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As the most influential DJ on the West Coast, Felli Fel
has played an integral part in shaping the sound of popular music in
America. His nightly show on Los Angeles’ top rated radio station,
Power 106, has grown tremendously since it started over eight years
ago. Today, Felli’s four hour hip-hop mixshow reaches an estimated two
million listeners. Known on-air as “The record maker and the record
breaker,” the multi-talented DJ has recently gained nationwide
notoriety with the release of his self-produced certified Gold single
“Get Buck in Here” featuring Akon, Ludacris, Lil Jon and Diddy, from
his upcoming So So Def/Def Jam debut, Go DJ. With Kanye West,
the Game and T-Pain, also making appearances on his LP, DJ Felli Fel
not only spins the hits, but makes them pop as well.
Born
in Rock Hill, South Carolina where he lived until moving to Atlanta
with his parents at five years-old, Felli Fel grew up immersed in music
thanks to his mother’s love of disco, Motown and classical. Although he
sang in his church’s choir and played the organ for about a week, Felli
didn’t start getting serious about making music until he was 16. He did
however try to emulate the scratching sounds he heard on hip-hop
records. “My homeboy who lived across the street for me in Atlanta had
the UTFO record, ‘Roxanne, Roxanne,’” remembers Felli. “I think his
cousin had left it at his house and I took it and put it on my mom’s
turntable and tore her turntables up! That was the first record I
actually scratched on.”
Fel
eventually moved to Los Angeles for a year until his family relocated
to Dallas, Texas. Once in Dallas, 16 year-old Felli started to get more
serious about DJing and got his start as a producer. “I started playing
at house parties and I was at this party one night and this DJ had a
beat machine called a SP1200,” he says. “I recognized it from being on
a lot of album covers and rap videos. That piece of equipment got me
interested and that kid basically taught me how to work it.”
While
he was learning how to build his own tracks, the young music man
started DJing at a community radio station in Dallas called KNON. Soon
Felli was offered a slot on a commercial Spanish formatted station
called KICK FM where he stayed for a year before returning to the
hip-hop-centric community station. “About six months after I went back
to doing the community radio show, I got a call from the big hip-hop
station in Dallas, K 104,” says Felli. “I did that for three years
then I got the offer from Power 106 in LA and I’ve been doing Power for
the past eight years.”
As the
personality and DJ behind the 7pm to midnight Felli Fel Show on Power
106, Felli has had a heavy hand in introducing a number of smash
records over the past eight years. “I break music on the air, premier a
lot of new music and interview a lot of celebrities,” he says. “I have
the same kind of show that Funkmaster Flex has in New York. The only
difference is I produce music. I pride myself on the fact that I
actually create records with my fingers and my ears.”
With
a discography that includes songs produced for major artists across the
board, Felli Fel had no problem rounding up the star power for his
breakthrough hit, “Get Buck In Here.” Once the song started to pick up
steam on nation radio in October of 2007, Jermaine Dupri offered Felli
a deal through his label So So Def and Def Jam, where Dupri had
recently been named an executive.
Go DJ’s
second single, “The Finer Things” is a celebration of the spoils of
success as told by the song’s featured guests Kanye West, Ne-Yo,
Fabolous and Jermaine Dupri. Through Felli’s rock solid reputation as
LA’s top tastemaker, he has managed to maintain valuable relationships
with key artists. “These guys have seen me break artists that they’ve
put out and when stuff like that happens, artists don’t forget,” says
Felli on his exclusive access to hip-hop’s most valuable players. “I’ve
just been very blessed to be in a position that I’m in and I’ve treated
it with respect.”
With an upcoming album chock full of chart topping talent, DJ Felli Fel’s album Go DJ
is sure to rack up plenty of spins nationwide. With all of the tracks
produced by Felli himself, you can trust that DJs everywhere will have
plenty of new records to throw in the mix.
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