24: As far as being a  club deejay, tour deejay, and record producer, your field is entertainment galore. How do you deal with having all these on your plate?

Dj Trauma: Its always a juggling act. But I don’t want to sit around not doing anything. I’d rather be working then just chilling, it works itself out. I do my production in the morning, midday I handle my business, at night I deejay. It flows together.

24: You been outside the country plenty of times, does that aid with your music selection when you come back to the states?


Dj Trauma: Sometimes it gives you broader feel for the music. In the states you get tired of a song but its hot overseas, or sometimes something big over there but its not over here, but it could work. It just gives you a different perspective on what you consider hot. For me personally rocking the clubs you always try to reinvent yourself to come out with new stuff and all that definitely works.

24: Do you catch yourself playing the same things overseas that you play over here in the states?

Dj Trauma: I definetly play a lot of different stuff when I go overseas. Their perspective on hiphop is sometimes more narrow, they stick to the hits. Something that hits over here may not be a hit over there. When I was in Lagos the Akon “Im so paid” was killing em. In the sates that song doesn’t work but over there it was like I played “Turn my swag on”.

24: Being that your music orientated and business orientated. Do you feel as if you have an advantage amongst other deejays?

Dj Trauma: Sometimes it can be a plus sometimes it can be a minus. When it comes down to business if you have a business mind it definitely helps you. You understand the bigger picture and you understand that the lil things you do now will create a bigger picture in the future. On the down side I take on too much thats when you just gotta be the artist and have management do stuff for you. Its pretty much a balancing act.

24: How do you feel about becoming affiliates with 24hourhiphop.com to do the weekly “I am the party” online mix?

Dj Trauma: I think its going to be a dope ass collabo. I just started doing them. I wanted to keep my skills sharpened and play different things that I may not be able to play at a party. I got the opportunity to combine with 24hourhiphop and it sounded like a big opportunity. I wanna further what I do in Atlanta out of Atlanta. I just thought that would be a great collab.

24: When will this start?

Dj Trauma: This Monday and every Monday.

24: What will be in the mix?

Dj Trauma: Every week it a be different. It can be some old school, some of it will be new hits, some will be a mixture of both and some may be blends. I just got back from Lagos I might use some music from out there. They got some talented artists. Im just going to keeping it exciting.

24: Other then 24hourhiphop.com Where else can this mix be found?

Dj Trauma: It will definitely be on my website www.DjTrauma.com, I also have a facebook called ‘I am the party’, I also upload my stuff on there. Those are the two biggest places to get it.

24: You’ve been in the game for over ten years. How do you feel about Hiphop today?

Dj Trauma: I think that more people do it for the money then do it love. It has become a big business, when I started I didn’t know it would be a career, it was just a hobby, then I really started making money.I was like “whoa”.

24: What influenced you to be Dj Trauma?

Dj Trauma: I used to listen a lot of radio. I grew up in New York so I use to listen to Red Alert, Mr Magic, Pete Rock and those were definitely big influences, when it came to the club deejay Kid Capri. It was like 90-91 I went to see him at a club and I was like oh shit this dude is crazy. I know he definitely was a major influence. Down here in Atlanta Dj Jelly, this guy name Soul Fire I use to rock with him a lot back in the day and Empress Searcy. Lil Jon was a deejay back in the day. Those are some of my influences down here in Atlanta.

24: What can fans expect from Dj Trauma in the future?

Dj Trauma: I’m bout to go on the road with these two groups, one being Rock City. I’m also producing, you’ll start to see a lot more production credits. I’m about to do a collaboration with a big artist in Lagos named LB and another artist in South Africa. Its about to be a problem. I’ll just be pretty much building the Dj Trauma brand.

24: Any last words you wanna say to the world?

Dj Trauma: Stay tuned I’ll be every in city in the world, Im ready to be every where. I’m ready to travel. 2009 is my year especially the Africa market, its poppin over there.

Check our Music Section for the ‘I Am The Party’ Mix Presented by DJ Trauma and 24Hourhiphop.com