My name is DJ Red Corvette. I’m from San Francisco, California, and I’m representing Old Oakland.
I chose old Oakland because that’s where I got my first big gigs when Liege was open. I was trying to learn how to deejay on everything, and I went to talk to my cousin, Tyranny from Marketing Kings. And he had an event that he just let me get on. And I didn’t go there with any kind of…I went there just to learn, and I had the opportunity to learn at Liege with Ouma and Chris Michelle … How to just deejay on everything. Because Chris has every single DJ, anything, any controller, mixer CDJs. He has everything, turntables, all of that. So I went there to learn. And also, I came out with so much more, and a lot of people started booking me through there. When Parliament opened, I started booking a lot of gigs, which is in old Oakland, too. I remember always coming to Oakland and being in old Oakland… Air lounge was there. That’s where I fell in love with DJ Hector and D.C. …I already knew D.C. But Hector was there and he was a really good DJ. And I always was like, Oh, who is this guy? I’ve seen some of the best DJs in old Oakland at Liege. I’m seeing Kenny Burns DJ, I’ve seen Active DJ. I’ve seen Rich Medina DJ. I’ve seen some of the best deejays around the, you know, around the country or world deejay in that space. So that’s why Old Oakland is so special to me.
So the music that I played in my set is just a bunch of songs that I’m inspired by. I really like regional music, especially regional black music, because it kind of signifies what that city is about. I really like traveling to all kinds of cities just to listen to music and just be engulfed in their culture. And I played a lot of regional music because I just enjoy being in that place for the moment that I’m playing a song. I was also able to play whatever I want when I was in these venues, they allowed me to do whatever I wanted. When it came to either me deejaying, me curating an event, a lot of support came out of the people that I know from Old Oakland, and I’ve always had great conversations with the folks that I know in that area, and they’ve always just told me to be myself and play and do what I want. Do me, don’t worry about anybody else, just do me.
And that’s why I like when I’m deejaying, I’m always getting lost. I don’t know if you noticed I was getting lost, noticed how tired I was. I’m always getting lost in the spaces that I’ve been in and DJing has always allowed me just to get lost and be who I am.
The first one that I played Frontin’ 1991…it’s a Amapiano… I dive deep into SoundCloud. That’s where I find a lot of my music. So it was one where I just was like, Oh, I can’t let this go.
I haven’t been to South Africa, but I’ve been inspired by Amapiano. Those deejays that are all on Instagram, doing all those dances and stuff and just being in Brooklyn all the time … I feel like I’m in so many different places when I’m there because they play whatever they want. Amapiano has always been very popular out there and it’s been very popular as an emerging genre. So I’ve been digging deep into it and trying to find remixes that I can play in a party that kind of brings people back so that they don’t get thrown off by the actual song that I’m playing or the beat that I’m playing. And I guess they still know the words to that song and they still can sing it. So people recognize it because I don’t always like to play the same. I don’t always like playing the mainstream song or the main song. So if I can find any kind of track where someone has something similar, after hours and hours I play this song often and people are worn out by the actual song, but that remix always makes people want to sing this song. So, yeah,
Gentrification has pushed a lot of businesses out, closed them down. Gentrification has taken some of the culture away from the area, like certain businesses were closed because of the type of events that were there and nothing happened, but it was too loud or …people have complained about the area being too loud, but it’s the art and culture area and is known for having venues there.
So if you live on top of a club, of course, Friday, Saturday and Sunday is going to be loud. There’s restaurants. People go over there. So it is cool, but then it’s kind of not cool. I mean, I think that this regulation has kind of changed a lot that has happened in Oakland since I’ve been living here, but mainly specifically for Old Oakland. I just enjoy the area and I like that there is an area where these parties and these venues and they’re owned by black people can be and we can all go hang out there and. I mean, that’s super cool, too. Some new businesses are opening up. While some have closed, but…
I want to shout out to everybody that that has helped me in the past and has gave me any advice and has booked me. So Fillmoe Mike is one of the guys that got me my first internship at KMEL when I wanted to start in music in 05. He also book me for my first gig…I was fucking up! He was like “Just play on this CDJ” I was like I’m gonna fuck up I don’t really know how to do this…Tyranny Allan, Chris Michelle, Ouma, Pam The Funkstress. She showed me how to do the titties scratch, but I don’t think I’ve mastered that yet. But she was one of the people that was there. That was helping me. That was showing me things as a D.J. when I was trying to learn how to do this. DC, Big Von Daghe, who’s like my best friend and like, always been my partner in crime. And you know, to do this, we lean on each other a lot, get each other through any kind of time whether there would be a high time or a low, learning time. Um, Jason for booking me all the time and Jojo and the whole Parliament family. All of my friends have always supported me. All of my family members, they supported me. My other really one of my other close best friends that I’ve done so many things with Vange I want to shout her out. She’s been a part of my growth, we had the Women Sound Off and all those things have added to my career and gotten me to a place that I am now and I’m looking forward to more. And I appreciate all the women that have been involved with that brand, too. And also, I just want to shout out to all the deejays that are grinding male, female, whoever they are like, I just appreciate them keeping the culture going here, for always pushing through and still DJ and no matter what, coming out of the pandemic and still being able to do their thing. Um. Yeah, those are my shout outs.
