Have you been to Club Nine 16 on a Wednesday night or did
you stop by the Import Car Show last month to check out the
skills and talents of Seattle resident DJ Krayz.
Hanging out with his friends began the life quest for DJ
Krayz as a DJ.
One of his friends, also a promoter, introduced Krayz to
Mixmaster Mike and from that meeting he began his career as
a DJ at age 15.
Krayz took his paycheck every week from McDonald’s to buy
turntables and records so he could spend hours watching DJ
Qbert videos to develop his own style of physical
techniques.
He sought out DJ Scribble CD's and spent hours locked in his
room practicing breaking into songs correctly and to do the
famous scratches that Scribble is famous for.
All of his hard work and money began to pay off for him when
he hit high school.
Krayz began in high school DJ’ing local house parties in the
9th grade and got his break in the 11th grade when a local
club invited him to DJ for them.
It was exactly two years ago when he was hired to DJ a show
at the Ballard Firehouse and continues to play there.
Krayz not only puts in hard work on his turntables, he also
puts in hours doing self-promotions on the streets. Local
promoters have started to notice and are seeking out his
talent on the turntables.
Some of Krayz’s mentors in the game of course are some of
the founders of the DJ scene: DJ Qbert, Scribble, Bad Boy
Bill, Vansai and Rsin just to name a few.
This year has been good to Krayz in the scene. He got to DJ
at the Jin the MC show at Noiselab in January 2003.
In the months of February and March he was DJ’ing at clubs
like Nine 16, Caesar, Aristocrats and Rock Salt.
Krayz is currently looking at traveling to Hawaii in May to
perform and this summer heading up to Toronto to work with a
promoter for mass appeal.
He also has a tour with twistedparadox.com in Minnesota and
Milwaukee.
Overall he is proud to be a local Seattle DJ and has a good
thoughts about the hip-hop scene.
While he understands this isn't Atlanta or LA where the club
and event scene for a DJ can be a lifelong career, he is
satisfied at what's been going down this year from him and
many other DJ friends he has made.
Krayz’s main comment about the scene here is that too often
some DJ's are afraid to move away from just playing
mainstream music from MTV.
Luckily he is one DJ who likes to play local artists cuts
and throw in new unheard music.
Every DJ has a different view on what they like to spin and
how they do their sets.
This DJ Krayz has the energy and desire to play what the
crowd likes and the guts to introduce you to new cuts at the
same time.
His first professionally produced CD is coming soon to area
stores and every week you can check him out on his radio
show, Saturday Night Pre-Funk, with Hugh I at
www.raindawg.com. For club events you can go dance to
today's hits spun by him at Club Nine 16 every Wednesday and
Aristocrats on Saturdays.
He can be contacted at www.twistedparadox.com or email him
at djkrayz@aol.com.
