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Joe Kay: Soulection's Impact on Music Culture 🎶🔥 | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Mar 30, 2025
Discover how Joe Kay and Soulection revolutionized music culture in this can’t-miss episode of Sway In The Morning! 🎶🔥 From their humble beginnings to creating a global community, Joe Kay shares the origin story of Soulection, the impact of their curated mixes, and how they’ve championed artists like Daniel Caesar, Kaytranada, Brent Faiyaz, and Masego. Hear exclusive insights on their unique approach to discovering talent, blending timeless sounds, and fostering a vibe that speaks to the soul. Plus, learn about Joe Kay’s new EP, "If Not Now, Then When," dropping April 4, and how it highlights the next wave of artists to watch. Get an inside look at the creative process behind Soulection Radio, its global influence, and the intimate connection music creates across cultures. Joe also delves into the challenges and triumphs of staying authentic in today’s saturated music scene while discussing how DJs and creators are thriving through platforms like YouTube. Whether you're a fan of Soulection or new to their movement, this episode will leave you inspired by their mission to keep music timeless and community-driven. Subscribe for more exclusive interviews, inspiring stories, and groundbreaking moments only on Sway In The Morning, part of Sway’s Universe! #contentcuration #socialmediacontentcuration #sashamarie #impactofcuration #whatiscontentcuration CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Sway and Tech’s Influence on Joe Kay and the Birth of Soulection 02:00 - Joe Kay’s Early Radio Days and the Birth of Soulection 07:10 - Soulection’s Early Days and Artist Development 09:46 - How Joe Kay Got Into DJing & Radio 13:49 - Upholding the Tradition of DJing 15:22 - Joe Kay’s “If Not Now, Then When” Project 17:48 - How Soulection Became a Global Community 19:37 - What Makes a Great DJ 23:00 - The YouTube DJ Movement 26:39 - Shoutout to Apartment Life 27:15 - Have You Ever Battled?
View Video Transcript
0:00
[Applause] man listen man get this man a round of applause I want to thank him personally hea be because I when I go home I
0:07
typically I don't I wouldn't listen to a lot of music because you know kind of music we would play here you know I
0:13
would be filled enough on a full you had had my and I was I've always been big
0:19
since King Tech and I started the Wake Up Show on discovering new artists new sounds right and um we would someone I
0:27
was going out with Cece I'll give her credit you know at the time used to you know wake me up to these selection mixes
0:34
okay every single day and I would say and I thought it was her at first and I
0:39
was like Y where are you getting these mixes from and then she she explained to me who it was and started taking me to
0:47
selection parties and I realized that damn it when I first came to New York
0:53
this is the vibe I wanted to experience I hadn't experienced that quite yet I hadn't experienced A vibe that just
0:59
really was just just ran parallel to my spirit and my heart and the energy that was
1:06
created by the curation that selection would provide on Apple music um as well
1:12
as just live you know what you heard on Apple music one was even better when you came to see them live because you saw
1:19
the people react and they created a whole tribal fi Heather be and some of
1:24
the people I heard first through selection were Daniel Caesar get out a round of appla I became friends
1:31
with um Brian fir Brent fir Bryson tiller uh we've had Bryson on the show
1:37
maso who's oh my gosh Smo all of these different people um I Heard first
1:43
through selection you know I heard curated in a proper way through selection and then Army piano was
1:51
something I heard when I went to Africa and these folks were already up on it
1:56
and so I wanted to welcome the one and only one of the found of selection with us if not the most important primary
2:03
piece of selection uh I wanted to welcome him to the show give it up for the one and only Joe K welcome to
2:10
the he got the new EP Tracy G it's called it's not now then whenn it's dropping April fourth he got couple of
2:17
tracks beautiful artists on it and the thing that he does is he does it different Joe K welcome to the show man
2:24
wow what an intro thank you for having me man come on this is legendary I actually grew up listening to you when
2:29
the show was syndicated in La Power 106 yeah you know I was born 89 so I was I
2:34
was young but old enough to appreciate and so I used to go to Power 106 my uncle used to take me there and I think
2:41
that was the early origins of me it was radio first before DJ I always wanted to
2:46
be on air so that's when my my early stories really began is is the light bulb hit going hearing hearing you know
2:54
wake up in the morning and and just going to school and just hearing the show so it's a it's a full full circle
3:00
full circle thing so you was listening to sing Tech world famous wake up show you hear that he but it's so you know it's it's
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something about music man that that um that bonds people together right and
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these in a certain way you curate music creates a vibration right and so you find like-minded people in spaces you
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know like if you go to selection when of selection party I was seeing a lot of people that I didn't know but that I
3:28
liked how they looked I like how they spoke I like how they you know
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congregated it's just you created a whole beautiful ecosystem with this right where did the ideal selection come
3:40
from the idea really stemed uh probably 2009 or so I had already been networking
3:49
and popping out to shows I already knew what I wanted to do I just needed uh a platform at the time I was in community
3:56
college right and I just knew that I needed to get to a University to have a a show on the University Station that
4:03
