Me encanta que me permita compartir mi plataforma y, ya sabes, compartirla con otros talentos de todas las edades. - DJ HOLLYW8D

Welcome to Mindshift Power podcast, a show for teenagers and the adults who work with them, where we have raw and honest conversations. I'm your host, Fatima Bey, the mind shifter. And welcome. Thank you everyone for joining our show today. So today, we have on a special guest on, Mario Johnson, AKA DJ Hollywood out of Albany, New York, and he is the founder of More Music, Less Violence.

How are you today, DJ Hollywood? I am well. I am well. I'm super blessed, man. And, yeah, thank you for having me as a guest on your podcast.

Me alegra tenerte aquí y espero que seas una inspiración para los jóvenes que nos escuchan. Cuéntanos sobre DJ Hollywood. ¿Quién eres? ¿A qué te dedicas? Sí.

That is a very, very good question and could be a very long winded one. But to summarize it up in intro form, I would say, I am a, young black man and entrepreneur from Brooklyn, New York, who currently lives in, the Capital District. And, I came out here to go to Hudson Valley Community College to play football, which I played sports the whole entire, you know, portion of my, teen years, you know, 18 and under, and then coming out to, you know, a college to play to play sports, you know, kind of got like a plot twist and a and a hit of reality. So, ended up, you know, leaving the team and then ended up staying and then got my degree from, there and then UAlbany. And then shortly after that became, DJ Hollywood.

And, you know, the rest is kind of history. Okay. So you own you're the founder, rather, of what, of More Music Less Violence. So tell us about what that is and how it got started. Yes.

Correct. So more music, less violence is a community concert series, that sparked up in 2020. It was we all know what happened during 2020, but, specifically, you know, in regards of the music realm, there were no performances happening. So from 2018, which is the year I graduated UAlbany, to 2020, I curated, you know, 15 independent artist showcases is what I call them. And, with the pandemic, you know, I wasn't allowed to, you know, do, you know, social gatherings were basically frowned upon.

So, you know, when things kind of lightened up a little bit, I got the idea to do a, basically a pop up showcase. And, if anyone that's listening knows Riverfront Park in Troy, we went there. They had, you know, the the polls had the the outlet in them. And, you know, I seen an opportunity and called up some artists and legit we did a pop up show. And that was in the realm of, the George Floyd situation as well.

And, you know, just violence was it was weird. It was weird because everyone was still inside, but there was still violence happening. And on the other side of things, you know, music was also still, you know, coming out. So that's kind of what sparked the idea in regards to more music, less violence. And then the feedback was great.

So from there, ended up doing it, you know, the legit way, not, you know, just popping up in a park because we definitely could have got in trouble because we didn't have any permits. But, you know, it was all a peaceful environment. So, you know, I wasn't really thinking about it too much. And you're only going to be there for an hour or two. So we did it the legit way in 2021 is where it officially, you know, started.

Y luego empezamos desde cafés hasta grandes escenarios, colaborando con importantes organizaciones y consiguiendo subvenciones. Así que, sí, tres años después, estamos aquí, con seis conciertos y listos para colaborar, conectar y construir con quien sea que esté a la altura del movimiento. ¿Qué efectos has encontrado en lo que haces? Sí, claro. Claro.

Uno de nuestros objetivos más importantes es unir a la comunidad. Esto les brinda un espacio seguro y un momento de sanación, como lo llamamos, donde puedes estar en este espacio y no salir de la misma manera que entras a nuestros espectáculos. Y, bueno, soy un gran defensor de eso. Y tengo un dicho famoso: el nombre del movimiento es, básicamente, retórico. Es obvio.

But, you know, the experience you get is unexplainable. So I could sit here and tell you, you know, all the thousand things of how a more musical, less violent show will make you feel. But, you know, you entering the space and, you know, being in the atmosphere of a more musical less violence event is something that, like I said, is unexplainable. That sounds pretty awesome. Do you find that it has helped you connect with more youth?

Sí. Sí. De hecho, con los espectáculos, no hay límite de edad para los artistas. He tenido a chicos de 13 años. He tenido a chicos de 10 años.

Really? Yeah, for sure. For sure. Even younger than that, which is crazy to think about it because the 10 year old that I'm talking about, she performed at the first one in 2021, which she was eight there. And, the news came through to that to that one.

