From the Big Apple to the Sunshine State, Hip Hop’s iconic DJ Cut Creator is now calling Central Florida home.

When asked what brought him to Florida, the answer was simple.

“It’s the Sunshine State”, said the legendary deejay. “Just change new opportunities. Bought a house and just want to relax a little bit. Want to work a little bit”.

He’s doing just that, already booked to deejay the Timeless Hip Hop Brunch hosted by rapper and music executive MC Serch this Sunday, Feb. 11 in downtown Orlando.

The brunch is one of four in February themed around love and Hip Hop. DJ Cut Creator will be spinning at the “I Need Love Brunch” from 2-7 p.m. at Proper on Orange Ave.

Of course, we asked, and he said he will play the classic record “I Need Love,” but he also needs to be shown a little Central Florida love being new to the area and all. This brunch serves as an official “Welcome to Orlando” to help the extremely talented selector feel at home. What’s there not to love about that, right? There’s more.

The venue is unique, the selectors only spin vinyl, guaranteed to bring a certain nostalgia that compliments the unique decor and overall vibe of the stylish club. Cut Creator said he’s looking forward to spinning vinyl again.

“I love the pops and crackles because I feel like it brings that nostalgia back and just reminds me of listening to them back in the day,” Cut Creator said. “I think also the changing of the record, you know, going from one to another not just you know, one platter. Yeah, you know, 12 edge, you know, the going from one to another is always fun.”

The Hip Hop legend even mentioned a few of his favorite records in his collection.

“I’m a big Run DMC fan. So I gotta have those classics,” he said.

Music wasn’t just something DJ Cut Creator decided to make into a career, it’s in his blood. His father, Jack Philpot, was a legendary saxophonist for Wilson Pickett — a major figure in the development of Soul music. Philpot also played with Sam and Dave as well as the Isley Brothers. DJ Cut Creator said his father played a fundamental role throughout his career. Jack Philpot was his idol.

Hear all about DJ Cut Creator’s childhood from watching his dad on the Ed Sullivan Show, how he met and became LL Cool J’s deejay and ended up on the set of Soul Train, to being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, all on the latest episode of Riff On This. Go ahead and show Cut some Central Florida love!

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The Queen of Opera is not just a woman who sings, but an entire company. D’Andrea Pelletier and her husband Drew have a vision.

“We are doing something entirely different,” D’Andrea Pelletier said. “We both have this bigger vision of not just me as the solo artist, although right now that is what we do.”

The company is still in the budding stages here in Orlando, but they are working on the big picture.

“Our company will run the entire show,” D’Andrea Pelletier said. “Run all aspects of it from the musicians to the other singers and bring in amazing talent and have something that’s an all-in-one exclusive experience — not just the singing, but the dancing and the pageantry.”

Typically opera singers go from opera house to opera house or different venues singing different roles and the rest is put together by a team.

This team is what D’Andrea Pelletier said is the mission of the Queen of Opera, but it’s more than just being an entrepreneur.

“Everything about opera is about the emotion and however it comes out,” the experienced vocalist said. “You know, a lot of people think of their traditional cliche opera, as you know, a woman in a Viking hat. Although there is some of that, and composers like Vogner, there’s so much beauty that, unless you really explore it, you don’t really get to experience it.”

Pelletier has years of experience and has performed on many stages. She’s also a University of Central Florida alum.

Be sure to check out the latest episode of Riff On This to hear her amazing voice and story, full of her accomplishments plus, how she plans on drawing more eyes and ears to the world of opera. It’s available now!

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Rappers usually show off their million-dollar mansions in music videos, but one Orlando man is using videos and some clever lyrics to show off and sell other people’s homes — not to mention, he’s rising to social media fame doing it.

So, is he a rapper or a realtor? Surprise! Shawn Romano is both.

“A lot of people think I don’t know anything about the music when they see my videos online,” Romano said. “I take a lot of pride in music and the craft”.

