Bio
NO FEAR: THE LEGEND OF DJ SPAZO
He is a graduate of the hard knocks school of DJing. He honed his technique under pressure, on the spot and in the midst of legends. Spazo knows no fear. “What separates me from these DJs is I’m not afraid to play a record no matter if I got 1.500 or 15 people in my face, I’m not afraid to take a chance,” says Spazo. “That’s what separates me, because I take a chance in the middle of a fire.”
And Spazo can handle the heat. He possesses a bravado forged in the flames of following in his family’s footsteps. DJing is in his blood. Two of his brothers are also DJs, but they’re all just the second wave. “My father was actually a DJ and also was an entertainer. He made “The Wop.” He goes by the name of B-Fats,” says Spazo. “My Uncle, Donald D, he helped a lot of people out (including Ice-T) and made the (Grand Master Flash-produced) “Donald’s Groove.” it was a big record as well; a lot of jocks play it up until today.”
For the son and nephew of men who, along with the legendary producer Teddy Riley, created the record “Woppit” in 1986, spearheading a dance movement during Hiphop’s Golden Age, rap was always there. As an 80’s baby, he never knew a world where Hiphop did not exist. Spazo was raised in the Harlem neighborhood known as “The Hill,” immortalized by Kool Moe Dee’s 1988 anthem, “Wild Wild West” and also spent time further Uptown with his father. Through his father he was able to learn from legends such as DJ Hollywood and Luv Bug Starski.
“We had so many different people surrounding us on the everyday to day basis,” says Spazo of The Hill. “Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee, Doug E. Fresh used to come out there, then you go down the hill, you got Wreckx-n-Effect, Teddy Riley and Aqil, so I was surrounded by Hiphop… Going to the dome on 148th and Bradhurst where they used to have all the concerts and stuff and seeing my father and everybody else such as Grand Master Flash and everybody like that. I’ve seen Hiphop when Hiphop was Hiphop.”
With a background such as this, it was practically inevitable that young Spazo would try to work the “wheels of steel” himself. He recalls his early days with a fondness. “Turntables and equipment always been around me since I was a younging,” says Spazo. “The turntables and things like that have always been a factor, always been here. Me messing up my father’s records, scratching up his records, breaking his needles, after the stages of that, I just started taking things serious.”
Soon the fledgling turntablist was ready to showcase his skills for the public. But it was not to be an easy road. Sometimes young Spazo would back his father on the turntables when B-Fats would perform “old school” shows, but from day one, it was sink or swim for this second-generation Hiphoppa. “My father actually started placing me in parties and just leaving me,” says Spazo. “Can’t look for him for help.” He recalls the first time in 1995 when, as a young teen, he was left alone to fend for himself on the turntables at a huge 147th Street block party in Harlem.
“[My father] played a lot of the oldies but goodies like early on in the day, and then about 3 o’clock, he just left me, and I’m sitting there looking around for him, people staring all in my face, and I froze up but I got through it,” says Spazo. “I’m the type of DJ that loves talking on the mic, so what I did was just started shouting people out and shouting what people was doing on top of playing good music.”
Though thrown to the wolves, masters had raised him and Spazo rose to the occasion proving that he was no timid lamb. In that moment Spazo grabbed the torch from the local DJs he remembered from his childhood. “I got to give all credit to DJs such as SNS that I grew up off of from setting up block parties right in front of my house when I was a younging,” says Spazo, who emulated SNS’ crowd-hyping abilities. “You also have DJ Craig G and those are the guys that I actually sat there and watched, studying before I actually started going to my father’s house, breaking his stuff up.”
The tough love developed his character, concentration and cemented his courage into an empowering boldness. It is boldness-fueled persistence, coupled with his intense focus that is at the root of his stage name, Spazo. After making himself a fixture at the record labels, the passionate DJ would become amped-up when he heard another DJ playing a new record that he didn’t have. The name grew from his subsequent follow-up calls to industry-insiders such as Footy at Columbia Records.
