisters. They always had that Mary J playing, that Busta Rhymes playing, a little Biggie here and there or whatever. I used to sit and listen in the living room. Sisters used to play the SWV, stuff like that. That’s where I caught on.
UH- When did you start DJ’ing?
DJ- Basically my last year in high school I bought turn tables but never used them. I really began in about 2000 at St. Johns University. I was lucky enough to have a room right next to the elevator so when people moved in, they would see my equipment set up and see me spinning and wonder who I was. Various organizations heard about me and came to me and had me do their events. The Pan- African organization is the biggest organization over here at St. Johns asked me to cover a few of their events. They had me do their Open-Mic and things like that and I did well. I moved on to parties and fashion shows, and that’s where I basically got my start at St. Johns.
UH- So let me ask you this, when did it really start to escalate for you? When did people really begin to know who DJ Spynfo was?
DJ- I started to build a name for myself in 2001, but in 2002 I started DJ’ing at a place in Queens called Georgetown. I began DJ’ing there on Thursday nights. Every party I did there I thought it was gonna flop. Man, I didn’t have any thing UV coated. I was running around campus with yellow paper flyers, we had no official nothing. No budget for anything. Just the paper flyers. My quote was “Spynfo Done Did It Again!” That’s how I got people acclimated to my name. They would see the flyers on the floor and they’d read it like, “Oh, that’s a Spynfo flyer. Lemme check that out, see what that’s about.” Ladies were like seven dollars, guys were ten ‘til midnight. Spot held about 175 people. Shit, I was pulling about 400 people in there every Thursday. The owner then moved me to Friday where my crowd was consistent. People were coming out on rainy days, ten degrees outside. That’s when I started building my name. I mean, 2001 was cool but it didn’t really start to get crazy for me until like 2003. It really picked up because I was networking with a lot of club promoters and a lot of organizations outside of St. Johns. Man, you name it. Like I said, pageants, fashion shows, parties, even outdoor events: Alpha barbecues, Kappa events, things like that. I have to give it up to Empire though. Without those guys, I don’t know where Spynfo would be. Honestly.
UH- I want you to speak on two relationships: One, DJ Spider, two, Suede. How did that happen?
DJ- Spider is somebody I will always look up to. He’s been in the game for a minute. I wouldn’t say I model myself after him but I definitely learned a lot from him. He was always there to give me support and be like, “Spyn, you gotta think. You gotta pay attention because there are a lot of snakes in the business.” He was always there to give good advice like what I should and shouldn’t do. He’s definitely a great DJ. I had been rockin’ with him for a minute. That’s my brother right there. Basically my brother from another mother right there. He’s definitely talented and I definitely stole some things—
UH- Hey listen, a wise man once told me “Any good idea is worth stealing.”
DJ- Yeah, yeah. the guy definitely has talent. Has a lot of energy, keeps the crowd moving. And I mean, before I even met him I saw our styles were similar. He and I were similar on the Hip-Hop level. He was more advanced when it came to reggae, but as far as Hip-Hop, we both weren’t scared to dig way back in the crates. You know me man; I ain’t scared to play something from the eighties. I’ll play Michael Jackson quick! I’ll have everybody singing Rock With You like it’s a new song! And Spider is the same way. We clicked immediately.
We DJ’d for the first time together really in a lounge called Destiny Lounge. We’ve done it together before but that was the first time we really noticed we had chemistry together. He would be like “Damn you nice on the mic!” I would be like, “Damn, you nice on the boards!” After a year of that, we came up with the name College Club Kings. I actually came up with the name . That was the Facebook vs. MySpace era. That was in Amazura. Spider was always on my back about not being just a great DJ, but marketing yourself. Being a great DJ is always essential but there are a lot of bum DJ’s out there that don’t know how to market themselves. And there are bum DJ’s that can market the hell out of themselves. I mean I was already good. Not to be cocky or nothing but lets face it, that’s why you’re here interviewing me. You have to make people believe you are more than you actually are. I’ve got to be the best. I’m not trying to be the prince, I’m not trying to be the queen; I wanna be the King. That’s how Spider and I got started. Me and Suede? Well, you know Step Correct had been going on for a while, and in 2004, you know his DJ was I think DJ Psycho or something like that-
UH- He was a Sigma, I believe…
DJ- Yeah. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with the way he DJ’d, I just felt like he could have used a little more energy. At Roseland, it was hot and I felt he wasn’t playing the right songs at the right times. And I didn’t know Suede from a hole in the wall. I basically stole his number! I called a producer that was on the flyer. This is hustle right here; this is grinding: I called up a number that I saw on the flyer and I was like, “yeah this is Spynfo,”—making believe I was somebody already—“I lost Suede’s cell number. Do you have it?” I got it and called Suede out the blue like I had been doing this for a while. I been holding down St. Johns and Hofstra for a minute, so forth and so on. I didn’t come off cocky or anything. I basically came off as a cool dude. He was like he was gonna give me a chance and we just spoke. I caught up again with him about a year later and he was like, “Yo, come to Maryland with me.” He was a stranger to me and I was a stranger to him, but I was just going out there for the exposure. We were in the car and I didn’t even know his real name, nor did he know mine. I was Spynfo to him and he was Suede to me. We didn’t know each others age or nothing. We ain’t know shit. He just knew I was a DJ. After the event in Maryland, he was like, “I ain’t even gonna front, that was like one of my top five! That was one of the top five DJ-Host performances.” And you know Suede. He ain’t gonna bullshit. So if he was saying that to me, I was like wow. He had no idea of my energy. We had no idea of our chemistry. He had no clue I was gonna be that involved with the crowd. I would stop him like, “Hold up! Let’s get the ladies involved!” Then it was, “Yo Suede, Yo Suede, where the fellas’ at?!?” People were really feeling my talking. At the end of the night, they were like, “yo who’s that?” And I can’t even front. That was one of the best shows I’ve ever done in my life. That was like 2004, 2005 maybe and after that he was like “aw man, you my DJ!” I waited like another six months to a year and he called me up to go to Alabama with him. He put me in a hotel and all. I killed out there and that is what put me on to Step Correct. He hit me up about a month or two before the show and I was like, “yeah, I’m down.” I think it was a good show, but I think I could’ve done better. I mean it was New Years day and let’s just say the night before I wasn’t in the house asleep. So for me to be up the next morning and standing, DJ’ing from 5 to 5 was kinda hard. I can’t even front. I was worn out, that was a struggle right there. So as of right now, Suede and I are working together on this college radio show Live From The Yard. Basically me, him and a producer Chris from Sirius Satellite Radio. I’m the official DJ for the show and we’re already at Albany, Syracuse, LIU Brooklyn campus, Hampton, and a few more.
UH- What is your ultimate goal as for being a DJ?
DJ- I guess my own radio show. I can see myself fitting in somewhere like Power 105, or Hot 97. I know it’s going to take a little while but I’m patient. I mean, I’m rewriting my bio every week and I’m pushing towards it. I’ve got a press kit and everything. I’m taking a whole new angle. My website: DJSpynfo.net. Make sure you put that in there.
UH- What would you tell someone that is probably in high school right now wanting to make the same moves and leave the same trail in becoming a world known DJ?
DJ- Surround yourself with good people, keep your vision clear and if it don’t make money, it don’t make sense.