Romano was actually a rapper. At the age of 12, he learned how to write rhymes through his childhood best friend’s older brother.

Down the road, the Virginia/D.C. native found himself on the move to Kentucky where he ended up on the Backwoods Records label owned by another friend at the time. Along with roughly 15 other artists, Romano started making records, handing out mixtapes and CDs under the name South Paw Da Don.

“My name was originally South Paw because I was a huge Rocky fan and did some boxing myself, but when you googled that name a lot of people would show up in the search, so a friend suggested I add ‘Da Don’ to my name and that worked,” Romano said.

Down the road, the Virginia/D.C. native found himself on the move to Kentucky where he ended up on the Backwoods Records label owned by another friend at the time. Along with roughly 15 other artists, Romano started making records, handing out mixtapes and CDs under the name South Paw Da Don.

“My name was originally South Paw because I was a huge Rocky fan and did some boxing myself, but when you googled that name a lot of people would show up in the search, so a friend suggested I add ‘Da Don’ to my name and that worked,” Romano said.

Romano needed a career, so he went into home security sales and transitioned into real estate.

“I was talking to my grandmother who was a real estate agent and she said why don’t you give real estate a try,” Romano said. “She paid for my real estate school and I have done it ever since.”

Real estate was a different ballgame for Romano. After a five-year hiatus from music, his love for lyrics came back in a different way.

“I wanted to enjoy what I was doing more and bring in something I love into it while setting myself apart from other realtors”, he said. “I never wanted to be the typical suit and talking head and I knew when you set yourself apart you find your tribe”.

So, the rapping realtor posted a music video chock full of real estate info in his lyrics, and people loved it.

Garnering over 18,000 followers on Instagram, Romano has found his tribe and is still adding to it.

The Cardi B Up video is one of the realtor’s favorite videos he’s made lyrics for and even brought in another agent to rap with him. The video soared to over 60,000 views. It was that moment when Romano realized making these rap real estate music videos was not only something he loved and wanted to do, but it meant growth.

“It was a huge networking opportunity, so instead of making a video once a month we bumped it up to once a week,” Romano said..

Of course, you can’t have success on the internet without a little criticism or drama.

“People have made the comment that I must not be doing much business if I have time to make these videos, but in all honesty, it takes an hour and this is the marketing part of my job,” Romano said. “These videos are how I sell myself to potential clients. The days of going home and turning off who you are at the end of the day are over. You have to keep branding yourself to keep growing and stay relevant. Clients want to work with someone they know, like, and trust so you are the business now.”

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Miami-based rapper Smiles Official is not an overnight sensation like social media may have people thinking, with over 350,000 followers on Instagram. In fact, he’s worked hard for many years and says he won’t stop until he’s reached the top.

Born and raised in Cutler Ridge, a suburb of Miami, Smiles Official was raised with the sounds of reggae, soca, soul and R&B music filling his family home. The talented rapper says not only has his Haitian and Jamaican family roots inspired his work, but growing up in south Florida, a cultural melting pot, allowed him to broaden his network and tap into different music styles ultimately defining him as an artist.

From deejaying in high school to the release of his first single “You Can Get Down” and even becoming a street team member for Slip-N-Slide Records, the young aspiring artist used every moment to learn what makes the music business work.

In 2017, Smiles Official released “I Got A Bag” which quickly garnered over 1 million streams on Spotify. The smash single was the momentum that kept the rapper moving rapidly forward, releasing a new mixtape every year on his birthday, Aug. 11, which also coincides with the anniversary of hip hop dating back to Aug. 11, 1973.

Smiles Official has since released hits like “Bands In the Trap” featuring Tory Lanez.

His latest album Caribbean Blvd, entitled after the street he grew up on, includes hits like “So Sexy” featuring the iconic trailblazing female rapper Trina and influential figures in modern hip hop such as Grammy-award winning multi-platinum rapper and record executive Rick Ross among others.