“When I would call Footy and be like: ‘why Clue playing a certain record and I can’t get this record?’ Footy be like: ‘Yo, just calm down, stop spazzing so much’ and then that’s where the name came about,” says Spazo. The attentive practice of his craft is another reason. In the early days of his career, he hated to have his groove disturbed when he was operating the system and would act out accordingly when his professional peace was disrupted.
But while Spazo is bold, persistent and extremely focused, being born into Hiphop also instilled within him a respect for his audience, craft and the importance of humbleness. “I have to really get out here and get on my toes and represent the legacy that my father has and carry it on in my own way,” says Spazo. “I knew that I had to really be humble and do a lot of different things as far as not getting out of character or stuff like that because by being humble you can go far… By watching my father make his moves and do the things he do, it made me learn that I couldn’t be out of pocket.”
But it is still his boldness that empowered him to fearlessly propel himself through the ranks, gaining the opportunity to work with his idol, DJ SNS, and with top tier DJs such as Mister Cee, Bobby Konders & Jabba, DJ Self and DJ Absolut. He was able to attain high profile gigs such as spinning for the VH1 Annual Celebrity Basketball Game in 2007 and at one time worked Timbaland & DJ Clue’s Harlem nightspot, The Cherry Lounge and spots such as Club Speed and Skate Key in The Bronx.
Along the way he gained the foresight early on to expand his boundaries beyond the tri-state area and has expanded his reach and reputation into numerous regions. He launched a mixtape series based around talent in markets across the country. His work led to collaborations with Gillie Da Kid in Philadephia, Q Da Kid of So So Def, and Khujo of Atlanta’s Goodie Mob.
Spazo was also a mentor to DJ Webstar, even taking him to obtain his very first records. “We actually grew up together. [Webstar] lived right up the hill from where I lived and I was like the only one in the area with turntables and different stuff like that from our age [group],” says Spazo. “Me and [Webstar] used to hang out a lot and he would come to my house or I would go to his house and we started from there. The same way I used to break up my father’s needles and different things like that, he did it to me.”
With experience, Spazo has been able to mold his boldness from a potential liability into a firm asset. Boldness couple with practiced skill enables him to cater to brutally judgmental crowds every year during his stints as the official DJ for the E.B.C. Rucker Park Basketball Tournament. “Throwing a party is not just throwing a party, you have to be the party,” says Spazo. “You can’t just come and do a party, you have to really be the party and lead the party.”
In the summer of 2008, he broke the record “Pop Champagne” during the Rucker Tournaments. Spazo had been the DJ for the “Ether” producer, Ron Browz, for quite some time, and as is his way, he took the chance and repeatedly spun “Pop Chapagne” during the world-famous sporting event. “I just went so hard with that record, playing that record all day everyday in the summer, and it actually connected and became one of the hottest records there was,” says Spazo. “And this was before Jim Jones got on the record, and then from me playing it so much, DJ Enuff asked me for the record and took it to the radio, to the next level.”
In addition, Spazo has had the opportunity to work with closely with artists such as Young Money’s Jae Millz, the DipSet BrydGang, and with athlete/entertainers such as Ron Artest. Spazo is currently working with his own squad of mixmasters, DJ Ray-Z, DJ Smoove Ski & DJ Get On Up, who along with artist Ace McCloud, and Young Celeb form the DJ Extraordinaires, producing his interstate mixtapes for the masses and staying involved in projects such as up-and-coming producer/artist Remo (“Dancing on Me”), and 50 Cent’s newest artist, Young Trav.
Spazo can be seen spinning at exclusive events such as Juelz Santana’s private celebrity party, the ESPN-sponsored Elite High School All American Basketball Tournament, Club Body and on the broadcasts of DJ Extraordinaires Radio on www.993thejoynt.com.
Now with eyes firmly on the goal of expanding his sphere of influence, DJ Spazo is poised to “spazz on the masses” by fearlessly continuing his quest of bringing forth and sharing the best that rap music has to offer.
It is a legacy that he was born to uphold.
- “DX 21” DASUN
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