My Mom (she collected records) OG KDAY Mixmasters, Tony G (your still the man!) Julio G,Joe Cooley,Beat Junkies, Melo D, J Rocc, ISP, Xecutioners, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Premier, Jazzy Jeff, Cash Money, C Minus, Baka Boyz, Dj Sparkle,Sid Perry, Phresh Kuttz, Masters at work, DJ Rawn, Dj Revolution, Dj Miz, James Brown, J Dilla, anyone who can rock a party without always relying on Fatman Scoop breaks..Lazy Bastards!!! Try practicing!!! Dont follow trends be a Trendsetter!!!!
The Godfather in action! When you got Soul...Hey!!!
Japan vs Korea Battle!! Im a B Boy at heart..had to put this up.
His mixes are syndicated in 26 markets. He’s steadily booked at clubs across the country. He’s a professor at the Scratch Academy in Los Angeles. He released one of the most acclaimed DJ albums of all time. Whether it’s on-air, in the club, as a teacher or releasing an album, Mr Choc is the one DJ who excels in all fields.
Indeed, the veteran Los Angeles-based Choc is one of rap’s most respected DJs. His impeccable resume -- which includes an 11-year stint on Los Angeles’ KPWR (Power 106) -- has allowed Choc to stand as one of rap’s staunchest supporters and promoters. He delivers his high-energy mixes to Super Radio, which provides his work to radio stations in Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Alaska, and New Mexico, among other states. His work in radio keeps him razor sharp in other areas.
“Doing syndicated radio means that I have to pay attention to what’s cracking across the country musicwise,” he says. “That also helps me stay on top of what’s going on in the clubs. There’s a way that you can rock in a club and then there’s also a way that you can rock on the radio. I think I understand that more than anyone else in the world right now.”
The staff of the Jam Master Jay-founded Scratch DJ Academy noticed Choc’s DJ skill and knowledge. In 2004, the Academy hired Choc as a professor. In this capacity, Choc teaches aspiring DJs the fundamentals of the turntables. Giving back has also helped Choc, too. “My teaching DJing has helped me understand the whole art of presentation during DJing so much better,” he says.
Choc’s lively hosting gigs at LA hotspots Funky Lemonade, The Bridge and Night Life, as well his long-running stint at the Rock The Bells festivals have made him a national draw for clubs, tours (Pussycat Dolls, Dilated People’s Evidence) and events (Wyclef’s 2007 Grammy party, A Tribe Called Quest’s 2005 reunion, Jamie Foxx’s 2004 Super Bowl Party).
Born in Fresno, California and raised in Bakersfield, California, Mr Choc’s success comes from a lifelong passion for music. He got his entrée into hip-hop culture as a breakdancer. Despite his love for dancing, Choc was also intrigued by the power the DJ had over a crowd. Around the same time, he also started making 200-mile round-trip excursions from Bakersfield to Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles, Choc was blown away by the wider range of music available.
“The music that I was hearing when I went to other places like LA, I wasn’t hearing in Bakersfield, so it made me want to hunt for it,” he recalls. If you’re in a city where the music is always there, you kind of get spoiled. But in Bakersfield, it wasn’t always there. You had to go and look for it.”
Choc started spending summers in Los Angeles and by 1993, his DJ skills had progressed to where he got a three-hour mixshow with fellow DJ C Minus in Bakersfield and another mixshow in Arizona. His specialty was playing quality music that did not get maximum exposure.
“I really wanted to make sure that music that wasn’t being heard all the time still had a platform to be heard,” he says, “whether that was my underground show or my commercial stuff, too.”
By 1995, he was picked up by Los Angeles’ Power 106, making him a go-to guy at three stations in three cities at the same time. Within six months, Choc focused his energies on his work at Power 106, where he was doing overnights and mixing on the weekend. The following year, he became a member of the World Famous Beat Junkies, one of the most respected DJs crew in the world.
Gaining membership in this exclusive crew had a profound impact on Choc’s perspective. “It showed that despite everything that I had learned in DJing at that point, there was still a lot more to learn,” he says. “It also made me love my craft a little more because I was finally surrounded by people who understood it and loved it just as much as I did.”
With the Beat Junkies pushing Choc to new heights, he was promoted in 1999 to be the mixshow coordinator for Power 106. During his seven-year tenure, the station had the No. 1 mixshows for three years straight. Choc’s affinity for and knowledge of all of hip-hop’s elements helped the station emerge as one of the most powerful radio destinations in the world.
“I was one of their connections to the streets and to the overall culture of hip-hop,” Choc explains. “A lot of people that worked there weren’t b-boys. They didn’t grow up breakdancing or being a record digger. As they grew from the station that played dance music and hip-hop to the place where hip-hop lives, I think I was very instrumental in that.”
Rawkus Records was among those who recognized Choc’s status in the game. In 2002, the venerable independent rap imprint enlisted Mr Choc and Cipha Sounds to handle Soundbombing III, which won DJ Album of the Year at both Justo’s Mixtape Awards and the Mixshow Power Summit.
The album’s retail success and critical acclaim gave Choc a bump. “It got my name out on a national level and let people know that I’m not just a hip-hop DJ on a radio station in Los Angeles,” he says. “It showed that I’m an overall talented DJ that can make an album.”
Today, Mr Choc stands as one of the most successful, accomplished and skilled DJs of all time. “There are DJs that are artists and that make records sing and then there are DJs that are record players,” he says. “And I don’t feel that I’m a record player.”
Neither does anyone who has seen him in action.
Mr. Choc interviews Nas at his latest instore at Scratch Academy / Rehab Records before the release of "Hip Hop is Dead"
Online Now!