Hear more about his journey, latest album, performing with Rick Ross, cofounding the record label Streets Enterprise, and the answer to the question “what something many people don’t know about Smiles Official.”

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Ricky Padilla is no stranger to central Florida. In fact, he’s called Orlando home since he was 12 years old after his family moved to the Sunshine State from New Jersey.

After graduating from Lake Howell High School, Padilla earned a scholarship to Seminole Community College playing baseball. Padilla furthered his education, graduating from the University of Central Florida with a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communications, but it was at UCF where his journey in radio began.

Padilla had a love for music and set his eyes on the radio, but it wasn’t an easy start.

“It was months before I got an email back,” Padilla said.

He eventually secured an internship position as a part-time street team promotions assistant at a large hip-hop radio station.

Padilla had bigger plans. The college student wanted to be on the airwaves. Securing an internship was his foot in the door, but how to be an on-air host didn’t come with an instruction manual.

“Nobody really shows you what to do,” Padilla said. “So I used to read articles out loud and went from there practicing the boards on my own time to learn what to do”.

His practice paid off eventually landing a part-time on-air gig.

“My shift was Sunday 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.” Padilla said. “It was probably the worst shift you could get in radio, but I treated it like gold and then gradually moved up from there.”

Padilla remembers the call he received offering him a full-time position working overnights.

“I was working like three part-time jobs at the time so it was a great feeling finally getting a full-time position,” he said.

Over the years Padilla made his fair share of friends in radio, but by chance ended up working with a popular deejay he knew and eventually secured a close bond with.

“Initially DJ Nasty and I worked different shifts and then someone called out and I got to fill in and someone else called out and he was filling in and that night on-air, our chemistry working together was just there,” Padilla said. “That was all she wrote and we’ve worked together and had a show at all the stations we worked at together ever since, he’s family now”.

Of course, Padilla has had his fair share of ups and downs in his radio career.

“I remember getting let go from that first job,” Padilla said. “I kept my chin up, but as soon as I got in the car I cried because I loved it so much and had worked so hard to get that gig”.

There was one moment Padilla remembers the most about getting fired.

“I was told I wasn’t going to make it in radio,” Padilla said. “Getting let go from that job was a blessing in disguise in a way because I moved on to better opportunities and being told I wasn’t going to make it in radio was fuel to the fire that motivated me to work even harder”.

Padilla has been heard on legendary Orlando radio stations over the years from 102 JAMZ to Power 95.3, STAR 94.5, and currently at the rapidly growing FLY 103.1.

Padilla didn’t stop growing and learning. In addition to radio, he became a businessman — owning parts of different clubs and restaurants. He also manages the social media influencer and comedian LeJuan James and even emcees for the Orlando City Soccer Club.

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Daytona Beach native Dyer Davis may seem like a new name in music, but the 23-year-old has been on the music scene for nearly a decade.

His love for music started at the tender age of 4 when he learned to play guitar. Davis’ father, also a musician, fueled his love for music with the iconic sounds of the 60s and 70s.

Davis felt the groove of blues-rock, inspired by the early records of the late Jeff Beck. To Davis, the blues was more than just a sound. It was a feeling. A foundation of the very music he was drawn to play.

Of course, starting out as a young teen, Davis found himself in a few different rock bands of his own and even becoming a member of Rubber Soulchild from which, he has now departed.

“I have had the pleasure of jamming out with some really amazing musicians over the year,” Davis said. “Robben Ford, Peter Criss, Elliot Easton, Rami Jaffe from the Foo Fighters, to name a few.”

Davis dabbled in country music for a short stent, but the blues kept calling his name. Now, Davis said he’s found his home through the music that originally inspired him to become a musician.

Working alongside iconic musicians and producers Victor Wainwright, Billy Chapin, Patricia and Stephen Dees, among others, Davis debuted on the blues scene in February this year with the album “Dog Bites Back’ with WildRoots Records.

