Known as “The Stamp of Approval” and a student and teacher of hip-hop, DJ Jelly is one of the influential mixers around the globe. Over two decades, DJ Jelly has put his stamp on hip-hop, breaking artists into the southern market, such as Notorious B.I.G., Three 6 Mafia, and others, as well as helping local Atlanta artists like T.I., Jeezy, and OutKast. With numerous awards, co-founding his own record label, and finding new talent, DJ Jelly has continued to live by his infamous nickname.
DJ Jelly spoke with rolling out about his career, favorite era in music, and what it takes to be a good DJ.
Where did your nickname “Stamp of Approval” come from?
I don’t even know, but it’s cool. Me and my road manager have a lot of different conversations about different names and monikers and all kinds of stuff, so it probably came from one of our conversations we had. Back in the day with the whole Oomp Camp movement we would be on the road and we would get all these different CDs. Back then, we didn’t have the internet, so in the ’90s, we were physically giving people CDs, cassettes, and vinyls, so I started taking Three 6 Mafia’s music back in the mid-90s and putting them on my mixtapes and other big timers. I think from there people were like, “He knows what’s going on. He’s in tune and catching the frequencies from all of these different hip-hop genres.” I started really approving them and being like a cheerleader for the music. I was like, “You gotta hear this Drake” or “You gotta hear Waka.” That’s what I do; I’m a fan of music first.
What was the most memorable era of music that you’ve been a part of?
I would say, of course, the whole Freaknik era. I know everybody says that, but it really was because I was fresh in college and becoming an entrepreneur at that time with Oomp Camp, MC Assault, and Voodoo. That was our beginning. We were enterprising and putting together the label at that time and we had all the different stores at the time. That was our introduction to the music business, so that’s what my most memory was.
What do you think makes a good DJ?
Today, it’s just like back in the day. A person who’s passionate about what they do as a DJ, whether there are certain technical skills they have or certain type of musical intellect, and they’re believable and passionate. If you can feel it and see it and sense it, then that’s what it is; it’s not necessarily a grocery list. But those are key things when I’m looking at artists or DJs, just what type of passions and what type of vibe they put on, and what type of vibe they can control. All of that is important.
What made the trap music era special in Atlanta?
OutKast put Atlanta on the map worldwide. T.I. coined the phrase trap music. Trap music had been going on, but he coined it and that was genius. It’s so many things that were happening as far as the snowball effect in terms of Atlanta and dirty South music at that time; it’s just that when all that hit, and that trap music stayed on there and then the new era of music came following that with Future, Gucci Mane, and Kodak Black, the 15 to 20 years following that, the title stayed and it cemented dirty south music. It just was no longer dirty South music; it was trap music. Even though we had the crunk era and we had the swag era, that one just cemented, and it was rap. We’ve been running the game for 25-plus years.
