As the official DJ for Grammy Award-winning rapper T.I. and his subsidiary label Hustle Gang Records, Atlanta’s DJ MLK shares about his professional background and how he created opportunities for himself in the world of digital music.
Tell us how you got started into deejaying and a little background on yourself.
I moved to Atlanta at the end of ‘01 from Washington, Georgia. My dad was a DJ, so it’s automatically in the bloodline. That’s just something I’ve been around all my life. Pretty much when I came out of my mom, I was ready to rock and roll. You know how you’re born with a gift? There was no teaching.
So tell us about your current platforms, venues you DJ at and any projects that you’re working on.
I’m on Spotify and I’m on iTunes with playlists on each. I mean, you can find me, DJ MLK, on all of the open format playlists and urban playlists. Before COVID, I had residencies in Miami’s Club E11even and Drais in Vegas. I had a contract with Fendi. Those residencies and contracts are still in place, however, since Georgia was the first [state] open I’m deejaying every single day.
What has been the biggest adjustment for you during the pandemic?
Since 2017 I started dropping a 10-tape series every Monday. … I would see about 20,000 views or whatever. When COVID hit, labels started calling me and different DSPs – I had contracts with different record labels because everybody was at home. Everybody was streaming. Now I’m getting 30, 40, 50, 60 [thousand] views. It’s a numbers game.
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