DJ Eddie One made a career defining realization in 2002. The in-demand Los Angeles-based street promoter and co-owner of West Coast Record Pool saw the consolidation of the music business was on course to hurt his business, so he decided to make the switch from promoter to dj. I was getting all this free vinyl from the labels that I was servicing to all the LA DJs as a promoter, he recalls. So I said, I might as well put it to work myself.
Eddie One turned his attention to DJing. At first, it was a hobby that led to Eddie One soon putting out mixtapes and promoting himself on the streets. Power 106 radio personality Felli Fel was impressed. He saw my growth, my mixtapes getting better and better, my mixing getting cleaner and cleaner, Eddie One says. Being a promoter, I knew how to create my own buzz and so thats what I did. I took the marketing and promotion skills and used them to promote myself. Felli Fel saw my hustle in the streets and said, Im going to put you down with the Heavy Hitters. Thats when my DJ career took off.
Since then, DJ Eddie One has established himself as a major DJ force in the Los Angeles area. He is the mixshow coordinator at KXOL Latino 96.3 FM and can be heard on the air Monday through Friday 8pm-10pm on one of the highest rated mixshows in Los Angeles. In this capacity, Eddie One is able to reconnect to his Latino roots by speaking Spanglish on the air and playing Latin driven music, in addition to maintaining his presence in the Hip Hop & Top 40 world by going from Daddy Yankee to 50 Cent, from Don Omar to The Game, from Ciara to Ivy Queen, in the mix. He also holds down a daily Hip Hop radio show at Sirius Satellite Radio's Hot Jamz Channel 50 Monday-Friday 7pm pacific, and aspires to be a radio program director at a major radio station someday. He is also currently making TV appearances as host for Es Musica a Mobile Media TV Channel for Go TV Networks, and official DJ on Descontrol a weekly Video TV show airing saturdays at 1pm on the nationwide Telemundo network.
DJ Eddie Ones emergence as LAs premier DJ is truly remarkable. He was born in El Salvador and came to Los Angeles in 1989, when he was 11. His family came to escape his countrys civil war, and so that Eddie One would avoid being mandatory drafted when he turned 14. Los Angeles was like another world to Eddie One. He spoke no English and had never seen skyscrapers before. Music, however, remained a constant in his life. His parents played Cumbias, Merengue and Salsa, as well as such American stars as Steve Wonder. But it was Eddie Ones uncle who had the bigger musical influence by introducing him to Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Too $hort and Eazy-E. Even though Eddie One couldnt understand all of their lyrics at the time, he was blown away by the attitude and feel of the music. Eddie One had similar feelings towards house music.
Eddie One fed his love for music by promoting all ages parties while he was still in high school. From there, he got a break in 1998 when a friend gave him a job driving a promotional van for now defunct Los Angeles dance station Groove Radio. But the station soon shut down and Eddie One transitioned by starting West Coast Street Promotions company and earning industry respect by giving such artists as Erykah Badu, The Roots and Mary J. Blige, West Side Connection, Snoop Dogg a major street push. Soon thereafter, DJ Eddie One began working on his DJ skills and established himself as Los Angeless premier DJ, a position he still holds by dominating the airwaves. My dream was to be on the radio here in LA, he says, and the LA dream came through.
Check out www.DjEddieOne.com for more information.
