Welcome to the Tweed Trends podcast. Hey, Evette, what's trending today? Hey, I'm Evette, hey girl. And you are tuned in to Tweed Trends.
It's the quickest way to find out what's trending today. Welcome back. Although today is World Social Media Day, I'm going to celebrate the fact that today is the last day of DJ Appreciation Month. And as you can probably guess already, I've got a great guest waiting.
So let's get started. I want to start off by introducing my guest today. And he's DJ Sincere. Hey there, how are you?
I'm good. How about yourself? I'm great. I'm great.
So I'm going to start from the very beginning. That spot right there, DJ Sincere. Where did you get that name from? Because rumor has it that you haven't always been DJ Sincere.
Oh, oh, room. So you've been digging. I have, yes. With the research.
All right. Well, here's OK. I've been DJing in the game since maybe about 10 or 11. I have two older brothers.
So the oldest brother, my parents, purchased him like the component set and bought him records. So he collected records, right? So he went off to the army and left this little sound system and all these records. That's when hip hop took off.
So the next older brother, he was learning how to DJ. Me being the youngest, of course, I want to follow behind what they're doing. So when I saw him learning how to mix records and scratching things like that, well, I want to learn too. So we both kind of, he taught me and we're learning the game.
And he gets in a group. I want to be in a group too. No, he came to you too young. Duh, duh, duh, duh.
So they made shirts. You know, this is back in the day. It's like in the 80s. And they made shirts.
I think they were the Village 4 or something like that. So I wouldn't feel like, you know, I'm part of the group. So I said, I want shirt too. So they made me one and I'm disco beat.
So my original DJ name was the disco beat. Later, people just call me Mike B. And then once I decided to pursue a DJ career, like really pursue it, I took a severance package at my corporate job to go and take this leap of faith, right? Oh, wow.
Yeah, so I took it. And I started, you know, getting in the mix, going to the clubs, this is in Atlanta. So I started realizing that there's a DJ Mike B that was in the club scene in Atlanta at that same time. So people were coming to me and saying, Hey, DJ, such a such a play techno now.
I'm like, uh, no, that's not me. So this guy was in the mix. He's bigger than me. You know, I'm just, I'm getting my name out there.
But the DJ Mike B name was already established. So I'm watching my favorite movie, Belly, the main character in that movie is played by my favorite hip-hop artist, which is Nause. His name was Sincere in the movie. So I took that name of Sincere.
Got it. Because I had to come up with something because Mike B was already taken. And I didn't want to fight. Whoever that might be, I never met him.
But to have two Mike B's out in Atlanta. So I took Sincere and, you know, ran with it. So who was your inspiration other than your brothers? Was there any DJ back in the day that you were watching what they were doing?
And well, back in the day, we couldn't watch too much. We didn't have cable. And a lot of the hip-hop was coming out of New York. We had a friend that had a cousin that would come from New York so we would have them to just put in a cassette and just hit record of New York radio.
Oh, OK. And then send those tapes back to us. That's for you guys. Those DJs were more like a kick-up pre, Chilal, Mr.
Magic, Red Alert, Grandmaster Flash Cube, because he was actually putting our record and scratching on the record. Just any radio station in New York type stuff, anybody that was on air, just hit record and please send it to us. That's what we would listen to until North Carolina started picking up in the hip-hop DJ scene. But Grandmaster Flash is my top of the chain.
What can hurt is the top of the chain? Now, because you've been in so long though, you've definitely seen how DJing has changed over the years. So what's your take on how things have changed? I mean, was it an easy transition for you?
I was forced to change. I love the vinyl records, turntables. I love that piece. So to me, the change came when Serato came out.
Serato was the DJ program. OK, let me back up. Before then was CDs, the Elimination of Vinyl to the 83s. So actually, that might be the big one.
I didn't want to let go of vinyl. CDs were more practical. I mean, it made sense. I'm still apprehensive.