Así que ya son seis. Cinco de los seis recibieron noticias. ¡Genial! Sí. Sí.

It's been great feedback. So at the first ever one, the news came through, you know, kind of surprised us, did interviews with us and stuff. But within that clip, they said that her name is Ivella. They said that she stole the show and truly she did. And she did a cover of a Lauryn Hill song and she blew the crowd away.

So, yeah. So eight years old, 10, 13. We've had 15, 16 year old old perform, 18, all the way up to my guy, Doc Horton, man, who, we're gonna be doing a a more music less violence collab soon at Procter's Theater. Doc is 65, and you would have no idea he's 65. He does, like, he does Motown covers, and he just Mhmm.

He blows the crowd away. He, he actually opened up our gala, our first annual gala at, the Capital Rep in Albany, this past January, at the top of the year for Martin Luther King weekend. And, yeah, he, sees him and his band. So it's Doc Horton in the J Street band. And they set the tone and they, you know, they they set the roof on fire.

And And it was, you know, it's a pleasure. But, yeah, it'll definitely allows me to connect with youth because I try to push, you know, positive music and just, you know, self expression without the use of cursing. So that's another thing with the shows. It's almost a standard for people. I tell people not to curse.

And if or if you have a song that has cursing in it, I tell them to clean it up, you know, but to also have a message within your music as well. So, yeah, I love that it allows, you know, me to share my platform and, you know, share with other talent of of all age levels. So we're talking about the importance of the influence of music. How important how important do you think music is, period? That's a great question.

I think music is super important because we we we take for granted, you know, how much we listen to music. You know? It's in commercials. It's, you know, it's, it's in, you know, we're on Instagram and TikTok and YouTube and all that every day, you know? And, you know, music is something that, you know, Bob Marley said it.

He said one thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain, you know? And, something like that is just so it's it's universal. You know? It's it's it's something that a person could never, you know, hear a song before and, you know, kind of and two people just meet and, you know, kind of enjoy a moment with a song they both never heard of before, you know? And, yeah, it's just so much to it, you know, and it's so powerful.

And, you know, my YouTube, my YouTube channel is it's more than music, because for a while I kind of wanted to frame that as the business. The business is more than music, LLC, but I wanted it to be specifically, it's more than music, because legit, it's, you know, it's more than music. It's it's healing. It's emotions. It's, you know, therapy.

And, you know, it's it's amazing thing what what music can truly do for, you know, for everyone, all ages as well. So music brings people together. That's definitely true. Music is is one of the the few mediums that can bring people together who just otherwise might not be together. But does music do things for people on a deeper level?

Yeah. I think so. I think so. I think, you know, even when, I've I've I forgot what's the exact scenario, but they say, you know, like when a woman's pregnant and you, you know, you put, like, headphones or, like, you play music around the kids, you know, in the womb, they'll, like, move around and stuff and you'll get some type of feedback from that, you know? So it's crazy that even a unborn child can feel, you know, the energy and the frequencies of music.

Y al mismo tiempo, ya sabes, antes, ya sabes, era como el rap o, como el canto, ya sabes, había poesía, ya sabes, que el rap y el canto son casi poesía con un ritmo. ¿Sabes? Claro. Y, sí. Sí.

I think it's it's definitely something that, you know, we kind of underplay just because we have it. We have music. You know, we have the access to music, but it's almost like like back to, like, the pandemic. It's almost like someone taking away from you the opportunity to go outside and be around your loved ones. You're like, oh, crap.

You know, like, I didn't realize how much I actually enjoy, you know, being around, like, my family. So Mhmm. You know, if if someone and I and I I ask this to people sometimes too. I'm like, what would you what would you do? Would you take away your sight, or would you take away your hearing?

And people are like, oh, man. Like, you know, like yeah. Right? And and people are like, man. Like, I couldn't imagine not being mono.

Y es curioso porque la mayoría de la gente habla de música. Sabes, dicen: "No me imagino no poder escuchar música". Y luego hay quienes, ya sabes, ponen la vista en la obra y dicen: "Oye, prefiero ver adónde voy". Pero sí, es algo muy profundo, es música muy profunda, algo muy profundo que siento que no recibe el reconocimiento que tiene. Pero siento que, al mismo tiempo, si sabes...