His fiery vocals and soulful guitar skills earned him a nomination for New Artist Debut Release at the 2023 Blues Blast Magazine Awards. The Dyer Davis Band will also be performing at the awards show Saturday, Sept. 23 in Peoria, Illinois.

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Three-time Grammy nominee, Telly Award-winning producer, songwriter and composer Marvin “Toneworld” Hemmings Jr., is no stranger to Orlando. In fact, he grew up here.

His love for music came at a very young age. His journey started with family.

“I got my start in church,” Toneworld said on the set of Riff On This. “My grandmother and grandfather had a church and I grew up there. They would let me beat on the drums until it started sounding good.”

He added that he then went on to play the piano and guitar. Eventually, he researched producing and found his niche.

The Evans High School grad continued to pursue his passion for music experimenting with producing. Toneworld also started playing gigs with his good friend Philip Martin.

“He (Martin) was like, ‘Let’s make a record,’” Toneworld said. “I was all in. I was like, ‘Let’s do it, but I don’t have the gear.’”

That’s when his friend suggested they go buy it. In fact, Toneworld said Philip bought the computer and the gear in exchange for payment to make the record.

The duo found out quickly the process wasn’t easy.

“I was literally doing everything wrong, but it taught me. That was my school.,” Toneworld said. “I had to troubleshoot everything I had done wrong and I learned a lot along the way”.

After the album was complete, Martin was L.A.-bound, determined to play the music they had created to record executives.

“He called me and was like, ‘Bro, we got the deal!’ And I was like, ‘What?’” Toneworld said. “My first record got a deal, they were a start-up label, but they were connected to Sony or something like that.”

He was only 18 years old at the time.

“It was one of those things where we were just like, ‘Let’s try it’ and it turned into something,” Toneworld said.

Toneworld and Martin have done ten records together over the years.

Now, the multi-platinum record producer has had the privilege of working with a variety of artists like Justin Bieber, Kirk Franklin, Jessie J, William McDowell and Brandy among others. Toneworld even produced seasons three and four of the TV series Empire and also worked on the show STAR.

In 2021, Toneworld produced the hit “There She Go” for Justin Bieber’s multi-platinum record, Justice Triple Chucks Deluxe, which received eight Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album.

Just last year he was called to produce the score for the box office hit “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” The movie celebrates the life and music of one of the greatest R&B pop vocalists of all time, Whitney Houston.

Hear more about Toneworld’s incredible musical journey and who he has had the honor of working with since “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” on the latest episode of Riff On This. The interview is full of wow moments you don’t want to miss.

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Samra Cokinos sits down with Madd Illz.Coming from a family of musicians and artists, MADD ILLZ found a love for music at a very young age.

His grandfather taught him to play guitar by ear. His parents also made sure music was part of his childhood.

“My parents brought me to all different genre concerts since I was a kid,” MADD ILLZ said. “ I was very much involved with watching the live aspect of musical performance and that’s what made me fall in love with it when I was in the 6th grade”.

MADD ILLZ ended up in a rap group alongside Greg Davis Jr., who was featured on Gullah Gullah Island as Blitzen at the time but has continued to act as well as rap under the handle Klarity.

“All through high school, I had agency representation and we were booking and doing shows,” he said.

The young rapper soon found himself addicted to show business and wanted to do more.

After graduating high school MADD ILLZ joined the Marines in 2002 through 2008.

February 2008, everything changed.

“I was talking to my friend Dave Williams known as Drect who was a student at Full Sail at the time when he called me wanting to document rap battles,” MADD ILLZ said. “I was interested, but told him I wanted to create a battle rapper league and keep tabs of the scores along the way.”

YouTube was becoming a thing since launching in 2005, so the two set out to create the first ever online rap battle league which came to be known as Grind Time Now.

