DJ Maj

Last updated

DJ Maj
Dj Maj Photo.jpg
DJ Maj in 2012
Background information
Birth nameMichael Joseph Allen
Born (1970-10-09) October 9, 1970 (age 50)
Lafayette, Louisiana, U.S.
Genres Christian hip hop
Instruments Vocals, turntables
Years active1997–present
Labels Gotee, Fistpic
Associated acts tobyMac
Website www.djmaj.com

Michael Joseph "Mike" Allen (born October 9, [1] 1970), [2] [3] [4] [5] professionally known as DJ Maj, is a Christian music DJ and rapper, contributing to gospel music albums released by tobyMac, GRITS, Ill Harmonics, Carman, dc Talk, and the Newsboys. DJ Maj has released several mixtapes, as well as three solo albums: BoogiRoot , Speckled Goats and Speckled Goats II.

Contents

Early life

His friends gave him the name "DJ Magic" after watching him play on turntables. Mike only learned to deejay because his friend who was a DJ moved away from Louisiana so he felt he had to learn it all for himself. He later changed his name to "DJ Maj" to reflect that, as a Christian, he did not want to be associated with magic.[ citation needed ] He continued to DJ as a way of paying his way through technical college and soon perfected the art, using it as a means of bringing "holy hip-hop" to the mainstream audience. [6]

He signed a recording contract with Gotee Records and in 1999, released his debut mixtape album, Wax Museum: the Mixtape. [7] The success of this album led to him collaborating with several Christian music stars in his following mixtapes and his debut album in 2005, BoogiRoot .

In 2002, Maj moved to the center of Christian Music, Nashville, Tennessee. He started a radio show to raise awareness of Christian urban music. [6]

In 2007, Maj released his third album, Speckled Goats II, a low-cost album ($7.99) with proceeds donated to hunger relief in third-world countries.[ citation needed ]

In 2009, Maj produced the Gotee Hip Hope Hits Compilation.

Discography

Mixtapes

Albums

Additional Singles & Appearances: bit.ly/2GpnM6a

Contributions

He has toured many times with TobyMac, as well as working on his albums. He has also done work for Christian rapper T-Bone. He is included in the listing of the Diverse City Band crew, which is the list of people who perform with tobyMac in concerts. He was also the DJ who made the cuts on !Hero . [7]

Related Research Articles

DC Talk American Christian rap band

DC Talk is a Christian rap and rock trio. The group was formed at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1987 by Toby McKeehan, Michael Tait, and Kevin Max Smith. They released five major studio albums together: DC Talk (1989), Nu Thang (1990), Free at Last (1992), Jesus Freak (1995), and Supernatural (1998). In 2002, the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music called DC Talk "the most popular overtly Christian act of all time."

TobyMac Christian hip hop recording artist

Toby McKeehan, better known by his stage name TobyMac, is an American Christian hip hop recording artist, music producer, songwriter and author.

Madlib American record producer from California

Otis Jackson Jr., known professionally as Madlib, is an American DJ, music producer, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper. One of the most prolific and critically acclaimed hip hop producers of the 2000s, he is widely known for his collaborations with MF DOOM, J Dilla, and Freddie Gibbs. Madlib has described himself as a "DJ first, producer second, and MC last."

Deepspace5 is an underground hip hop supergroup formed in 1997 and currently composed of Beat Rabbi, Manwell?, Freddie Bruno, Listener, Mars ILL, Playdough, Sintax.the.Terrific, Sivion, and Sev Statik. Deepspace5 also previously included Illtripp and The Recon. Since its formation, the collective has sold over 100,000 copies of its recordings, and has performed with KRS-One, Atmosphere, and MF Doom, among others.

Gotee Records

Gotee Records is a record label founded by Christian hip hop performer Toby McKeehan, Todd Collins, and Joey Elwood. The label began as a production company. At the time of the label's founding, McKeehan was a member of dc Talk.

Verbs (rapper)

Michael Boyer II, better known by his stage names Knowdaverbs and later Verbs, is a Christian hip hop artist. He has recorded for Gotee Records.

John Reuben

John Reuben is an American hip hop artist signed to Gotee Records until late 2010. Reuben has sold over 200,000 copies of his first four albums. He released his sixth album, Sex, Drugs and Self-Control on December 22, 2009. The album was nominated for a Dove Award for Rap/Hip-Hop Album of the Year at the 42nd GMA Dove Awards, while the song "No Be Nah" was nominated for Rap/Hip-Hop Recorded Song of the Year.

Paul Wright (singer)

Paul Wright is an American musician originally from Eugene, Oregon. His debut album, Fly Away, was recorded in Oregon with Christopher Stevens and released in 2003. He graduated from Northwest Christian University with a degree in Communications after spending a semester studying at the Contemporary Music Center in Martha's Vineyard.

GRITS American Christian hip hop group

Grits is a Christian hip hop group from Nashville, Tennessee. Their name is an acronym, which stands for "Grammatical Revolution In the Spirit". GRITS is made up of Stacey "Coffee" Jones and Teron "Bonafide" Carter, both of whom were DC Talk dancers.

Hip Hope Hits is an annual collection of Christian rap songs. The series is produced by tobyMac's Gotee Records under the name of Various Artists. The series began as a one off collection titled We Are Hip Hope. In late 2004, the first of the albums in the current format, Hip Hope Hits 2005 was released. It featured many more artists and tracks as well as an enhanced disc featuring a documentary about DJ Maj, a prominent Christian hip hop producer, having produced many tracks on the album.