I think music also affects our emotions, and that's not a minor detail in in in my opinion because we can listen to a song that sends us into a rage. The song didn't create the rage, but it woke up the rage that was there. Right. Right. Right.

Listen to music that makes us cry. The song didn't make you cry, but it woke up tears that were already needed to come out. Right. You know, there's there's music can make you inspired to do what you need to do because the inspiration was already sitting there. It just needed a boost.

So for the I'm saying that for those who are listening, who think that you that your music program doesn't have an effect on your students. You're wrong. Because a lot of times when budgets get cut, music programs and other, you know, what some would consider artistic programs get cut, and they shouldn't be. They are extremely important, and they have effects that we can't necessarily see through a test on paper. But they definitely have an effect in people's mindset.

And I just wanted to point that out, you know, as well. Now, I wanna dive into this, and this is not really a segue. It's just changing the subject because it's because it's necessary. So I wanna point something out. So you work full time right now.

Correct? Yeah. Yes. Seven seven years. Seven years.

¿Y a qué te dedicas a tiempo completo? Soy emprendedor a tiempo completo. Como dije, se remonta a lo que dije en la introducción. Es una respuesta muy extensa. Pero, ya sabes, en cuanto al emprendimiento, soy DJ a tiempo completo, DJ profesional.

I also do content creation, so I, you know, make my own flyers. I'm, you know, doing my own design work. You know, I create my business cards, all that stuff. Then it goes into, you know, me sometimes doing content for other people. Along with that, there's, me doing interviews for, you know, my YouTube channel even though, you know, it's not monetized as yet.

Sabes, es algo que hay que construir. Me han pagado por hacer entrevistas antes. Normalmente no cobro por entrevistas porque sé que todavía estoy en la fase de desarrollo. Además, también hago presentaciones. Así que organizo exposiciones y diferentes eventos para que la gente asista.

And then my newest, you know, baby in business is my photo booth. So I also own a photo booth as well, which is a good combo for when I do, you know, private events, you know, it's holiday season. So holiday parties, and specifically weddings as well. You know, that's that's a big one. So, yeah, you know, everything kinda falls under all the above.

También enseño a niños a ser DJ. Esa es otra vía, y quizás algo que se me esté olvidando. Pero sí, es como una forma diferente de generar ingresos. Y es genial que básicamente todo se base en la música y las artes. Me encanta.

Okay. Now I wanna break down some of what you just said. So are so most of the things that you just mentioned, are you making money at most of them? Yeah. Yeah.

Así que sí. Literalmente, la mayoría, diría el 85 o 90 por ciento de lo que dije. Sí. Hay algún tipo de reembolso de tiempo involucrado. Lo señalo porque tenemos muchos adolescentes escuchándonos ahora mismo que quieren emprender.

And I think it's important to point out different fact about entrepreneurship and not just say, yay. Own your own business. Be your own boss. Make your own money. Whoo.

And leave it there. I wanna point out the fact that you're you're listening to a man who has his own business, but he does many things within that business to make all of the financial ends meet. Correct? That is that is very, very true. So he doesn't just DJ.

Todo está relacionado con ser DJ, como debe ser, pero él hace más de una cosa. Así que, si quieres emprender tu propio negocio, ten en cuenta que podrías tener que abarcar varias cosas a la vez. Yo también me dedico a eso, además de a la transformación mental. Este podcast es solo una rama de lo que hago. Y, como sabes, también soy un emprendedor con dos facetas.

Bueno, mmm. Tengo un negocio diferente que también me dedico. Ahora también tienes tu... más música, menos violencia. Es decir, pronto será una organización sin fines de lucro. ¿Correcto?

Yep. Yeah. Yeah. We're in the final stages of forming it into a nonprofit. Thought about it for a while in regards to what what, you know, how I wanted to form that part of the, you know, of the umbrella.

Y sí, me pareció bien entrar en el ámbito de las organizaciones sin fines de lucro, porque sé que podríamos conectar con muchas más organizaciones con un propósito y una misión similares a los nuestros. Me parece fantástico que aproveches tus habilidades empresariales para dirigir una organización sin fines de lucro. Gracias. Y también quiero destacar que estás escuchando a DJ Hollywood. Él tiene su propio negocio además de la organización sin fines de lucro.

