Riff On This

Florida: Where some of the best stories in the country are born. 

Based in Orlando, journalist Katrina Scales voices a selection of the day's top headlines, along with a nugget of Florida knowledge you may have never heard before. 

Ready by 7:00 a.m. every weekday morning.

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Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio E-Z Baby was influenced by his musical family. From his mom and grandpa playing guitar, his brother free-style rapping, to the first keyboard he made beats on, E-Z had rhythm running through his veins.

“My first job when I was a teenager was actually in a music store where they sold cassette tapes”, E-Z said.

The music-lover even deejayed proms and sweet-16 parties. His love for writing songs came from sitting for hours listening to the radio and writing the lyrics to learn how songs flowed.

“This was back when you recorded songs off the radio to a tape and listened, then rewind, listen some more”, E-Z said. “There was no (way to) look up lyrics on the internet back then”.

He soon started making his own music.

“Ninety percent of my music is about love”, E-Z said.

His latest song Understatement is his first song released in all English and happens to be the name of his first album. While these songs talk about love in-depth — even as far as long-term commitment and denture appointments — E-Z said they’re all upbeat and songs you can dance or just chill out to.

“I can’t wait to release what I have and show the world,” E-Z said.

His album Understatement is set to release on his birthday, July 5, and will be available on Spotify and other streaming platforms.

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Growing up in a household filled with Latin music, DJ Junebuhg found himself in love with a different sound — rap.

“There was always Latin music playing until I came around and then it started to change,” Junebuhg said.

The young aspiring deejay would often take his parents' tapes and record over the original music with songs from the radio.

It was in 8th grade when he got a chance to deejay an event at school, even eventually getting spin at the school prom. His love for music continued to grow even when his family left New Jersey for the Sunshine State in 1993.

Carrying his record bag, Junebuhg was off to his first party in Central Florida at a community center in Poinciana.

After chatting with another deejay at the party, Junebuhg had a chance to spin a few records. The sound went from Miami bass music which was very popular in the early 90s to rap with a flip of a record.

“I had some good treats, hip hop records that weren’t even playing on the radio at the time known as white label records. People weren’t used to that vibe but got used to it and that’s how I introduced myself as a deejay here in Florida," Junebuhg said.

What started as a hobby of recording tapes soon turned into a business for the young deejay.

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From breakdancing to deejaying to producing music, DJ Chino does it all.

He has roots in Orlando, but that’s not where it all began. DJ Chino, a.k.a. Valdemar Crame, was born in the Philippines before moving to Maui when he was 7 years old. Five years later he was on the move again, this time to Florida.

It was in Orlando where his parents found good job opportunities and decided to move their family.

Chino found a love for dancing during his teen years.

“Being Filippino and breakdancing they go together” he said.

He recalled making a dance group called Mind 180 with his brother Chet.

“He was one of the best breakdancers in the city and we went to dance battles with like 20-30 dancers and it was a lot of fun”, Chino said.

Although dancing was fun, Chino found himself focusing on the music. Often the flow in the club didn’t fit what a dancer was looking for. So he decided to change that.

“I said, ‘You know, what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna DJ for my group,’” he said.

Now, almost two decades in the music scene, the name DJ Chino is a staple. From throwing parties and learning from others, Chino said it was a lot of work.

“I really needed to learn from the best on the scene and at the time DJ Cesar, DJ Nasty, DJ Khaled, and DJ Prostyle, a lot of these guys that are now legends in the city helped me”, he said.

Known as the turntable dragon DJ Chino found himself at 102 JAMZ, a popular hip-hop and R&B station that coined Orlando “Jamlando”.

“They opened a lot of doors so I’m forever grateful to those guys for showing me the business, and now, you know, 20 years later, I’m still doing what I love,” Chino said.

Still on the scene, Chino does more than just local sets. Now he travels all over and is even sponsored by Pep Boys, traveling to throw corporate parties. Aside from deejaying, Chino has been producing music since 2000.

While doing that Chino kept remixing songs for his mix shows and landed a few official remixes for Atlantic Records.

“It wasn’t until 2018 when I started our electronic group Breikthru that we got our song ‘Brick by Brick’ signed with Brooklyn Fire Records,” Chino said.

That led to signing the electronic hit “Find Me” with Don Diablo’s label Hexagon.

“If you want to be a DJ, you love music, it’s a perfect job for you. You know, because as long as you love music, you will always make it to your finish line,” Chino said. “This Deejaying is actually about music more than it is a paycheck and I came into it because I love to DJ and I love music. All that other stuff will come along with it.”

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Welcome to Riff On This, a podcast about all the great music happening in and around our community.

Hip-hop and rap music have roots in Brooklyn and for Deejay Lyvwyr, that’s where his dream of being a successful DJ began.

Lyvwyr grew up on Nostrand Avenue above a tailor shop that rap legends would frequent to have their suits tailored. He recalls the day one of hip-hop’s pioneers, Doug E. Fresh, pulled up to the shop and his own excitement to run downstairs to see if he could get an autograph for his collection.

“I was 10 years old and I run downstairs to get his autograph for my book and he signs it, but unlike every other celebrity I’ve ever met, he stops and talks to me,” Lyvwyr said.

That day, the “Original Human Beatbox” gave more than just an autograph, he gave young Lyvwyr advice on how to achieve his goal of being successful in music and entertainment. A piece of the advice was to do well in school, but what the rapper didn’t realize was that he would see this boy again.

“That’s the day I knew this is what I was supposed to be doing,” Lyvwyr said.

Lyvwyr had quite a few people to motivate him along the way — like Kool DJ Red Alert, Funk Master Flex, DJ Marley Mal, Angie Martinez and Special K from The Awesome Two, who ended up being a close mentor.

Fast forward 20 years, which included eight years in the Army and a college degree, Lyvwyr meets up with Doug E. Fresh again. By this time, Lyvwyr was a seasoned DJ.

It was November 2011. Pat Nix from Frontline Promotions hired Lyvwyr to do a show with Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick and Big Daddy Kane.

It was classic weekend and rapper Heavy D had just passed away a little over a week prior to the show. Lyvwyr took to the stage and proceeded to play an entire set dedicated to Heavy D.

“I thought ‘Well, they’re either going to like or not,’” Lyvwyr said.

As he walked off the stage, Doug grabbed Lyvwyr’s arm and tells him he wants to talk once his set is done. Lyvwyr’s gut feeling to play the Heavy D set that night proved to be a good decision.

What he learned that night was Heavy D was like a brother to Doug and his passing had weighed heavily during the days leading up to classic weekend.

Check out Lyvwyr’s playlist here: https://bit.ly/3wnXwRh

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