Diamond Dog has been mixing music since the very young age of 12.
He began his journey working with the
old school hip hop
artists such as
Newcleus,
Planet Patrol,
Afrika Bambaata,
Run DMC,
as well as classic electro music from
Cybotron,
Kraftwerk,
and
Jonzun Crew
.
Mixing was tough back then cuz he had to work with whatever junk turntables he could lay his hands on. But, eventually... as he continued to practice, he began to improve his
turntablism
skillz.
At 16, Diamond Dog was DJ'ing house parties south of
Miami
...in the
Homestead
/
Florida City
area. By then, he had a pair of
Technics 1200's,
so he was puttin on sum good shows. At the time, he was doin' parties for $50, a ride to & from the spot, & drinks for him & his boys. Cheap parties....but still Jam Packed! Popular groups from
Miami
at the time were the
2 Live Crew,
Poison Clan
(where
JT Money
began his career),
Breezy Beat MC,
and
Afro-Rican.
At 17, the Dog got his 1st official gig at the local roller rink....Homestead Skating Center...which was the former gig for the world known
Luke (Luther Campbell)
of
Luke Skyywalker Records.
Alright...the name doesn't say much....but the business spoke for itself. This was the hot spot in
Homestead
for everyone who was under 21. By this time, Diamond Dog was also giving out
mixtapes
(real cassettes back then...haha) to his close friends for promotion. He was, also, still running his own mobile DJ service as well.
Some of the most noteable house parties were in
Biscayne Bay
(this cat had a yacht docked in his back yard....dayum), madd parties for da 299th St boys in
Homestead,
and some big parties out in
The Redlands.
In 1990, the roller rink had changed owners and it was turned into an ice skating arena named Ice Castles.
Diamond Dog remained on as one of the top DJ's. By then, he was also working at a pirate radio station out of
Florida City
known as Bass 91.9. Diamond Dog worked there with his partner, Esteban (Kidd Scratch) Hernandez, Anthony...aka Ant, DJ Soft Touch, & KC. The radio station had a very loyal following of locals and could be heard as far south as
Key Largo
& as far north as
Naranja.
By this time, Diamond Dog had met several local talents such as
BVSMP
(who have a track that is still on the net today called "I Need You"), Kidd MC, MC Jeffox, ISC DJ's (International Sound Creators), Daryll (DJ) James (one of da craziest beatboxers outta Homestead),
MC Shy D,
Mikey C, the
Gucci Crew II ,
and the TKO Posse (who recorded on the Florida City based label Front Street Records).
In 1992, everything appeared to be going on-track for Diamond Dog. Not only did he run his own mobile DJ service, but he also had a steady gig at "Ice Castles"
and a radio spot at Bass 91.9.
With all that in his favor, Diamond Dog was also preparing to head into the studio (Front Street Records out of Florida City) to do some album work with MC Jeffox. Just as fast as things got on track, they got right back off track.
Before Diamond Dog and Jeffox were able to record anything together,
Hurricane Andrew
swept through & displaced everyone.
Everything that Diamond Dog grew up with was gone in an instant!!
His home, the radio station, Ice Castles, everything!!
With nothing left in south Florida, Diamond Dog moved up to
Orlando
for a year, where he attempted to get back into the game with very little success. Eventually, he returned to his hometown (
Watertown, NY
) which is located about 1 hour north of
Syracuse.
It was there where he stayed on the down-low for many more years. During this time period, Diamond Dog did nothing with
music, aside from a few small-time local gigs. In fact, some of the hottest house parties ever thrown in the Watertown
area were thrown by Diamond Dog and his brother,
Josh (Woody) Woods,
around the years of 2000-2001. Other than the wild house parties, Diamond Dog did very little with music publicly. However, being away from the music and mixing
was not in the cards for him. He would soon get himself back out in the public eye.
The call of the game was too overpowering to ignore.
In 2004, Diamond Dog began his road back into the game when he purchased his first piece of production software, which is known as
Mix Meister Pro.
He began working with
remixes
and
mashups.
After working at it and becoming better with the new digital-era equipment, he began to stir up a buzz in the local region with the "off the wall" styles that he put together.
Before long, he landed a gig at the Watertown based bar... the "Horizon" where he DJ'ed on Friday & Saturday nights with his partner, Jerod. With the promotion for the bar on the radio, the Horizon was packed every Friday and Saturday night with people from as far away as
Syracuse
and
Alexandria Bay.
Using his popularity at the bar,
Diamond Dog also created a
buzz
with his
mixtapes,
which consisted of everything from exclusives tracks to
mashups
to
remixes
to
megamixes.
Through the use of internet networking, material from Diamond Dog has been heard in clubs as far away as
West Virginia,
Pennsylvania,
California,
Florida,
Great Britain,
Beijing,
and
Singapore.
In December, 2006...the Horizon closed down due to ownership problems. However, Diamond Dog continued to push out unparalleled
mixtapes
in the
Watertown
area containing
megamixes,
remixes
&
mashups
that were never before heard in the area.
In 2008, the
mixtape
game has been pushed to a new era with the release of Summer Heat 2008...a cd which combines raw mixing with commercial sounds, underground talent and brand new releases.
The
mixtape
received a quick
buzz
in the
Watertown
area with it's "party style" format. If you like
mixtapes,
then you can check this one out here at djdiamonddog.com in the
"Mixtapes"
section.
On the heels of the Summer Heat success, 2008 also brought out
the first full length
mashupmixtape
...Rock vs. Rap.
This
mixtape
brought
hip hop
and
rock
together in an unimagineable way. Rock vs. Rap almost doubled the success of Summer Heat and was still being requested over 6 months after it's original release. Rock vs. Rap is also available in the
"Mixtapes"
section.
With the success of these two
mixtapes,
Diamond Dog decided to pursue the
mixtape
game further. Between 2007 & 2010, he released 3 cd's in the Quick Hitzz
series, which is an end of the year tribute to that year's greatest tracks, both
mainstream
& on the
underground circuit.
He also released 3 cd's in the Summer Heat series, all which are devoted to the newest & hottest
hip hop
set to rule that year's summer months.
On July 15, 2010, he also released the much anticipated sequal to
Rock vs. Rap, which was a jam-packed.. 99 track cd of nothing but
mashups!
Another groundbreaking mix was also released in September 2010 entitled Pocket Party which is a non-stop
4 hour mix designed to be played from an iPod for rocking a party when there may not be a DJ available. Just
plug in the iPod to some good speakers, turn on Pocket Party, & the rest will fall into place.
The 4th edition in the Quick Hitzz series was also released in December 2010. All of Diamond Dog's mixtapes are available
for free download in the
MIXTAPE
section of the website.
With the
buzz
stirring, Diamond Dog now has this website (www.djdiamonddog.com) to showcase his original styles.
If you like the remixes & megamixes on this page, then stop by the MySpace page at
myspace.com/djdiamonddog
and add DJ Diamond Dog as a friend. You can also follow the Dog on
Twitter
or send a friend request on
Facebook
.
You can access all of Diamond Dog's social networking sites at any time via the Social Networks link at the top
of the page.
I'd like to thank everyone who has taken the time to visit my website, listen to the music and share my links with
your friends and family. You, my supporters, are the reason why I try to keep my website updated frequently. Your love
and support is very much appreciated!! Feel free to get at me anytime via my e-mail or social networks...