He's not trying to live off of his nonprofit. And I'm saying that because not just teenagers, but a lot of people will have a big dream, and they jump too high, too hard, too fast, and they jump into something without using any wisdom or planning. Agreed. Agreed. What advice do you have for those who are looking to start their own business, not just DJing, but start their own business, maybe related to your field because every field has different nuances.

What advice do you have for any youth that are looking to start, to become an entrepreneur like you? Initially, I would say that, you so I have I have a thing called the, the PPP, which is, you know, find your passion, you know, find your purpose, and then figure out how you could, you know, turn it into a paycheck. So that's the PPP. But what I will say is that, you have to understand that, you know, basically, you are your own boss as an entrepreneur, which there's pros and cons to that. So Mhmm.

You know, I can, like this past weekend, you know, I made the executive decision to, you know, do three gigs in a day. You know, initially, it was just only gonna be two. But, meanwhile, the gig number two was happening. I got the opportunity to, you know, for the offer for gig number three. You know?

Así que tuve que tomar esa decisión por mí mismo. ¿Sabes? No había nadie que me dijera: "Oye, ve aquí o no". Esa decisión dependía exclusivamente de mí. Y, claro, estaba cansado, pero sabía los beneficios de ir al tercer evento y lo que eso podría significar para el negocio.

And in the same breath, you know, now I know. Okay. Well, you know, if the event ends at 2AM, now I have to pack up and go home. Now I'm probably going to sleep around 3AM, and now I gotta think about what do I have to do the next day. You know?

Now the pros of being, you know, a entrepreneur, I could wake up whatever time I want, but that's also a con in regards of I could wake up anytime I want. So if I wanna have a lazy day, okay, cool. So I go to bed at two or I go to bed at three. Excuse me. I wake up at eleven, let's just say, or twelve.

And now I gotta, you know, get up and motivate myself to figure out, okay, you know, whether it's a list of things I gotta do or, you know, me scheduling stuff in my calendar. But, you know, things gotta get done, you know, nonetheless. You know, there's no, there's nobody kind of micromanaging you. There's no, you know, boss that's telling you, you know, what time to clock in, what time to clock out. You know, it's almost a twenty four hour shift in regards of, you know, being an entrepreneur.

And then there's other things, you know, money management. You got taxes that you also have to take into to, consideration. Yuck. But yes. Yeah.

Yeah. Beyond that, you know, it's it's just you gotta really be able to lock in and and, especially if you wanna be successful as a as a business owner, you know, for for a while. Even my mom, you know, she was like, are you really surviving off of, you know, DJing? And I was like, yeah. I actually am.

And it took her a while to you know, it took a while for her to, you know, for her to sit in, you know. But one time she called me, and she called me up, and she was like, hey, DJ Hollywood. And that was the first time I ever heard her call me DJ Hollywood. Oh, really? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And, from there because she has me on Facebook. So that's what it is. So she see she sees more and more and more people kinda gravitating towards the movement and the brand.

So she's just like, oh, wow. You know, she sees me drop, like, you know, some merch. And she's like, yo, like, I want a hoodie. You know, just little stuff like that. And, you know, me just realizing, you know, okay.

Sabes, básicamente, ese momento para tus padres, ya sabes, donde dicen: "Ah, vale. Estás haciendo algo que te encanta. Estás ganando dinero". En fin, yo ya no. Ya no le pido dinero.

Rara vez lo hago, a menos que esté en un apuro. Pero, bueno, a veces tengo la oportunidad de darle dinero, ¿sabes? Así que es una gran bendición para el consejo del emprendedor. Pero sí, definitivamente no es para la semana. Definitivamente no es para... Y esa es la cuestión también.

Otra cosa es que está bien ser o no jefe. ¿Entiendes? Porque, más o menos, los jefes también necesitan trabajadores. ¿Sabes? O sea, un equipo necesita más elementos.

Granted, there's only one, quote, unquote, boss, but at the same time, a boss is nothing without his workers, if that makes sense. You know? Mhmm. Or a boss is as good as his workers Right. Are.