was always the goal like I said I wanted to do radio and so I had already been playing this music I played a lot of
4:10
Beats you know I grew growing up here in La uh going to like lowend Theory and places where I was hearing flying Lotus
4:16
and mad lib and uh a lot of producers right because I've always been connected to the producers first as once I got old
4:22
enough to understand riters and the difference from like okay we we see the faces we see the music videos but who's
4:28
behind the Beats right right and so when I was seeing timberin uh knowing that he was making the Beats but still the face
4:35
with Missy and Aaliyah and then obviously the Neptunes and seeing how prominent and important their sound was
4:41
and then learning about Dilla and realizing that Dilla was behind a lot of my favorite Neo Soul music and just
4:47
hip-hop and and R&B music once I started to realize you know he was part you know he was connected to the Umar and tribe
4:54
right and then learning common and Erica Badu who was always played in the house
4:59
that that's really what the the light set off right and so when I didn't get a call back from you know the Stones Throw
5:06
or different people that I was applying to you know fresh out of high school Stones Throw label the label St wow yeah
5:12
I was I was a you know trying to be an intern or just trying to get my foot in the door I realized the only way I can
5:19
uh show people proof of concept is by starting my own thing yeah and so that's how the foundation of it right and so
5:25
2011 is when I started it yeah uh when I transferred to Long Beach State once I
5:31
got in that first week I already had the show and that was the first episode of selection radio but it was already three
5:37
to four years of foundation of uh you know playing People's music I started
5:43
doing like mixes and podcast like I did my own podcast within that first year that I started my podcast in 2008 I was
5:50
able to get like 30,000 subscribers and I was just using Facebook or Myspace and
5:55
and and those two platforms and SoundCloud and just word of mouth and then then that's when I transferred it
6:01
and we changed I changed the name I rebranded so I used that infrastructure the network that I had uh from those
6:07
three to four years you know it was like a development period and then once we got ready with selection so 14 years on
6:14
paper is really been about 18 to 20 years like yeah so I've been I've been doing this for for a minute people don't
6:20
realize if they just started following selection what was it called before so what did you call it before so lection it was called ill Vibes ill Vibes yeah
6:28
that was the thing but you know like the word Vibes and and Ill it it was cool but I'm like we we need something a bit
6:34
you know a little bit more balanced and more grown not so cliche and so we rebranded and um yeah it took some years
6:41
you know but it it happened right on time and yeah like I said the story here
6:47
is uh it it's a long-term play you know and it's a it's a consistency thing for me and if people are just finding out
6:54
about myself or us you know people see the reals and the shows and the social
6:59
about things and you know all these moments but it's been it's been a journey and and it's just been a
7:06
consistent uh thing of of just passion and trial and error you know it was
7:11
amazing for me because you didn't have like a lot of corporate and you know backing and you know um and the names of
7:18
the artists that you were breaking at that time weren't you know snow algra and folks like that weren't huge names
7:25
you know and you were breaking artists in my opinion and I and I believe um when did you start doing
7:32
YouTube yeah that's I'm so glad you brought that up cuz you brought up the hitters right and I and when I speak
7:38
about selection an artists that we've you know been early on obviously these artists did the work so I'm never here
7:44
to take the credibility of like I'm the first one or if it wasn't for selection X Y and Z no because the people got to
7:51
do the work right and so all these artists put themselves in position all I did was recognize I've always been you
7:58
know I've always had a gift of being two to five years early on artist right so we always play I find I found a lot
8:04
of these artists when they had you know, 1500 followers 500 followers or under 10,000 right and you know dsps weren't
8:12
even a thing for some of these people for us coming up so it was really just uh you know just knowing good music the
8:18
blogs it was just being at the right place at the right time so I am glad that you did bring up um you know uh
8:25
snow algra Daniel Caesar Bryson tiller Brent FZ we also uh sir even people like
8:33
goldlink right gold link was one of the first people to rap over like a KRON style beat krata comes from the same
8:40
community in ethos we we all came up through SoundCloud and through this beat Community right and so you know then you
8:46
think about Smo Monty Booker kind of being like the timberin of of um smei
8:52
and Raven Len Raven lene is having a moment now right and so super early on all these artists it's almost like
8:58
stocks you know like like you find the next Teslas and apples very early some
9:04
some hit some don't but you kind of just put put your my my job is just to put people on like hey this is the music
9:10
that I love it's not about how many followers you have it's just about the music right so I I've always
9:17
enjoyed uh finding people that are unknown because the people that are already known they're already graduated
9:23
they're good so it's like how can we help the people that aren't known and and put them in a in a platform
9:29
and just get them recognized where people are buying their merch supporting the shows and things like that that's incredible man and I I'm glad you
9:36
mentioned that you listen to Sway and Tech cuz that mean I could be a part of the Legacy
9:42
he s baby you know what else to me and and thank you for coming here today um
9:48
because your story to me is so interesting but I cannot get my mind off of your uncle who took you to the radio
