DJ Many is an award-winning recording artist, producer, songwriter, and mixer. Many started his music journey on radio and then transitioned into being a DJ, collaborating with artists such as Soulja Boy, Sleepy Brown, Donny Osmond, and Delly Ranx. If you look on the walls of his room, his work speaks for himself with several plaques for his work, most notably for the song “I can Swing My Sword!”
Many spoke with rolling out about his music career, the highlights of being a DJ in Atlanta, and some of his favorite artists.
How did you get interested in becoming a DJ?
I just love to put records together. It is something so satisfying about mixing two records together and getting that perfect mix in. When that BPM aligns, it’s priceless. You put two records together and you see how the crowd reacts. If you could start a mosh pit from deejaying that’s all you really need, and I’ve done it and it’s a priceless feeling. Those are the memories that last forever.
You’ve worked with people like Sleepy Brown and Soulja Boy. How did Atlanta impact your career as a DJ?
It was huge because those are people that I grew up listening to. Sleepy Brown sounds like marching band and has priceless songs. One of my biggest things that probably doesn’t really get noticed is that I was one of the first DJs to play Migos went back when they had a song called “Bando.” I was one of the first DJs to ever play it because I’m a Northside DJ. I’m from the Northside. Johns Creek, Migos is from Gwinnett, but it still ties in hand in hand. I still have tweets from the Migos if you go on my Twitter, so I was really happy to see that career. That has to be one of those monumental things where I’m like, all these years later, Migos is still going, so I’m just happy to play a part in just Atlanta History at the end of the day.
What was it that you saw in those artists that led you to work with them?
It’s all about vibes. It’s still about what’s the vibe when you talk to an artist. Do they treat you well? Do you guys get along? Can you guys relate? If we can relate, we’re gonna have a fun time. We’re going to get tracks done. But if you can’t vibe with an artist, you can’t get any tracks done. If artists don’t vibe with you, you’re not going to get anything done and that’s really everything about my career is just vibing. Does it vibe, can we connect? Sometimes you connect with artists not even really about music, you might just have something other mutually in common and you just cool with them. It’s not just about business with me, it’s about connections because I don’t deal with the industry stuff that’s going on. It’s just about honest friendship at the end of the day.
What’s the best bit of advice that you’ve received in your career?
I’ve gotten a lot of advice in my career, I would just say consistency is the biggest key in this industry. It’s staying consistent, and always being able to reinvent yourself. Donny Osman probably told me something about this, because this guy has a career of 60 years in this industry, and he always told me never to be too stubborn to reinvent yourself, never be too stubborn to actually learn new things.