So, that's just something to keep in mind, you know, like, you don't have to go into entrepreneurship. But, you know, even recently I just, you know, accepted, having an assistant, you know, something like that is so key because now if the assistant is out of tune now that kind of like I have to tweak stuff on my level because I got to get the stuff done that she was supposed to get done, you know? And, yeah, there's there's a job for everyone. I tell that to, you know, everybody when especially when it comes to entrepreneurship, you know, when you see movies, you know, there's multiple when when the credits roll, there's at least 50 plus people in the credits, you know, and everybody plays a pivotal role within that movie. So, yeah, life's a movie, man.

Go, go be your superstar. I wanna back up to what you said a moment ago. What I when I asked you about the, entrepreneurship and, you know, what advice you have for the youth, and one of the first parts that you said, to reword it, I would say you you have to plan and use wisdom. Mhmm. Mhmm.

So you were talking about the fact that you took on a third gig, for the day. You said, I can fit this in. Okay. I can do it. So then you did it, and you were able to six you know, you were able to succeed with that.

Right. But even when it came but in order for you to make that decision, you had to plan what the elements were around that decision. Mhmm. And I'm pointing that out because sometimes and not just teenagers. Sometimes we we get all excited.

We we wanna go, yay. I like that idea. Let's do it. But then we don't think about the aftermath of that decision. Okay.

What does that mean if I take on this element, if I take on this assignment, if I take on this task, if I take on this whatever? I think in business, a lot of times, we don't not just in business, but sometimes in planning our lives. And and as a teenager, you could be taking on too many clubs in the school, taking on too many extracurricular activities. You can overwhelm yourself. And we have to be wise in in in the decisions that we make.

Y eso es lo que escuché de lo que me contaste, ya sabes, lo que te pasó ayer. Sí. No ayer, sino el sábado. Sí. Sí.

I agree. I agree. You definitely have to, you know, especially within entrepreneurship, things have to be well thought out, you know? And, you know, the planning is definitely a key thing because even with, you know, the event Saturday specifically, I had to, you know, nothing was ready. So at the moment that he the the person reached out to me, nothing was ready.

Así que tuve que hacerlo, fue una locura. Déjame explicarte esto también. La boda quería que me quedara una hora más, pero ya había aceptado el tercer trabajo. Así que pensé: "Bueno, no puedo retrasar el tiempo porque solo voy a arruinarlo todo". Claro, estaba ganando más dinero en el tercer trabajo que en la hora extra, y por eso también tomé esa decisión.

But, Yes. So I had to basically rush home now to because it was a photo booth event. I had to rush home design, some type of template, because it was like a theme party. So I had to just come home design. This happened in probably about twenty minutes, and then I was out the door again, which means I had to bring the photo booth come and the photo booth is not not light at all.

So I had to bring the photo booth upstairs, get out the photos from the last event while editing the graphic for the third event, then export that to a USB and then, set up the design, basically set up the graphics. So event call it set up the event in the photo booth and then get the photo booth back in the car and then drive about twenty minutes to get to that event and then quickly set up. So I was good to go for twelve to two. So in other words, you just made it sound like it was a real easy decision, but it was some work. No.

For sure. For sure. And and I I was very close to saying no. But like I said, I knew the benefits of you know, that was the space that I wanted to be in because I knew, you know, future clientele was also there, but also the person that reached out to me was a good friend of mine. So I was like, you know what?

Me llamas a las 7 p. m. para un evento a las 10, pero te hago un favor: sí. Llegaré a las 12. Podríamos hacer un espacio de dos horas, y, ya sabes, la gente se sacará fotos y todos estarán contentos. ¿Entonces negociaste cuándo te dieron la oferta? Sí.

Claro. Claro. Eso es algo que pasa con el emprendimiento. Ya sabes, en general, siempre debes negociar tu valor. Pero específicamente con el emprendimiento, ya sabes, Fat Joe lo dijo mejor.

He said, set your price and live your life, you know, and, let people see the value in it. The people see the value in it. They'll pay it and then some. And the people who don't, you know, start charging charging double when they come back. They're just taking up your time and energy anyway.

Let them walk away. But what I also hear is that you didn't sacrifice quality in your delivery. And I think that's so important because sometimes people say, oh, yeah. I can do this. I can rush and do this, but then they get they give rushed quality.