9:55
station because I don't think people realize sometimes that as a kid and be in different places and hey I'm going to
10:01
my dad's job or my mom's mom's job or Aunt Uncle you get a spark like
10:07
something can happen with these experiences and maybe you walked into this radio station and saw these buttons
10:13
like you know kids do when they go into the studio and you see the lights and buttons what was it for you that made
10:19
you say yeah I want to get on radio CU you had to be young like super young
10:25
when he took you that day and why did you go with him that day yeah so he he worked at Universal and he who's your
10:31
uncle bro uh nerve nerve one nerve one is your uncle yeah
10:36
wowow wow wow and I we I didn't know that obviously we didn't know that but I
10:41
I something about the way you said it OG you hit me in my spirit so yeah that
10:47
that's how it started is uh you know he he knew that I he would introduce me to a lot of good music my whole family no
10:52
one played instruments no one was a producer artist no one was saying but there was always good music in the house
10:58
and that the time I was just in sports you know and really locked in with school and and sports my dad had me you
11:05
know just really on a great routine and when I went to my mom's side you know my
11:11
nerve was the one that introduced me into that side and so yeah he he's just
11:17
like hey do you want to come with me you know at the time he had all the the press the the promo records you know the
11:23
12 inches and singles for different artists so you know his job was also when artists were in town like I
11:29
remember uh when cash money was coming up he was responsible for taking you
11:34
know like Wayne and and wow and all them around right and so like Manny fresh and
11:42
so he would tell me about these stories when 50 Cent was coming up he just had all the singles on vinyl so he would go
11:47
around to all the radio stations and drop the drop off the records for the you know the the the station and the DJs
11:55
and the hosts as well as going to all the the local clubs and venues and then dropping them off for the DJs right cuzz
12:01
at the time everyone was on wax so yeah just I think just being introduced to that you know what I mean and that's how
12:06
I met the beat junkies as well early on like Jrock jck my guy man Jrock Mr chock
12:12
you know all them red and so mic come on it's all it's all been part of the DNA
12:19
and you know it took some years so when I hit high school and I started to grow up and develop that's when I realized so
12:26
when I was on you know downloading music and making I was always making the mix CDs for all my friends and for all the
12:32
Kickbacks and I was just always that guy that had the exclusive music you know
12:38
what I mean things that I was Finding on my own I used to listen to 92.3 and 100.3 right and I remember PJ butter his
12:46
whole thing was PJ butter my name PJ was known you know at a certain
12:54
point he was just he was like playing some unreleased Bobby Valentino he was he was dropping some stuff on his blog
13:00
on his website and I was like this is a crazy feeling so Mor of the story is
13:06
I've always gotten a kick and I've always just felt more gratitude in
13:12
having the unreleased music and then putting people on to things that they don't know that was always that's when I
13:17
knew that that was for me and hosting and presenting it wasn't so much about oh look at me but it was more about the
13:24
feeling of oh you guys don't know about this artist or this song Let me put you on on and I'm going to let you do what
13:30
you want to do with it but you're going to love this music I know you are and let me let me just educate you and and I
13:38
I got more of a of a gratitude through that and that's always been the blessing so having untapped music knowing about
13:45
things really early was just the the the God blessing that I was given you know amen I want to thank you because you're
13:51
upholding uh the tremendous tradition that has kept parts of our
13:57
culture pure right that didn't have the uh corporate infiltration that changes a DJ's mind yeah right and the people
14:05
you're naming from the beat junkies to PJ but all these peoplec Eric La was on yeah big boy big
14:14
boy right gar Trinidad you know folks yeah you know one of the original guys right we all came up together and it's
14:22
almost like you know we we we're handing the Baton to you and then you took it into a whole new age and when I first
14:29
started listening to you I couldn't believe what I was hearing because it was at a time where if just the industry
14:35
was just so infiltrated people only played 10 artists you know whatever made you whoever was popular made you popular
14:42
and that's what people played and so when uh CCE was playing me your mixes I was like who is this and then um and I
14:50
went to some parties I feel like y' used to do parties in the museum right oh yeah Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn Museum
14:56
first Saturday B yeah and I used to and I went to the parties and I thought I was in you know a paradise bro like cuz
15:04
it was like it was so it talked to my spirit and that's
15:10
what I feel like music should do and um giving artists uh a opportunity is What
15:17
DJ should do and and now you're producing too yeah right now my first
15:23
project if not now then when more on the executive producer role right and I'm more about BR all so I'm so glad you
15:31
brought up these artists that we all know and the thing is people may not know about selection but it's kind of
15:37
like how I felt about when we talked about Diller earlier like okay he was part of this record right with Janet
15:43
Jackson you know what I mean or he was a part of this this tribe record or he was a part of this uh you know Erica Badu
15:50
record that I didn't know it's kind of the same thing with selection where you may not know everything about it or
15:56
about me but then you realize some of the production or some of the affiliation with some of the artists
16:02
