DJ Young Music: You Can't Win in the DMV
Though he may not be old enough to pop champagne, 18-year-old DJ Young Music has a lot to celebrate.
The DMV-bred deejay/producer has already inked a distribution deal with E1 Music and Films (formerly Koch Records) for his label DYMG that will not only give him a platform to showcase his work, but will also put him in a position to follow in the footsteps of one of his idols.
“By the end of 2015 the goal is to have that Diddy takeover because right now, can’t nobody mess with me. This hasn’t been seen before,” Young Music told BET.com in an exclusive conversation. “18, major distribution deal, on the radio so what can we say? It’s the takeover. And I’ma be honest right now, I can’t be stopped because I won’t allow anybody to stop me. We’re not taking 'No' for an answer.”
Young Music began deejaying at the age of 12 and says one moment in particular drove him to excel.
“When I was 12 years old I was deejaying this radio event over the summer and this older radio deejay basically sonned me. He played with me like I was a little kid and I was mad, so I put all my money together and I went and bought my own Technics [SL-1200 turntables],” remembered Young Music. He continued, “Over the whole winter time through spring and up to summer I got really good at deejaying, so the next summer at the same event, it just so happened that same deejay was there but I was on the big stage and he was looking up to me.”
From there Young Music, who is also currently speaking to kids in schools across the country as part of Duane Myko'so Should Could Dream Tour, spent some time on the road as the official maestro for his uncle Ginuwine, and it was there he began to learn the harsh realities of the music business.
“What I’ve learned from being Ginuwine’s tour DJ and being around him is this is not a fair game,” noted Young Music. “It’s every man for themself and whoever comes out the strongest is who makes it to the top. I learned how things work behind the scenes and that the show must go on by any means. Having somebody like Ginuwine in my corner it’s like I can’t go wrong because I have somebody with me who’s been in this game, been through a lot of stuff before these rules and regulations were made up. When you have somebody like that it’s hard to fall.”
Though he serves as the newest and youngest weekly guest DJ for Maryland-based WPGC, DJ Young Music says the DMV is not a place for aspiring artists.
“The music scene in the DMV I would say is wack because nobody wants to support each other and it’s basically every man for they self. The DMV is not a place for music at all and I wouldn’t suggest for anybody in the DMV to get into music because you can’t win in the DMV,” he proclaimed. “You have to branch out to New York or Atlanta or L.A. or other cities to break your music because in the DMV there’s no love for an artist. But for me I got WPGC in my corner and a whole lot of cats there, but it doesn’t work like that so everybody else ... DJ Young Music is getting love through relationships before I was an artist.”
It’s that type of love that has helped the young hitmaker’s latest single “Right Here,” which features Frank Benz and Da-rai, reach No. 3 on the independent charts, and according to Young Music the song became more than just an isolated hit.
“This single gave me the opportunity to get a major distribution deal through E1 Film and Music in which as of today I’m the youngest to ever get that type of deal from them, and that deal gives me the platform to distribute music and movies," he noted. “I want to give other artists the opportunity to get on my projects. It’s about giving back and showing other people love cause it’s all about helping the next man out.”
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(Photo: Keon Green/KTG Works Media)