<i>BoogiRoot</i> 2005 studio album by DJ Maj

BoogiRoot is the first album by Christian rapper DJ Maj. Before this, his primary releases were mixtapes which did not feature his voice very much.

TobyMac discography

This is the discography of TobyMac. He was originally a member of dc Talk from 1988 to 2001. Since 2001 he has released seven studio albums, five remix albums and two live albums as a solo artist.

<i>Alive and Transported</i> 2008 live album by tobyMac

Alive and Transported is a live album by Christian hip hop artist tobyMac. It was released on May 27, 2008 and debuted at No. 112 on the Billboard 200, and also placed at No. 4 on Billboard's Top Christian Albums chart. It is currently sold as a CD/DVD combo. The live show recorded for the album was also played on Monday, June 9, 2008, in movie theaters. The film was filmed at the Richard E. Berry Educational Support Center in Cypress, Texas.

<i>The Ringleader</i> 2003 mixtape by DJ Maj

The Ringleader: Mixtape Volume III is a 2003 Christian hip hop album mixed by DJ Maj. It was his first commercial success. While it is his third mixtape for Gotee Records, his first two received little media attention. This DJ mix has an overall hip hop feel, but some tracks, specifically "Under Pressure", "A Friend", and "Showpiece", are more precisely rhythm and blues. While the album combines the talents of many different artists, the theme that God is in control is a maintained through all the tracks. The Ringleader marked the debut solo for Jason Eskridge, who had previously been a guest singer with GRITS in Grammatical Revolution. Other artists represented include tobyMac, Kirk Franklin, Out of Eden, LA Symphony, 4th Avenue Jones, Camp Quest, GRITS, Verbs, Bobby Bishop, Shonlock, and Pigeon John.

Brian James Reith, better known as B. Reith, is a Christian hip hop/pop singer and rapper. He began his musical career with the release of his first album, "Urgent Message", in 2003. In 2008, Reith signed to Gotee Records and released his EP The Forecast. Later that year, he toured with TobyMac on the Winter Wonder Slam tour. In September 2009, Reith released his second album, Now Is Not Forever, which charted at No. 2 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and No. 32 on the Heatseekers chart. The album spawned the singles "Antidote", which peaked at No. 50 on the Christian Songs chart, and "The Comeback Kid".

"Ooh Ahh" is a single by American Christian hip hop group GRITS featuring TobyMac. It was recorded for their fourth studio album, The Art of Translation. It was produced by Ric "DJ Form" Robbins and Otto Price for Incorporated Elements. The song was written by Ric Robbins, Otto Price, Coffee and Bone of Grits, and Toby Mac. It is sometimes referred to as "My Life Be Like" or "My Life Be Like ". A cut from the song is featured on tobyMac's song, "Catchafire (Whoopsi-Daisy)" from his album Welcome to Diverse City. To date, "Ooh Ahh" has been RIAA Digital Certified Gold for over 500,000 downloads and on-demand streams, subsequently going Platinum in January 2019.

Wax (rapper)

Michael Jones, better known by his stage name Wax, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, producer, and comedian. He became a YouTube star after uploading several videos of himself rapping and singing. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Wax is widely known for his popular single "Rosana", which was released in 2012.

Capital Kings was an American pop, EDM and Christian pop act. The group went on indefinite hiatus on January 3, 2018. The group originally consisted of producer and rapper Cole Walowac and singer Jon White, who was later replaced by Dylan Housewright.

Chris Webby American rapper from Connecticut

Christian Walcott Webster, better known by his stage name Chris Webby, is an American rapper from Norwalk, Connecticut. Chris Webby has released many mixtapes such as the DJ Drama-hosted Bars On Me (2012) and his EP There Goes the Neighborhood (2011), which peaked at number 101 on the Billboard 200. He has worked with various artists such as Freeway, Mac Miller, Joell Ortiz, Big K.R.I.T., Method Man, Prodigy, Gatzby, Bun B, Tech N9ne, Jarren Benton, and Kid Ink. In 2013 he and his label, Homegrown Music, signed a deal with E1 Music. He then released Homegrown, another EP, in November 2012. Webster released his debut studio album Chemically Imbalanced on October 27, 2014. Most recently, Webby has released the compilation album, Next Wednesday, that features some of the many tracks he released throughout 2018 as part of his Webby Wednesday series. In 2019, Webby released the third entry of his Wednesday mixtape series, Wednesday After Next. In 2020, Webby released the fourth entry of his Wednesday mixtape series, 28 Wednesdays Later.

Aaron Tyrese Cole is an American Christian hip hop recording artist and songwriter. He began his career at the age of four. He signed to Gotee Records, a record label founded by Christian hip hop performer Toby McKeehan. Cole is known the best for his songs "Right on Time" and "One More Day".

References

  1. "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! Free music download as promised! IT'S OCTOBER 9. Click link to download zip package!". DJ Maj. Retrieved October 12, 2016.
  2. DJ Maj. Bil Carpenter. 2005. ISBN   9780879308414 . Retrieved October 12, 2016.
  3. "Singer/Composer: Allen, Michael Joseph". BMI. Retrieved October 12, 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  4. "The Day I Went to Prison". DJ Maj. August 31, 2014. Retrieved October 12, 2016.
  5. "DJ Maj Discography". Jesusfreakhideout.com. Retrieved July 8, 2008.
  6. 1 2 "Exploring The Boogiroot: DJ Maj moves from mixing to MCing on new album". Crossrhythms.co.uk. October 21, 2005. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  7. 1 2 "Gotee.com". Gotee.com. Retrieved November 19, 2011.