I'm on CDs. Now I'm taking books of CDs with me to the club. My CDs get stolen. Someone broke into my car and stole my CDs.
So I have the DJ in the club for Saturday. This was like on a Monday. Luckily, I was working out of radio station at the time. The program director let me go into some CDs, because of course they get them straight from the record label.
And he allowed me to kind of get something together. So then I've got my music together and put it into Serato. Now I have the DJ field by using the turntables. And I've been there ever since.
But the technology has changed. It is for the better. But it now allows a bigger footprint of people to come in to claim you're a DJ. I can't hate on it because it's benefited me in a lot of ways to give me the same access as these major DJs.
So now in honor of Black Music Month, what's your favorite genre to play? I personally like 90s hip hop and R&B. Anything in the 90s? Oh my goodness, it's just beautiful.
Plus I was in Atlanta around in the early 90s. So I got a taste of that outcast, organized noise, and what was coming out at that time. And it was different, but it was beautiful. I grew up listening to the radio.
What was on the radio is kind of how I played. But with this COVID, my playlist has brought. As I was doing my digging, I ran across this DJ tag stream. The quarantine?
Yes. What can you tell me about this by DJ deal? Like what is that about? Do your research.
I see. I see. Good. All right.
So quarantine hits. Nobody's doing anything. Everybody's looking at the DJ. So I have a friend that DJ friend who said, you know what?
Hey, Google bus DJ. So they invited me to come out and DJ with him on his tag stream. Five guys. Majority of them are New Yorkers.
I'm the only one in front of South. And you know, they did one of the DJs right from the garden. DJ didn't matter the square garden one. DJ don't hide 97 in New York.
Just different DJs. And we just came together as one. We do back to back hour slots. And just bring people along like a club.
It's been going on pretty good. I've been in it for about a month. And I put up, I have about four mixes up on Periscope now. OK.
Well, that was a perfect little segue into sheer how everybody can find you on social. OK. Well, I can be found. I have a DJ page on Facebook, DJ sincere.
Instagram is the same. I'm doing Twitch on there on sincere the DJ. OK. You can follow me there.
And on Periscope, which is what I like the best, I'm DJ sincere on there as well. So if you listen and come and subscribe, be my friend, check my mixes out. They're up. So hopefully you'll like them.
And be a part of the stream. We'll introduce. We always send links out to where to go next. So there's a seamless transition, wide range of music.
So I definitely will love it. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for spending this time with me and chatting. I really appreciate it.
Absolutely. Same gear. Definitely. And hopefully other people out there appreciate their DJs this month.
That's right. That's right. Appreciate us. Appreciate somebody.
There's a million of us out there. So just take time to appreciate one. OK. Well, that was today's episode.
I hope you really enjoyed it. And although today is the last day of DJ appreciation month, it's never too late to appreciate the DJs out there. Dean I said it off and the other DJs came running to our rescue because this COVID situation, it's a lonely time. So to be able to go to your favorite platform, whether it's IG, Facebook Live, Periscope, any of these places, and to be able to have that feel like you were at the club, listening to your favorite DJ spinning, taking you back, and just having you dance like nobody's watching, it does something for you.
So go out there, support these DJs. And most of them have a cash app or PayPal set up where you can tip the DJ. Definitely do that because some of them, this is their livelihood. This is what they do for a living.
And these are some tough times. So show some love to the DJs, give them a tip, party on. And like I always try to do, I try to put a little charity in here as well. Now, granted, this one is out of the UK.
The name of it is last night at DJ Save My Life. And I love that name. You can find them on Twitter at lnadj underscore charity. And they offer a whole lot.
So definitely go check them out and see if there are some ways that maybe you can support them. You can donate to them. You can help because they have a lot of worthwhile causes that they work towards. And as usual, while you're there, follow me at HeVat.
That's at heee-weee-weee-tee-tee. Or just look for the hashtag tweet trends. All right, guys. I'll see you on Thursday.