that we all love today there was early ties either our the producers that came out of selection right if you think
16:08
about uh Brent F right the Saunders sound that's a d-at and u a lot of the
16:14
main core production behind Bren fire right um and you think about Sango Sango
16:19
and uh Jay Lewis they had early ties to trap so and and right and then again we
16:25
talk about uh gold link and a lot of these people so there's ties there's ties there right so pretty much this
16:32
project if not now then when is essentially me pretty much saying with the artists that are on here now I'm
16:38
pretty much forecasting these are the artists that I believe in and that are here right now and also to come and it's
16:44
no different from imagine if I had put this project out in 2015 y or 2017 and I
16:50
had sir snow Daniel Caesar Brent FZ moo
16:56
right and more and and Bryson all one project that's essentially what I'm doing now I get it so it's right on time
17:03
and it's pretty much putting these artists at the Forefront and saying hey I'm going to bring these people into the room and you know I have someone like a
17:10
dile right dile legendary in a sense of he's the biggest R&B producer in the
17:17
world right now in my opinion and just on numbers on on on the charts from Bruno silk Sonic Victoria Monae lucky
17:25
day just to name a few right and so having him as as a OG and as a very
17:30
established name of bringing him together with a cruiser or Isaiah falls out of Florida that's like the the
17:37
specialty of selection is we're bringing people that maybe maybe wouldn't have you know recorded together at this at
17:44
this very moment so we bring in like classic with the new and and that's what this is about I love this man this is
17:49
Joe K man uh get us through the round of applause Tracy I know you've been to one of these parties right Tracy's in New
17:55
York by the way what's up Jo what up Tracy so good to have you on the show bro like selection has been such a part
18:02
of my life for so many years like me and my friends it's it's just it's crazy that I get to hear the origin side of it
18:08
too because right I'm bugging it's insane especially when you think about
18:14
like Joe you have in the team have been able to build a community that spans continents and yet you're able to also
18:21
still feel like a very intimate space and it makes me wonder um with growing
18:28
selection what have you learned about human connection that maybe surprised you or
18:34
like widened your lens that's a great question so one
18:40
language doesn't matter I was even just in the back talking about a shake right a lot of us listen to The Whiz The Whiz
18:47
Kids the Shak the bad bunnies right and whether you speak the native tongue or not or right we listen to Alo piano I
18:54
don't understand what most of them are saying right but it's a feeling it's an energy right right now Brazilian you
19:00
know uh ballet Funk Brazilian Funk is super huge especially with the youth the dances the Beats we don't know what
19:06
they're saying they're actually saying some really raw things but we just mve to the the beats and the the vocal pitch
19:12
and the tone so that's what I've learned is that music is healing music connects
19:17
all and that's always been the ethos of what we do so music brought me here today music T has taking me around the
19:23
world and back it's filled up my passports I've met so many great people um that are part of my team and part of
19:29
my community and um you know it's not even about where we come from uh our our
19:35
color anything about that it's really about the music so that's why when you speak about when you walk into a selection party it does feel like a
19:41
Utopia or almost like a members only Club it's like everybody dresses a certain type of way has style they're
19:48
respectful if you bump into someone people are saying sorry you know what I mean if someone bumps into you you're saying sorry to them like oh my bad it's
19:54
the type of community it is right and most importantly the music so it's a place where I could hit play on
19:59
unreleased music or some crazy sample in the middle of the show and people are
20:05
having a moment it's not about trying to turn it up all day and you know it's not that kind of environment it's about for
20:11
the it's for people you know we listen to a lot of the music we love in the car at home in the kitchen you know
20:17
privately but this is a shared space where we're all able to hear these things you know all tempos and you're
20:22
not and it's a it's a place where you're hitting and hearing all your favorite sounds into one place right and I think
20:28
that's what's made it special is that you might you might be rocking to some new South African music but like damn I
20:35
got to go over there to hear it or I might hear a couple tracks here but selection will actually play it and
20:40
you're seeing people how people move to it you know what I mean it's a different feeling going from your headphones to
20:46
like real life it's like a multi- sensory experience that's what makes it very very different with the emphasis
20:52
that you put on um the music and the art I'm wondering now Joe are you able to
20:59
separate art from artist Artistry from artists like if a particular individual
21:06
is caught up in some type of controversial news story act accusation
21:13
would you pause on playing their music in a selection mix or
21:19
party yeah without saying I think we know who's in the spotlight right now but I think there's levels to it right
21:26
some things are subjective and you know until things are proven but certain things there just been too many
21:33
outbursts or too much information that's out there in the public that um I think
21:38
for me personally I can't speak for others but I can speak for myself uh for certain artists if they are in a certain
21:45
position where I'm like I don't I don't resonate with the energy that I'm hearing or that's being put out I'mma
21:51
hold back you know what I mean and time does heal but we don't forget you know what I mean some people do but I don't
21:57
