DJ D-UP

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DJ D-UP
www.djd-up.com

"When New Times first caught up with DJ D-Up, the DC native was bringing his no holds barred "party music" to The Rose Bar at South Beach's infamous Delano each and every Saturday night. He also was swooping into the continually cool Mokai once a month or so.

Fast forward half a year and the cat's not only still holding sway at both joints, he's taken up with the Scratch DJ Academy. That's put him spinning everywhere from private corporate affairs to Crunch, where he gives after-work gym rats an uplifting beat to get fit with. Come fall, Scratch is also sending D-Up out on the high seas, for a five week throwdown with Royal Caribbean.

As choice as that sounds though, we're more interested in what D-Up's been doing for us lately. And if the rad mix delivered in his just-dropped Rare Form: Live at Mokai! is any indication, he's doing much more than even we expected.

Fat Man Scoop finding Nirvana; Boston leading to Blur; Jay-Z in on the get; Young Boss thick in the middle; Pit Bull calling MGMT.... The wild ride of killer sides is enough to make us forget all our troubles and get absolutely happy. And isn't that what party music's all about?

But don't take our good word for it; download it yourself. But don't call us when you can't stop smiling." - Miami New Times

Miami New Times features D-Up "Live at Mokai" mix cd. Download HERE. Check out the rest of the piece HERE.

Anybody who's ever heard a track by Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers knows the deep power of go-go, that mighty blend of pure funk and raw soul that could only come from the streets of D.C. It's a heady mix of down-low and way-up-on-high that brings to mind nothing so much as the party of your life.

So it stands to damn good reason that DJ D-Up calls what he does, simply, "party music." After all, the cat was born in our nation's capital. Better yet, his pops was a DJ too, back in the proverbial day. Which means D-Up has had that throwdown sound ground into him from the cradle to the streets.

Thank Zeus our first president's namesake city doesn't have the juice of the M.I.A., 'cause otherwise D-Up might not be here bringing all of our party people to life. Dig it: As a teen, D-Up would sneak into clubs and catch what who-knows-who was pushing. Then he'd go home to his basement and push it further, farther, and deeper. Once he got to college at UVA, he turned those skills into a residency at Soccer House, the fratlike hangout of the team to which he belonged. Thing about it is, D-Up found himself better suited to the turntables than the field, so he started slipping back across the Potomac and into the night.

Before long, every hot spot in D.C. ended up having him spin: Play Lounge, Saki, Josephine's, Club Five, Andalu, Fly Lounge, Kstreet, 1223, Eyebar, and Tattoo among them. Eventually D-Up ran out of dance floors to conquer and headed down South.

Quick cut to now: Saturdays at the Delano hotel's infamous Rose Bar, where the parade of wildlife is as colorful as an early 20th-century promenade on Easter Sunday. Sure, there are a few tourists in shorts, as well as the odd cross-causeway interloper. But for some reason, even they turn almost hip when they fall under the sway of D-Up's head-spinning. Like he says, it's party music, so you don't need instructions to get with it. It does help, though, to have an open mind and an open soul.

Then again, it's not hard to open up to the Jungle Brothers crossed with Common, or The Pharcyde's "Passing Me By" running into Pitbull's "Whoop T Whoop." Maybe that's why Mokai has also begun putting D-Up on the tables once a month or so, and why swank spots such as the Shore Club and Bella Rose have had him handle the action as well. Sometimes it pays to go where go-go has gone, and where all good parties end up — with a DJ named D-Up."

"If you're mourning the closing of the Kickballers store...you can settle in with DJ D-UP (Diallo Sharif), a DJ and sneaker head who was part of the shop's team and could also be found spinning hip-hop. Known for serious underground hip-hop selections, he can also toss up popular club sets that bounce between dance, rock, '80s, electro and dancehall reggae." -Washington Post

Washington Post DJ D-Up Washington Post Editor's Nightlife Pick

Fuel TV Washington Times

The View From Here Now "Live at Mokai" getting a feature on John Hood's blog. Read the feature HERE and then make sure to check out the rest of his work. You'll be glad you did!


Hipster Overkill Hipster Overkill features "Rare Form - Live at Mokai" mix cd. Check out the feature HERE.
Skateboard Mag DV8 Magazine

Listen to DJ D-Up "Live at Mokai"