DJ Gotti is young, but he’s done a lot. He started DJing before high school, but he quit because he thought DJs weren’t “juiced up” enough. Then he ran into DJ Kam Bennett — Lil Bibby’s DJ at the time — and that changed his entire outlook. He started DJing high school events and parties and quickly became known around St. Louis. That eventually led him to meet Sexyy Redd at a show and then become Luh Kel‘s tour DJ right before the pandemic hit. DJ Gotti pulled up to tell rolling out more of his story and give us an exclusive look into working with Sexyy Red.
How was DJing for Luh Kel?
It was different. That was my first introduction to the industry. We was going to LA. I was seeing lit shit. He took me to Apple Music first. … I was in my first music video with him. I ain’t gonna lie — that’s why with Red. It’d be so normal because I already seen it at this caliber before: how they gonna treat you, the benefits, all that. He introduced me to the Trippie Reds and all those types of rappers. He was, like, one of the first ones on TikTok, too — like, before TikTok was TikTok. I remember when we was in LA, he took me to the TikTok building. They was introducing Tik Tok to us but as a social network. It wasn’t even supposed to be like this, a dancing app. This is, like, the start of 2019.
When did you first meet Sexyy Red?
I get booked for this concert; I guess they had heard about this party I had DJ’d the week before. It was a Yella Beezy concert. So, this how I meet Sexyy Red: I get to the concert, and she was there early, too, like, trying to sound check. But she ain’t know how to send me the music. This is the end of 2017. I want to say she just dropped her second or third song, but she already had motion. Her name was Trill Red at that time, but this when she first became Sexyy Red. She was wearing crazy-a– outfits — like, for real, like, costumes. She ain’t know how to send music, so I already thought that was hella funny. She had her mom and everybody with her, and we was, like, sitting there for like 20 minutes trying to get the music. Then, we figured it out. I ended up getting it, and she was, like, bet, all cool. That’s how we got cool.
How did you become her DJ?
After we met at the Yella Beezy, we would cross paths at other events and stuff. Like … if she was performing or had an appearance at a club or something, I was already the DJ. We just kept running into each other, and after a while she was just, like, “you my DJ now.” I was still doing my own thing, like DJing around St. Louis. I remember one of the last shows right before she [got famous]. It was at this club called Climax. I remember it was, like, right before she made even “Poundtown,” and she was going crazy — like, the show was lit. Then, she made “Poundtown,” and she was gone. And then, like, she was just doing her thing for a year straight. She didn’t even have a DJ, just doing the club shows, hopping in and out, Rolling Loud and all that type of stuff. Then, I moved out [to Atlanta], and that’s when she made the call. Then, we went on tour. Since then, I’ve been her official DJ.
How is Sexyy Red in the studio? What’s her song-creating process?
She’s very precise. It’s not always music because, like, sometimes we’ll just go in there and just chop it up, play some beats or something, get some ideas. But I feel, like, when she goes in the studio, when she records, that song gonna be a hit. Like, when she feeling it, it’s a hit. I ain’t gonna lie: every time, because I done been there for the hits. I was there for the whole hold “You My Everything.” We was in there literally just going through the beats, and the beat came on, and, like, instantly we knew. She instantly loaded up, instantly had a melody. She had that melody in the first five minutes, really quicker than that. I be telling her that’s why she should be a producer, and that she should write for other people, too. Because she knows what people are trying to hear. Like, she knows how to put words together that’s never been put together ever, ever. Like, nobody ever put the sequence of words together. She’s the one.