and so I always to be very cognitive of that you know especially when it comes to women and when it comes to just
22:03
humans in general but especially with the women like you got to protect the queens and so I always try to just look out for the Youth and the queens and and
22:10
always just try to you know be be aware you got to you got to have a temperature check you know what I mean and just kind
22:16
of know what's going on it is about the music but you know you kind of have you
22:21
you can separated but at the end of the day that is connected to our legacy and our and our personal side so that's just
22:29
the world we live in and so that's yeah I try to if someone's spazzing out or saying some disrespectful things it's
22:36
not truly a representation of of like what selection is so I I could I could hold off and there's always going to be
22:41
another DJ or someone on socials that will play that music anyway so we think you know people I like that man that man
22:48
got Integrity get that man a round of applause he he man you you screwing up
22:53
outside you ain't going to mess up the vibe inside yeah you know and uh that's a great stance to take um can you talk
23:02
about you know what I like to see now is DJs and Co coalitions on YouTube and
23:09
just spining having these parties and you sit up and watch you realize I'm watching
23:15
for hours dudes just DJing and I come from some of the most amazing DJs
23:22
legacies of all time you mentioned the beat junkies the scratch P pickles King
23:28
Tech d Revolution all of these folks DJing is the Cornerstone of it all man
23:33
can you talk about how YouTube has brought a whole another level exposure to DJs yeah we're in the age of information
23:41
and the age of content right and I feel like in the last five years you know since Co we have been able to see just a
23:48
lot of people rise and bring the studio to their to their homes now you're seeing a a DJ set in a cafe you're
23:55
seeing it in a pizza parlor you're seeing it in someone's apartment right and so yeah I think it's enabled and
24:02
brought more of this music forward right and people are essentially creating their own bowling rooms now as well
24:07
right you don't you don't have to wait for bowling room to put you on you can create your own party and your own
24:13
Community bring people around you build a 360 stage have everyone around multiple cameras set up right have
24:20
everyone dress in a color palette and that's the vibe now you know what I mean I think it's important for people to see
24:26
that because again we grew up if I if we had this if we were doing this 10 15
24:31
years ago I mean shoot selection would be even bigger because for so long it's just been audio audio only right and the
24:38
same thing goes for you right now it's like the interviews and the podcast it helps visually bring things to light you
24:43
can see people's you know um their tone you can hear their tone you can see their reaction see feel their body
24:50
language and you can see how people move to the music is some of it performative yes cuz there's pros to this this new
24:57
age of everyone dejing and the accessibility of it and it has become a
25:03
bit saturated so I did want to also talk about that okay there's a lot of great things but there's also a lot of people
25:09
just kind of doing things for viral moments and that's what I don't like the ethos of it is like people just want to
25:14
be seen uh people also copying like if we want to talk about color palettes when you see people dressing like the
25:21
the same color palette that started from apartment life apartment life is out in uh the UK and out in uh south of London
25:28
they were the first yeah they were the first if you seen them they're the ones that wear the beige yeah the be it looks amaz looks beautiful beig and brown and
25:35
um that was them now you see a lot of copycats and um I don't like that because it's not original you know what
25:41
I mean it's not that they own uh the color or or or the concept but they were
25:46
the first ones to do it so just come up with something else be a little bit more original so I see a lot of people copying that and some people even going
25:53
getting bigger because people don't know where it started from you know but it's just the name of the game you know what
25:58
I me that's what happens it's the name of the game but at the end of the day what I will say is the music is
26:04
traveling so a lot of the music that people are playing you know Bland and Edie culture super big it's always been
26:09
big but it's bigger than ever because of Sado stems Sado has enabled the track separation right you could separate the
26:16
vocals the the instrumental the Acappella and all that stuff and that
26:21
has enabled everyone to have access to doing live mixing and and having fun
26:27
with it so there is a lot of great things that we see and then there's also a lot of it going on so you have to kind
26:33
of do a lot to stand out and noway you got to be the promoter y you have to be
26:39
the designer you have to be social media specialist you got to be your own PR you know what I mean you got to be your own
26:45
everything autonomous shout out to apartment life yeah shout out man I man
26:51
I've always wanted to put those colors on and just be in one of those parties man can you talk to somebody for me bro
26:56
we're we're well we're going to bring we we've been talking about bringing it out here like to be a collaboration between
27:01
selection and apartment life and I will make sure you're invited yo tell them I got a hat right ready for him you
27:09
stupid whole rainbow uh the Slow It Down video I want to talk about that but first you just
27:15
made me think have you ever battled like you ever been in a like a MC thing no no DJ D sound no because you know the way I
27:22
DJ I'm not even a a scratcher I'm I'm more about the the the mixes and the blends I'm more that's always been me
27:29
it's kind of like rapping right you kind of know not that you can't learn how to scratch but every time I've scratched it just wasn't a natural with my my flares
27:37
