Haitian Beatz

There is one group of entertainer that we sometimes seem to forget, even though they sometimes entertain us more often then our favorites artists or bands; even when our artists or bands are performing, they are usually there to keep you entertained when the artists/bands must are obligated to take a break.  I call them the unknown entertainers, they are sometimes hidden behind a booth, inside the club, looking from the distance at the dance floor that they are catering to, but unable to join in the fun.  We are talking about our DJs.

In this upcoming series of interviews, HB will be bringing them in the spotlight, so we get to know a little better, those zombies who keep us alive at the clubs.  Our first interview is with  SJ Stakz Dinero, of Hi-Profyle

HB- DJ Stakz can you tell us a little bit about your background?

DJS- Well Hello HB, I would like to first thank HB for taking your time out to even interview me, I'm flattered! I was born and raised in Brooklyn NY. Born into a family with lots of music background. I think I get it all from my dad, he is so into music. He always had DJ equipment (back then it was turntables, 8track and Wheel to Wheel Machines). Lots of Records and etc. He was also a very popular person amongst people in the HMI at the time. I remember people such as Coupe Cloure', Cubano, Zou Zoul, Shoubou and more. They would come by the house just to chill, eat food, and have fun.

I grew up listening and actually falling in love with the older generation of music such as Skah Shah, Tabou Combo, Les Lous Noirs, Les Gypsie, Difficiles, Bossa Combo, System Band and Many More (I Can go On for Days). So with the love and knowledge of that era of music and new generation kicking in, I was somewhat in the middle of it all.

Not a lot of people my age embraced kompas, especially being born and raised in NY. So as you can see, my first likes was definitely music and then everything else kids are into. Growing up, for my birthday and Christmas gifts, amongst toys and other things, my parents would get me new records or blank tapes for my recordings, that's all I needed to be happy.

I started growing the love to play music through little family gatherings, house parties and so on. One of my older brothers "Arthur" was really into the reggae scene. He used to roll with Major DJ's on the Dancehall Scene such as Stone Love, King Addies, and Afrique. I used to hear the tapes and just go crazy, they used to come by the house and chill with him, vice versa... until one night he took me along to this night club named "Biltmore", mind you I was barely a teen (Lol) and Stone Love was in town from Jamaica and While they were setting up they stood me up on a Crate and Let me play on there equipment, that was the happiest moment of my life at that time. From then on, I knew what I had to do. The Only thing about me is that I felt I can put the two together...why just stick to one genre, why not play around with all.