And from what I just heard and what in the details you just gave, you didn't do that. You made sure that you had a theme set up. You made sure you took the old stuff out and that you still gave a professional presentation. Yes? Right.

No. Y es curioso que digas eso, porque es exactamente lo que pienso. Pensaba que el fotomatón tiene plantillas predeterminadas para la pantalla de inicio y cosas así. Pero una de las cosas que más me gusta del fotomatón es que puedo personalizarlo para cada evento, y eso está incluido en el precio.

I say I can I can customize it? You send me a logo, whatever it is. I'm a tailor it to your event. And, yeah. Yeah.

And I knew at that moment in my head, I was thinking I was like, Is there any, like, default? Because it was like it was a pink theme. So I was like, Is there any default photo booth images that are is pink? And I was like, You know what? And crazy enough, I have, the app on my phone that I edit the, the photo booth templates with and legit while the wedding's going on, I quickly, like, just, like, edit something in my phone real quick.

It was crazy. Oh, my goodness. You cannot make this up. I literally edited something real quick. And, and then by the time I got home, I got to the computer and then fine, like, fine tuned it.

Pero sí, fue una locura, tío. Fue una locura. Pero sí, hay mucho sacrificio que hacer como emprendedor. Y eso implica planificación, preparación y, por supuesto, y por último, pero no menos importante, ejecución. Y disciplina.

Porque mucho de lo que acabas de decir incluía disciplina. Y en cuanto a todos ustedes, no me importa la edad que tengan. Esto es para adolescentes. No me importa la edad que tengan. No espero el éxito sin disciplina.

They Right. They they're never separate. They are never ever separate. Well, DJ Hollywood, it has been awesome talking to you. And before we go, how could people find you?

Sí. Un placer hablar contigo también. Pueden verme en Instagram. Es donde suelo estar. Publico mucho ahí.

D j h o l l y w, the number eight d. So that's DJ Hollywood. Don't forget the eight. DJ h o l l y w eight d. You could check out more music, less violence as well on Instagram.

It's exactly how it sounds. More music, less violence. We also got a website as well, that were, you know, we launched earlier this year, moremusic,lessviolence.org. We'll be tweaking the website along, you know, the the upcoming months, you know, leading into next year because we have a lot of events that we're planning and a lot of collaborations we're planning. And, yeah, you could also my wife's my website as well, djhollywood.com, if you wanna hear any of my mixes and stuff.

Y, en YouTube, si quieres ver alguna de mis entrevistas o, ya sabes, el contenido que publico en mis conciertos, es más que música. ¿De acuerdo? Es más que música. Y, Fátima, te agradezco mucho. Te agradezco que me lo hayas preguntado.

No problem. The DJHollywood.com, is that spelled the normal way or with an eight? No. It's never normal. It's never normal.

Soy DJ Hollywood. No te olvides del ocho. Sé especial. Sí. Sí.

DJ Hollywood. Don't forget the eight, man. I literally looked it up on the Internet, and I see no other DJ Hollywood with the eight. And I think that was probably about 2016. I changed every single platform to reflect DJ Hollywood with the eight.

Me gusta porque soy así. Si todos lo hacen, tengo que encontrar la manera de ser diferente. Exactamente. Exactamente. Exactamente.

Bueno, ha sido un placer tenerte aquí, y espero que hayamos inspirado a algunos jóvenes emprendedores y a otros a adentrarse más en la música. Creo que, con suerte, hemos logrado ambas cosas. Y ha sido realmente genial tenerte. Sí. Yo también lo agradezco.

And, yeah, good luck with the rest of the podcast, and enjoy the rest of your 2023. And now for a mind shifting moment. Entrepreneurship is a beautiful thing. I hope you were just inspired by the story of his journey for his way of work. If you're considering entrepreneurship, I want you to remember some of the key elements that you heard in today's session.

Solutions have to come from where you are. Don't expect everything to fit into a perfect little box because it never will, especially when it comes to entrepreneurship. But most importantly, take whatever skills you have, however, big and small and make a difference in your community. That's bigger than anything else you can do. Thank you for listening to mind shift power podcast.

Please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel at the mind shifter. If you have any comments, topic suggestions, or would like to be a guest on the show, please visit FatimaBay.com/podcast. Remember, there's power in shifting your thinking. Tune in for next week.