and the way I hit the fader I've always just been like you know what I'm going to I'm going to perfect the blend and so
27:43
I always knew I'm not saying people can definitely learn it especially with the be junkie school you can go there I
27:48
could just practice every day so but the people that I noticed that have um the capabilities of how they scratch it's a
27:55
it's a god-given thing it's all in the wrist and it's all your fingers it's a touch right it's like being able to shoot a shot and having a nice release
28:02
some people are just blessed exactly there you go DB I hear you man come on man and so for me that was you John oh
28:09
DB right yeah DB okay all right DB and yeah now for me I've always been more
28:14
about I've always catered to blending like bringing sounds together that's always been my specialty so I've always
28:21
just stood in my lane and um so no I haven't competed like in a DMC battle or things like that but especially after
28:27
seeing some of the goats to do it it's like yeah I'm not like I said it was radio first yeah it was it was right
28:34
here this was always the my calling DJing is just another extension of what I do but it was being on the mic that
28:40
was you sound great you got a good voice for it too brother um and I will listen to your podcast uh as well so I'm really
28:47
a big fan DB as a DJ you want you got a question DB is in New York he mixes live two mixes every day nobody in in the
28:54
world is doing that right now live go ahead DB yeah what's up Joe um so my
28:59
question is because if you watch like I don't know if people are familiar with the boiler room um parties and if you
29:05
watch the boiler room sets they pretty much let people just walk up behind the DJs and just be a part of that
29:10
performance whether they're on stage or whether they're in front of the guy or girl or whoever's playing you know and enjoying the set was there any
29:17
components of selection that maybe you thought of when you were brainstorming ideas of like what you wanted it to be
29:23
in terms of do we want people on stage or do we want the the the people performing or playing music to be by
29:28
themselves like was there anything that didn't make it until the final I guess like aesthetic of
29:34
selection that's a great question I I would say everything that you see now is
29:40
a true representation so I would say even the 360 stage and things that we do
29:47
me putting the my the DJ booth and on the floor that's very intentional to
29:52
what we do because we need to feel the energy like personally I dislike being on a stage and being so far far from I'm
29:58
not it's not like I'm rapping or singing right it's a bit different so when we're on the floor as a DJ I feel more
30:04
connected to the people it's all about energy if the booth monitor meaning like the sound in the DJ booth isn't loud
30:10
enough as well I can't feel the music so I need to be able to feel the music so the level of the sound having the right
30:17
people around me right and having the right people being able to see I think impacts the energy of the show otherwise
30:23
if people are stiff my biggest pet peeve is when people are along the barricades on the rails and they're just like
30:30
staring on their phone it's very it could come off very disrespectful or it does mess with our I don't know how if
30:36
if you relate to this but as a DJ when even if it don't matter how many people are moving but if those first like three
30:41
to five people in the front or one person it's just like this and they're just staring no matter what you do it
30:47
does kind of mess with your energy a bit you know and so at least us being on the
30:52
floor and creating that kind of environment and having people around us along with the visuals and the in that
30:59
has always been the basis of like an experiential side on the flip outside of live shows um I think the radio show has
31:06
been the biggest Backbone in terms of the design of the art cover before you listen it's like a great photo whether
31:13
from traveling or from wherever we are in the world and the sound the intro so
31:18
a lot of people don't know omaran is the intro to um selection radio his voice
31:24
the the future beats he collect so that's a Maran and that's again um you know early props to him being very early
31:31
on the sound and supporting it since like 2014 2015 and he's still been 10 years strong now I I went to go DJ um
31:40
his his 40th uh recently oh turn 40 yeah yeah
31:45
crazy my that don't even make sense life right my little brother Man how he catch
31:51
up with me on that hey because he didn't that's your math that Oakland
31:57
math don't embarrass me in front of Joe please and the reason I'm bringing all this up is because like his kids were
32:03
there and they listen to the show and so by Design in terms of when we were creating this it was always just meant
32:10
to bring different age groups and that's what the beautiful thing about it so it's not even just on the production level or Ambiance thing it's about like
32:18
bringing all the ages right because now it's like especially right now we might play the shade edit but it's mixed over
32:25
a Kendrick flip right so you have all the young cat you know and all the younger generation
32:30
but you have our parents in our age and older vibing to you know to to a classic
32:36
shade record but then it's thrown over like a ree element or dub from Jamaica
32:41
and then it has like a Cleo element to it or it might have whoever right and so I think that's the beauty of it is that
32:48
there's really no like my daughter she's 12 now you know what I mean she's on she's on to so many different sounds but
32:54
there's different music that we play that can connect right right all all the ages and I think that was the biggest
33:00
part because most people we have our major demographics of like as we get older our audience gets older but it's
33:07
important to also keep in touch with the youth as well as with the the classic and the and the grown right and so
33:14
bringing that together I think is my biggest mission to where there is no age on the music that's why we say Timeless