“We reached out to all the battlers that we knew from meeting at major events like Scribble Jam and by the time we got off the phone we had a battle league chapter in every major city in the U.S. along with Sydney, Australia, Johannesburg, South Africa,” MADD ILLZ said.

Grind Time Now was even part of the United Nations’ “Music as a Natural Resource” program for building urban environments.

“Not one single dollar was spent in marketing Grind Time Now, that’s what made it so great,” MADD ILLZ said.

How did they manage to have a grassroots movement in the early 2000s?

“World Star was the number one ranked hip hop website in the world at the time and they happen to put one of our videos up on their YouTube channel, so we reached out to them and said we could keep providing videos and they would use the World Star watermark,” MADD IILLZ said.

They worked with no money exchanged for the videos, for a full year. all while gaining massive exposure through the explosive hip-hop YouTube channel.

Grind Time Now started attracting the attention of celebrities and artists in the hip-hop world leading to battle rap performances at events like Coachella, Rock the Bells and South by Southwest. Each major music festival they performed at came with their own stage, with full-on production and collabs with national acts.

“It was exactly what I envisioned when I was in the 9th grade. I just wanted there to be an abundance of rap battle shows going on and that’s exactly what happened which was my vision coming true,” MADD ILLZ said.

The duo ran Grind Time Now for 9 years before selling the company.

Since then, MADD ILLZ has expanded his talents to writing, producing, and even teaching others how to write rap lyrics. Hear more about how MADD ILLZ continues to curate events in music and art and how these events are designed to help struggling artists right here in central Florida on the latest episode of Riff On This.

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Orlando’s own professional orchestra has served over 187,000 patrons, 85,000 children and families and 1 million students for the last three decades.

The orchestra is comprised of musicians from around the world. Riff On This sat down with founding board member and French hornist Mark Fischer and clarinetist Seok Hee Jang, a fairly new member of the orchestra who moved to Orlando this year, holding the second chair.

Fischer has been with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra since its inception and recalls how different it was back in the early 90s.

“When we began in 1993, we started as an orchestra that was really a service organization and our attitude was very entrepreneurial,” Fischer said. “It started very small, just performing Chamber Orchestra works in churches and it was about three years before we could build up enough financial capital to be able to present our first concert in the Bob Carr Theater”.

Working closely with the Orlando Opera Company and Orlando Ballet as well as the school systems, the OPO was able to grow and expand over the years.

“So here we are, 30 years later, and now we walk into the new Steinmetz Hall, where I still pinch myself,” Fischer said. “Every time I walk on the stage, I look at the look up at the hall, I think this is unbelievably beautiful.”

Jang shared a similar sentiment about the new Steinmetz Hall.

“For me as a new musician in the orchestra, I can’t imagine being here at a better time starting at a better time than our 30th anniversary season,” Jang said. “It’s such a piece of work, a piece of art, really, it makes us sound so much better. It’s a privilege to play in the hall.”

Jang said the move to Florida has been amazing and everyone has been extremely welcoming. He’s excited to work alongside the amazing musicians at the OPO.

Fischer said starting out on the administrative side of the orchestra and doing the business side of things for so many years, that now he is back playing with the orchestra it’s been nice to appreciate the artistic side of things again.

“I think Gil Yamaha said it best. He said, ‘This hall is an instrument. It’s not just a room. It’s an instrument.’ It’s a spectacular space. And in the future, I believe that this venue will cause the Orlando Philharmonic to become a more refined ensemble over time and already has in their first season, but it is a real joy to make music there,” Fischer said.

Be sure to listen to the latest episode of Riff On This to hear more about how Fischer and Jang got started as a classical musician along with more amazing stories from the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. You will also get the latest on the rest of the season, plus a little inside information on what to expect next season as well.

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Growing up in a strong musical family, Will Chin got his start in the music world at a young age working for his uncle’s sound store — Light and Sound Equipment in Miami, Florida.

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