As the most influential DJ on the West Coast, Felli Fel has played an integral part in shaping the sound of popular music in America. His nightly show on Los Angeles’ top rated radio station, Power 106, has grown tremendously since it started over eight years ago. Today, Felli’s four hour hip-hop mixshow reaches an estimated two million listeners. Known on-air as “The record maker and the record breaker,” the multi-talented DJ has recently gained nationwide notoriety with the release of his self-produced certified Gold single “Get Buck in Here” featuring Akon, Ludacris, Lil Jon and Diddy, from his upcoming So So Def/Def Jam debut, Go DJ. With Kanye West, the Game and T-Pain, also making appearances on his LP, DJ Felli Fel not only spins the hits, but makes them pop as well.
Born James Corrine in Rock Hill, South Carolina where he lived until moving to Atlanta with his parents at five years-old, Felli Fel grew up immersed in music thanks to his mother’s love of disco, Motown and classical. Although he sang in his church’s choir and played the organ for about a week, Felli didn’t start getting serious about making music until he was 16. He did however try to emulate the scratching sounds he heard on hip-hop records. “My homeboy who lived across the street for me in Atlanta had the UTFO record, ‘Roxanne, Roxanne,’” remembers Felli. “I think his cousin had left it at his house and I took it and put it on my mom’s turntable and tore her turntables up! That was the first record I actually scratched on.”
Fel eventually moved to Los Angeles for a year until his family relocated to Dallas, Texas. Once in Dallas, 16 year-old Felli started to get more serious about DJing and got his start as a producer. “I started playing at house parties and I was at this party one night and this DJ had a beat machine called a SP1200,” he says. “I recognized it from being on a lot of album covers and rap videos. That piece of equipment got me interested and that kid basically taught me how to work it.”
While he was learning how to build his own tracks, the young music man started DJing at a community radio station in Dallas called KNON. Soon Felli was offered a slot on a commercial Spanish formatted station called KICK FM where he stayed for a year before returning to the hip-hop-centric community station. “About six months after I went back to doing the community radio show, I got a call from the big hip-hop station in Dallas, K 104,” says Felli. “I did that for three years then I got the offer from Power 106 in LA and I’ve been doing Power for the past eight years.”
As the personality and DJ behind the 7pm to midnight Felli Fel Show on Power 106, Felli has had a heavy hand in introducing a number of smash records over the past eight years. “I break music on the air, premier a lot of new music and interview a lot of celebrities,” he says. “I have the same kind of show that Funkmaster Flex has in New York. The only difference is I produce music. I pride myself on the fact that I actually create records with my fingers and my ears.”
With a discography that includes songs produced for major artists across the board, Felli Fel had no problem rounding up the star power for his breakthrough hit, “Get Buck In Here.” Once the song started to pick up steam on nation radio in October of 2007, Jermaine Dupri offered Felli a deal through his label So So Def and Def Jam, where Dupri had recently been named an executive.
Go DJ’s second single, “The Finer Things” is a celebration of the spoils of success as told by the song’s featured guests Kanye West, Ne-Yo, Fabolous and Jermaine Dupri. Through Felli’s rock solid reputation as LA’s top tastemaker, he has managed to maintain valuable relationships with key artists. “These guys have seen me break artists that they’ve put out and when stuff like that happens, artists don’t forget,” says Felli on his exclusive access to hip-hop’s most valuable players. “I’ve just been very blessed to be in a position that I’m in and I’ve treated it with respect.”
With an upcoming album chock full of chart topping talent, DJ Felli Fel’s album Go DJ is sure to rack up plenty of spins nationwide. With all of the tracks produced by Felli himself, you can trust that DJs everywhere will have plenty of new records to throw in the mix.
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