BIO

What’s your poison? Hip Hop? House? Classics? Reggae? The evolution of a DJ can be seen through the eyes of Virginia’s own DJ Phlipz. With an unmistakable style and unforgettable turntable flair, his domination of the sound system will have you off your seat and on the floor all night long. This Northern VA native has help put DC’s DJ scene on the map by providing a wide range of specialties towards his craft, whether it is mixing the hottest tracks out, making his own remixes and edits, or providing the visuals for a unique music video set. Music by everyone and for everyone, no genre is safe from DJ Phlipz’s inspiration and no one will be able to resist shaking what God gave them when he takes over the DJ booth and fills the club with his distinct beats. He is able play to a wide range of audiences, whether it is the Top 40 radio crowd, the international EDM crowd, or the always fickle DC hip-hop crowd, and he has shown time and time again that he can provide a diverse look into the world of club music.

What started out as burning mix cd’s for friends’ house and college parties in the early 2000’s when the “MP3” craze was starting to boom, has now blossomed into a career that most people become envious about and only dream about doing. He has always loved music, and being able to turn it into a full-time career has helped shaped him into one of the most recognized names in DC nightlife.

“In high school and college, I would make mixes of whatever the popular songs were at the moment, and burn them onto a CD in a specific order, kind of like how “NOW” makes theirs. The first third would be opener/build-up tracks, the second third would be the HITS at the time, and the last third would be the slower songs that people liked… all on a CD with 21 tracks. Back then, CD burners were expensive and the fastest ones you could get would still take an hour!”

Realizing that burning a couple mix CD’s wasn’t enough to keep a party going, he purchased 2 Pioneer CDJ-100’s and a DJM-300 because he saw a local DJ using them at school’s bar. Although they were a great start up set to use, he eventually decided he needed more interaction with the music, and purchased 2 Technics 1200’s, the industry standard for DJ’s. While on his hustle working for EA Sports as a campus rep at Virginia Tech, he used the money from that job to purchase vinyl online, because his school was 4 hours from the closest record shop. By building a dope club collection of wax, he was able to secure a residency for two years at the Hokie hot spot, The Water Street Gallery. From there he would build his following that he would take back to DC once he graduated from school.

He got his first break in DC starting out with Panorama Productions, the most well known and biggest promoting company in DC, by doing Tuesday college nights at the infamous 1223, and Thursdays at Dream Nightclub. “I would carry 6-7 crates of records, and 3-4 bags too, just to make sure I had enough music for the night!” Through Panorama, he learned how to spin the now widely accepted “open-format” of DJ’ing, before anyone else in the city was doing it. While other DJ’s were questioning his style, he was paving the way for them to eventually follow. From there he was able to secure gigs across the city, which included the now defunct Home Nightclub, Platinum Club, and Eyebar, among others. By building his reputation at these clubs, he was able to secure residencies at Play Lounge in midtown DC and Chloe Lounge in Adams Morgan, where he DJ’d at for three years every Friday and Saturday from 2005-2008. Fast-forward to the present, and now DJ Phlipz is one of the go-to names in DC, and he is doing guest spots every weekend across the District.

One of the major impacts DJ Phlipz has also made in the DC scene, is that he is one of the only DJ’s to continuously make mix CD’s year after year, to hand out as promotional tools, and to also give back to the community that supports him. One of his most famous mixes, “Nightriders,” was very well received, as it was a full-length mix of all 80’s songs utilizing samples from famous 80’s movies. His mixes would also range from different types of music each time, with some being all top 40 and hip hop, and others being all house. Giving back to his fan base is one of the key rules that he lives by, because without them he would be nowhere. Now with DJ technology moving at light speed, he is able to make more mixes, and provide them to fans easier and over the internet. His P.O.V. Lounge mixes, which he started at the end of 2009, are recorded live from the W Hotel in Washington, DC. They have been downloaded more than 15,000 times!

Through his decade long career, DJ Phlipz has also embraced the technology that has transformed the DJ game over the past 5 years. He was one of the first DJ’s in DC to embrace Serato. He was one of the first DJ’s in DC to embrace using a DJ Controller. He was one of the first DJ’s in DC to embrace Video DJ’ing in the club. All this while keeping his roots strongly connected to the music that he loves, and the history that comes with it. DJ’s now are a dime a dozen in DC, and he knows there is hard work involved to stand out from the competition. “New DJ’s are spoiled and have everything nicely handed to them thanks to technology. They don’t understand the ethics and hard work that most DJ’s went through [pre-Serato]. My goal is to show them that they can still rock a party without having to play the top 50 songs of the current year.”

With his hard work, he has been able to secure gigs and DJ with numerous artists over the years, including The Black Eyed Peas, LMFAO, Robin Thicke, Fatman Scoop, Dev, Far East Movement, and Hypercrush. He has DJ’d alongside some of the most well-known DJ’s in the industry including DJ Vice, DJ Enferno, DJ StoneRokk, DJ Geometrix, and DJ Chachi. His remixes, edits, and videos can be heard all over the world in the biggest clubs to the smallest lounges. His DJ edits can also be found on the best DJ websites including Direct Music Service, ClubKillers, Crooklyn Clan, DJ City, Franchise Record Pool, My MP3 Pool, 8th Wonder, and Remix Report.

With editing music and videos under his belt, he has now shifted his focus towards producing and remixing, and hopes to come out with his own original productions by the end of 2012.