September 1, 2006

Dj Whatt

Funky Breaks Technician | Brooklyn, NY

Sylkey

Electric Empire | DC

Nysus

Electric Empire | DC

DJ Whatt

DJ Whatt born in Brooklyn, NY has been djing since 1996. He started off by first purchasing a few hip hop records at two local record stores (From Cartl@Vinyl Fever and Yolanda@Galaxy Records) to play on his father’s record player. This soon came to an end upon his parents getting upset with his destruction of using his baseball cards to slow down the records at half speed, which was all the craze at that time. The next victim was his friend Booger who happened to own two of those classic Gemini turntables not exactly fit for anyone to be spinning on but would work for the time being. After convincing Booger to give up one of his Gemini decks he purchased a Technic turntable at the local pawn shop for $25 as well as a small two channel Gemini mixer from Thoughrobred Music. Listening on his headset for months he saved up his money to finally purchase a set of speakers and an amp from Circuit City, which his parents quickly came to hate. Finally, after getting his dj set-up complete, he convinced Booger to just surrender all of his hip hop records and the beat matching game began.

At this time he started hearing about these “raves” from some friends on the basketball court they finally convinced him to attend one. One night he persuaded his friends Greg and Alan to at least give him a ride to the event as they refused to attend. After dancing all night to the funky breaks of djs like Icey (including hearing his “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8” track over six times) he was hooked to the music and his hip hop phase was over, despite his two and a half hour walk home through two project developments at 7 in the morning after the event.

Exhausted but still inspired from the night before he found his way to Neptune Records where John told him what breaks were and pulled a stack of records which became the beginning of Dj Whatt’s breaks collection. After getting his records and while practicing his sister asked him “if you are going to be djing what is going to be your dj name” and the music being too loud he replied “what?” and she said “what is going to be your name?” and he said “yeah, that’s it”, she said “what?” and he said “yeah, dj what, but with two Ts”. And she laughed not knowing he would indeed become DJ Whatt.

After years of practice and getting his first set of 1200’s he finally stopped refusing his friend’s requests to play out and took his first gig at Patrick’s night club in Tampa in 1998. Following this initial gig he released several underground mix Cds, which caused quite a stir and gained him much popularity with the kids as well as many gigs throughout the state of Florida. During this time fellow close artists such as B-Nice and Tony Faline indirectly encouraged him to start investing in studio gear. So, in the year 2000 Whatt began putting his home studio together with the aspirations of releasing his own vinyl.

After Whatt’s production and remix work was complete on several tracks he realized he needed a label under which to release this material. Brainstorming a name for the label and one day looking over his past mix Cds, particularly the one he did with fellow dj Rick Kastle, he realized that that was it….Whatt Kastle. This name also coincidently reminded him of the little hamburgers he loved so much as a kid growing up in Brooklyn and which inspired the design of his record label’s logo.

The label enjoyed great success within the breaks community and gave Whatt the avenue that he was so desperately wanting. Releasing over 8 records his first year he was well on his way to achieving his goals. Soon, so much material was being produced he eventually developed two other labels in order to release his remix projects that were played on radio stations from coast to coast.

Whatt wanted to finally bring Whatt Kastle to an end and wanted to solely focus on original material and create a label that could one day acheive main stream acceptance. This is why EMUOR, Electronic Music Under One Roof, was created. Him and Madame Mercury developed his idea into one of reality. EMUOR is now in full swing and is enjoying producing and manufacturing great tunes for all music lovers to enjoy.

The future is a bright one for DJ Whatt and he will never forget the people that inspired him and guided him along the way.

Sylkey

With the dawn of 2005, Sylkey took the DC/Baltimore scene by storm, blowing up dancefloor after dancefloor with her explosive sound and solid mixing skills. Her dynamic breaks sets have earned her not only an impressive fan base, but recognition across the entire Mid-Atlantic region, as well. Sylkey's rich background and deep roots in the Trance movement of the late 90's has shaped her into a well rounded and intiutive DJ. Her flawless mixes and unrelenting passion for the beat have become staple characteristics of her sets. For those who have been lucky enough to see this dance maiden work it live, it is clear that Sylkey's impressive reputation is well deserved. It is no surprise that her fan base continues to grow ever larger with each appearence. Rest assured, this mixing minx with leave you breathless and thirstin' for more, no matter what style of dance is your poison.

Nysus

DJ Nysus (formally Dionnysus; AKA EE Godfather o?ne) has rocked the DC/Baltimore scene with his dirty nasty breaks since '99. In Sept 2003 Nysus teamed up with Dj Moove to form Electric Empire, o?ne of the most talented diverse Dj Crews in the east coast scene. When Nysus steps behind the decks o?ne thing is for sure, you will be entertained beyond your wildest expectations. The aggressive battle style at which he attacks his breakbeat sets makes jaws drop everywhere he goes. Discovering his brother in sound and o?ne true tag partner Moove has led to the birth of "Sunken Funk" which you will be seeing and hearing very soon. Become part of the Electric Empire Experience.

Styles include his self titled Dirty Nasty Breaks - which includes the grittiest of Funky, Nu-skool, Prog, Classic and Acid breaks all rolled into sets that are truly unique. Also during Nysus' Moonlighting series he experiments with Prog House / Trance (coming soon to Moonlighting series he will take o?n Tech House as well as Drum n Bass)

Former Residencies include the DC after hours party Phoenix @ Ben & Mo's ; the Flotation parties @ The Edge (dc). Also the New Energy parties in York PA and the Cynergy parties in PA; as well as his own party Dance Fever @ Club Uptowns in MD