“The DJ School is my life's work summed up into a room,” Najera says. Private lessons are available, and the school functions as a retailer for all the equipment necessary to practice the artform. A secondary course, DJ School 102, builds on the primary course’s foundation. It offers an introductory six-week DJ course titled DJ School 101. The DJ School is a one-stop shop for DJ knowledge and equipment.

“It's kind of a full circle of 23 years of hard work and tears and everything in between,” Rivera says. 15, 2019, Rivera and Najera began teaching the inaugural class of The DJ School. (The school recently learned that Pro Rehearsal Studios will be closing at the end of July and is looking to relocate “ASAP.”)

“Why don't we start a DJ school?” Rivera asked Najera.īy Feb. As the two beheld the room, a light bulb came on. The studio was equipped with 10 DJ setups, including five Technics turntables and five Pioneer turntables. Gilbert Najera, known artistically as DJ Titan, had built a DJ studio intended for streaming. That night, Ivan G spent eight hours teaching Rivera how to use it all.Įighteen years later, Rivera visited Pro Rehearsal Studios. That day, DJ Ivan G sold Rivera $3,000 worth of DJ equipment including a Pioneer DJ DJM-600 Pro DJ Mixer. and came face to face with salesman and scratch master DJ Ivan G. “The combination of those two performances and the amazing backdrop of rainforests and a cave, I really couldn't have wished for a better beginning of this journey,” Rivera says.Īfter relocating to Dallas in 2001, Rivera walked into Brook Mays Music Co. Jumpin Jack Frost unknowingly inspired Rivera’s journey to becoming Dallas’ Shaman of Universal Language, aka DJ S.O.U.L.Jah.

As his heart rate soared, visions of himself behind the deck flashed before his eyes. The fast breaks and heavy bass sped his racing heart up to 180 beats per minute. With each electrifying beat Jumpin Jack Frost spun, Rivera’s heart rate rose. Then, British jungle and drum and bass DJ Jumpin Jack Frost took the stage. Lady Miss Kier, former member of the disbanded dance music group Deee-Lite, was behind the deck. Las Cuevas De Camuy, a rave held inside the national park, was underway. Drum and bass music vibrated off the walls. It was 1999, and he was in the Camuy River caves in Puerto Rico. Julio Rivera was 19 years old when he first felt the electricity.

Songs for kindergarten graduation