33:19
a lot because the music is timeless and so is the age of of people that listen it's a very huge range you know what I
33:26
mean and that that's like the biggest key into the the ethos of of selection starting and that speaks to Tracy's
33:33
question about the Human Experience through was selection does which is pretty incredible give it a round of
33:38
applause uh we played the uh song slow it down which has a pretty cool ass
33:44
black and white shot video right and that was done intentionally correct yeah
33:49
we wanted to do make it simple yeah uh you know obviously to the just for
33:54
people to know like this project we talked about independence this is 100% backed by by me all the money I work for
34:02
and hustle for I'm putting my own money to to behind this project there's no major label there's no major
34:09
distribution behind this it's just myself and my team shout out culture as well and culture is also part of the
34:17
development of me coming out as an artist you know what I mean I've been dimming my life for so long and putting
34:22
so many people before me yeah and this is a moment where now I'm like I'm coming forward so the single is like a a
34:31
testament to that like we don't need I don't need cuz I've been on the end literally two years ago I watched an
34:37
artist come in we released a a record an EP with this artist through selection
34:42
records and he was very adamant about this music video concept he wanted it cost about 25 to 30k to do and you know
34:50
that project is still trying to recoup yeah you know what I mean and so I learned from wow all trials and errors
34:56
within my own business and and just the day and age you we have a we have a supercomputer in our pockets you know
35:02
what I mean which is a iPhone or an Android you don't need much you know what I mean the the the tech is so so so
35:09
so like accessible now all you need is a moment all you need is 8 seconds to 12 seconds to change your life right and so
35:16
with short short form content reals and since that has been enabled it's Chang
35:22
everything and so all you really need to do is shoot a one take couple take visualizer have everyone do their verse
35:29
and then you chop up you know a two three minute you know visual into five
35:34
to eight pieces and then all of a sudden that's that's all you need right and as things track then we can put money into
35:42
you know radio or we can put it into ad ads and and see if if something really
35:47
deserves a music video if it really pops off I'm not going to spend my money on one Visual and then run out of my whole
35:54
budget you know we have our our publicist here like you know I shout out Tay Out
36:01
Metro and you know everything here matters so we might we might be
36:07
economical here but we're using that funding to make the project complete because it really takes a village like
36:12
it really takes a team to make this project or any artist pop off you know what I mean outside of the blessings of
36:19
the people choosing what goes up on on on uh you know the Tik toks and IG and
36:25
the sounds that's a blessing but beyond that I think my biggest mission is like how can we promote past the first week
36:32
or second week cuz we see so many artists burn out after one week one week yeah people post people post a you know
36:39
artwork and some some lookbook photos you know press maybe a music video and
36:44
then it's it's raps and that's why I really admire the the Tyler the creators
36:49
right because he's very adamant about out to Tyler man about promoting promoting past that first promoting for
36:56
12 months out you see Tyler I love Tyler because it's bigger than just the music
37:01
as well it's like she's so in your face she's she's great to look at she dances and she's constantly adding that song to
37:08
her sounds and to her her reals and just her day-to-day and it makes you feel like she's putting out new music all the
37:15
time in different ways you know what I mean I think there's a lot of things for people to take note of right and there's a lot of other artists as well but those
37:21
are like two people where you can't be afraid to promote your music you know what I mean what's the point of putting all this time in energy into your music
37:28
and you're only you're only pushing it and you're embarass yeah can you then speak really quickly to some of our
37:35
citizens who are listening to the show because they call up all the time and they ask for advice and especially DJs
37:41
and artists and I heard you mention like a YouTube channel but it's my understanding correct me if I'm wrong
37:47
just say they're DJ kid sitting in the room trying to get known get popular blow up they can't start a YouTube DJ
37:55
Channel on YouTube because don't you get flagged and his music and his they can't put mixes up right how does that work
38:02
actually they they because of even from twitch right like because it's such a
38:07
big thing they have become the labels have finally caught up they see all the
38:12
all the opportunity exposure because at the end of the day the DJs are making this music pop off period so um with
38:19
it's hard to tell but there are certain Legacy artists that are just like any certain artist it's I can't really speak
38:26
on who exactly but from experience there are certain artists that are very
38:33
wellknown that you'll get flagged for but a majority of the music now the only difference is you can't monetize it yeah
38:40
so you know how like you can run ads on your on your channel that's how you make money so when we do these DJ sets this
38:45
goes for everyone in the game you can't monetize it unless I'm like DJing the best of selection and it's my it's my
38:52
catalog that's different because I we own our music right but if you're just playing other people's music you can do
38:58
it but the labels and the dros and the publishing they're going to collect on
39:04
the music so if that makes sense so in other words you can play you can play all the artists but you just can't
39:10
