We caught up with the brilliant and insightful DJ Dagwood a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
DJ, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?
I’m an optimist because I’m a visionary creative that has the ability to take an idea from a mere thought to fruition. I pride myself on seeing ahead and staying ready so I don’t have to get ready.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My name is DJ Dagwood a born and raised Chicagoan who discovered and fell in love with house music at the age of 14 years old. My real name is Darrick Taylor but my nickname Dagwood was giving to me by a childhood friend and it stuck.
This passion for house music has taken me from a local Chicago dj to a music producer and now international dj.
It all started @ The “Playground” dance club on 13th & Michigan Ave.
“My life changed the day I saw Jessie Saunders & Farley “Funkin” Keith dj’ing there”
and From that day all I wanted to be was a dj and play house music. So I joined the league of my peers, DJ Fast Eddie, DJ Paul Johnson (RIP), Tyree Cooper, Mel hammond, Larry “Mr. Fingers” Heard, Robert Owens & K Alexi Shelby. I started to hang around these guys and learn to spin and produce house music. You can listen to my music and you can hear the influence dj Fast Eddie had on me as an aspiring Hip House artist. We’re both friends from the westside of Chicago and during those days back when we were all looking at DJ INTERNATIONAL RECORDS as the Motown of Chicago house music, we were on a mission to get our dance music out to the world cause it seems like they couldn’t get enough of Chicago house and Eddie was the man back then. So we all followed him and Tyree Cooper in this Hip House movement, where we would rap over our house music tracks. My passion for house music drove me deep into the house music scene and since then its been a great experience that lead to making records, dj’ing all over the world and “HOUSE” gave me a pathway for success. Since that time, I’ve produced: Deep House, GhettoHouse, Hard House, G-House and Future House music. Working with, DJ Kevin Halstead (RIP), Jammin Gerald, Dajae, Cajmere, CZR, Glenn Underground, and dj Paul Johnson. My latest collaborations with GettoBlaster, DJ Paul Anthony, Bad Boy Bill, DJ James Ingram, DJ Gant Man and DJ Deeon are a testimate that my artistry and music has evolved and I’ve finally found a good place to be in dance music.
Currently I have several record releases on some of the biggest dance music record labels in the world,
Defected, DopeWax, Farris Wheel, Subliminal Soul, Brobot, Basement Leak, etc.
My social media contact on all platforms is: @djdagwoodmusic
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Growing up in Chicago I lived around Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, White people, Asians, and all other types of cultures and I learned all types of music, food and art and with that education I now play several genres of music fluently.
So being diverse, open minded, curious, and prolific are the words that explain my qualities as a dj.
The advice I would give is to always be open minded, be a student of music and have impeccable music knowledge.
It will take you a long way as a dj and music producer.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Recently I have been doing a lot of collaborations with other dj/producers If you reference my discography you will notice that I exist on a lot of records with other dj/artist.
Most of the time they will send me a track and I will write lyrics and perform on the track.
I’m always open to collaborating with artist. Its as easy as reaching out to me by email: [email protected]
Its exciting to record music with other creatives and create magic!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.djdagwood.com
- Instagram: @djdagwoodmusic
- Facebook: @therainbowmixes
- Linkedin: n/a
- Twitter: @djdagwoodmusic
- Youtube: @djdagwood
- SoundCloud: @djdagwoodmusic
- Other: Tic Tok: @djdagwoodmusic
Image Credits
i own these pics