monetize it and then there's going to be on the back and they're going to notify you like hey this label or this show is
39:15
collecting on this but you're allowed to have this up so the DJ sets on YouTube and stuff are more about promoting that
39:22
DJ and trying to build a following of like hey tap into my channel because I'm
39:27
this style of music where I built like this really nice aesthetically pleasing place and environment and it's like a
39:34
you know when people put on those Loi channels before they go to sleep or put on the the sounds of white noise or rain
39:40
it ain't no different right people just want to build that kind of that Vibe and yeah so nowadays they finally are
39:48
enabling and allowing because before you you were getting blocked and and people were calling about that were asking
39:54
questions about it yeah we would get blocked a lot when we have dudes come up here in freestyle and we use other
39:59
people beats that would happen and I I want to say congratulations to you man
40:04
you should do speaking engagements if you're not doing it already going T let's do that uh you're
40:11
you're amazing to listen to bro and your your depth of knowledge is you know a
40:16
lot of folks talk a lot you know these microphones got a lot of people speaking strong and long about and wrong you know
40:24
don't forget to add them wrong my G you're educator and I'm so happy that Soul selection you got it's got a
40:31
clothing line too right or yeah I mean shoot you see I got and they put a s for sway on their varsity jacket I love
40:38
thank thank you bro thank you bro good when I'mma get mine though man I got you
40:44
you got me I got now that yeah we defin drop off a package for you for the squad yeah it's uh the last thing I'll say
40:50
about that is you know selection is just like a it's not just music it's it's the way you move it's the way you feel so
40:58
it's also like shoot the furniture in my place you know what I mean the design like I need to feel good I need to wake
41:04
up and feel inspired you know what I mean and and as much as I love what I do there are we all have our days where
41:10
it's like man why why am I doing this right and so sometimes I need to be reminded by looking at the wall like
41:16
some art piece or looking at this chair designed in the 70s you know what I mean or looking at this light from the 60s
41:22
those kind of things inspire me cuz like how is this designed and still feels right 50 plus years later right it's the
41:29
same thing with music so it's not just um putting out music we we pretty much are like a creative agency you know what
41:35
I mean we run our own like I got our design team our Shooters we also have a
41:40
lot of women part of our team that's one thing I want people to know there's a lot of women behind selection that from
41:46
our our graphic designer that makes all of our Flyers he's out in Australia is a woman you know what I mean um our anr
41:53
our lead anr is a woman you know what I mean and so one of our our management team we got a lot of women a part of it
42:01
and I love that you know what I mean it's important to have great balance and have women the the women really bring a
42:07
lot of great energy to the workspace and also to ideation and y'all are so organized so I feel like that's a big
42:15
part of why selection is what it is because we have that feminine energy and and it keeps the men in a great balanced
42:22
place you know what I mean and so that's that's really the the core of why we we're so fly you know what I mean
42:29
tremendously fly everything y'all do man is amazing to me I definitely want that varsity jacket uh uh congratulations un
42:38
to you I can't wait to see you on tour um I don't know when that is oh
42:43
that's coming up uh thank you for saying that uh end of April okay um like the
42:48
25th or so and we're doing I'm intentionally doing the the B and C markets and what I mean by that is just
42:55
smaller cities that I've never been to wanted to start off smaller and then in the fall we go with all the heavy hitter
43:01
cities in in the states and then in Europe and so yeah like like Charlotte is the first city on this tour it's 11
43:08
cities it's already sold out you know and I've never been there thank you I didn't even know they were they were
43:14
tapped in like that my first time so I'm blessed that the music and selection is
43:19
taking me there and it might be a city that I need to make part of the main a cities right and then going to places
43:26
like Tampa orando I've surprisingly never been uh so the selection in this
43:31
EP is taking me there to present and I I couldn't be going to Minneapolis I've
43:37
never been there got a in Minneapolis bro and Charlotte too you're going to have a great time BR so I thank you for
43:43
for bringing that up absolutely man if not now then when then win man that's
43:49
out April 4th man it's a I guarantee you're going to enjoy this one citizens make sure you pick it up Joe K
43:56
congratulations to you yes uh we played that slow it down Beautiful video we going to play what you want to play next
44:01
DB is it all right let's go with hesitation that okay yeah hesitation um
44:07
this record is special this is uh Malik and Budgy on the production and then this artist from the bay named Ki okay
44:15
young cat I believe he just turned 21 22 what up K yeah it's spelled k a r i and this has
44:24
this is like the most selection coded record on here I think where it just has like that R&B feel but it has a nice
44:31
little like switch up people like K trata has this like nice little uptempo breakdown it's a good balance of a of a
44:38
track so yeah we can get into that hesitation I want to thank you for coming by brother okay you know that you
44:44
we got to come man I man you got to come do a set Bro oh I will next time you do that time okay okay man all right I have
44:50
to leave here and go record the radio show so I was like let me let me focus on talking today and we come back F
44:55
that's beautiful brother I want wanted to hear from you anyway okay give it up for Joe K from selection this is amazing
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