738. Dr. D- The Father of The Gospel DJ Movement

[00:00:10] Welcome to another episode of The Coiling Solutions Show, where my goal is to empower you with awareness and actionable insights.

[00:00:17] Today's show is all about gospel DJs, and I have Dr. D, who is on a mission to unite and elevate gospel DJs.

[00:00:25] He's called the father of the gospel DJ movement.

[00:00:29] And for sure, over the last few years, music has definitely been seen more as distributed through and accessed by digital service platforms such as Spotify,

[00:00:38] Apple Music, etc. Along with social media, of course, TikTok's impact on music cannot be understated.

[00:00:45] But also, traditional radio, and then beyond traditional radio, DJs are still in the quote-unquote streets, and they play a vital role.

[00:00:54] And so Dr. D is positioning them to be recognized and accounted for. Let's jump in.

[00:00:59] The father of the gospel DJ movement is in the building, okay?

[00:01:05] This is the first time he's been on Holy Culture Radio, so we got to salute him big time, man.

[00:01:10] Dr. D, what's good, brother?

[00:01:12] You, man, you, man. You know, Father God is good.

[00:01:14] Yes, sir.

[00:01:15] You're good. Holy Culture Radio is good. It's just a pleasure to be here like we was chit-chatting.

[00:01:20] I mean, when you say the father of the gospel DJ movement, brother, I mean, that's a mouthful of a statement.

[00:01:28] Yep.

[00:01:28] Not just the words, but the connotation of what that means. Talk about the history of gospel DJs for a second, bro, and how you got into it.

[00:01:37] And again, you said, man, those are big shoes to fill.

[00:01:41] Yeah.

[00:01:41] And when Father God told me that, I was like, are you talking to somebody else?

[00:01:46] Because I'm like, I mean, like two years ago, Father's Day, I was sitting, you know, just sitting in my room and Father God started speaking to me.

[00:01:55] And he said, this is what I want you to do. This is going to be your assignment to create the DJ movement, to document it.

[00:02:01] And I'm calling you the father of the DJ, the mobile DJ movement.

[00:02:08] Yeah.

[00:02:09] And it all started, believe it or not, the more he revealed to me, the more shocked I am.

[00:02:14] Yeah.

[00:02:14] Well, hip hop started in 73.

[00:02:16] Right.

[00:02:17] You know, with DJ Kool Herc and everything in the boogie down.

[00:02:21] And in 75, I hooked up with five other brothers, Monty, Vince, Cy, Ron, and Basil.

[00:02:30] We was all in the same church and there was a need.

[00:02:33] We felt that, number one, gospel music was only on Sundays.

[00:02:37] Gotcha.

[00:02:37] So during the week, Christians, especially the youth, listened to everything else.

[00:02:42] Yeah.

[00:02:42] They had nothing else to listen to.

[00:02:43] So what we wanted to do was started to do the mixtape because mixtape was the way DJs promoted music.

[00:02:49] So we wanted to start making mixtapes and pass it out to the young people in our environment and churches so that during the week, they would have something to hold them spiritually.

[00:03:01] Yeah.

[00:03:01] And that's how we started out.

[00:03:03] It was six of us.

[00:03:04] We listened to that calling.

[00:03:06] And since 73, the fall of 73, that's when the gospel DJs were birthed.

[00:03:14] And I have fun saying this.

[00:03:16] That makes cool DJ hurt our grandfather.

[00:03:21] Yeah.

[00:03:22] Wow.

[00:03:22] That's crazy.

[00:03:23] So you say 73?

[00:03:26] 73 it started.

[00:03:28] 75 we started.

[00:03:30] So one of the things that God just showed me this month, he said, yo, you was 15 when you started.

[00:03:36] Right, right.

[00:03:37] I was like, that's crazy.

[00:03:39] But I mean, it's only two years of separation, bro.

[00:03:41] Me too.

[00:03:42] Because I don't know about grandfather.

[00:03:43] I'm like uncle.

[00:03:45] I mean, he started it all and everything was birthed from him.

[00:03:48] Right, right, right.

[00:03:48] So if he's the father of hip hop and everything was birthed from him, that means even the gospel DJs was birthed from his lineage.

[00:03:57] Right.

[00:03:57] And we've just been doing it ever since.

[00:04:00] So what was that like early days, man?

[00:04:01] Because I came into CHH, I want to say, let's call it late 90s.

[00:04:06] That's right.

[00:04:07] I came in at the cross movement era, right before they dropped their first album, right before Heaven's Mentality.

[00:04:12] And I just remember watching them go about the way they did things.

[00:04:17] And they opened a lot of doors.

[00:04:18] Yes.

[00:04:19] But a lot of groups didn't have some of the same favor they had.

[00:04:21] And I remember how hard it was for artists to get into churches and such and be able to minister.

[00:04:28] What was that?

[00:04:29] I can only imagine, man.

[00:04:30] So 20 years, 25 years prior to that.

[00:04:33] Right.

[00:04:33] Am I doing that math right?

[00:04:34] Yeah, man.

[00:04:35] 25 years prior to that.

[00:04:36] What was that like when you tried to introduce this concept of a gospel DJ?

[00:04:40] Well, you said two things.

[00:04:43] The concept of the gospel DJ and getting into the churches.

[00:04:47] So for us, it was easy to get into the churches.

[00:04:50] Okay.

[00:04:51] Because before us, if a church had an event, it could be roller skating, it could be an anniversary, whatever.

[00:04:59] If a church had an event, what would happen is somebody would have to bring their records or their cassettes.

[00:05:05] Right.

[00:05:05] And then they would have to play the music.

[00:05:07] Right.

[00:05:07] So there was nobody really there to mix it or to cue it.

[00:05:11] You just play one song and it went out.

[00:05:13] You play another song and it went out.

[00:05:16] So when they heard that, wait a minute, there's six guys out there.

[00:05:20] They know the music.

[00:05:21] They have the music.

[00:05:23] We don't have to bring it no more.

[00:05:24] Hey, let's get these guys.

[00:05:26] So it was very, we caught on like wildfire.

[00:05:29] Yeah.

[00:05:30] Cause you, yeah.

[00:05:31] Okay.

[00:05:31] So for that next 10 years, we was all over the place.

[00:05:34] Gotcha.

[00:05:34] We did church events.

[00:05:35] We did skating parties.

[00:05:37] We wanted a DJ gospel DJs that helped start gospel skating.

[00:05:42] Right.

[00:05:43] Right.

[00:05:43] Um, and speaking of, um, places that, well, that was hard later on about 95, I, um, Lord had me create a Christian nightclub.

[00:05:53] Okay.

[00:05:53] Now that was hard.

[00:05:54] Yeah.

[00:05:54] That was hard.

[00:05:55] Again, with the idea in mind, they, of giving people a place where they can go, where they can party, where they can have fun.

[00:06:03] Right.

[00:06:03] That's what they used to do when they was in the world.

[00:06:05] Right.

[00:06:05] But to gospel music.

[00:06:07] What was the next step in the evolution?

[00:06:08] The next step in the evolution, we started off DJing.

[00:06:12] Then we involved into singing.

[00:06:14] Believe it or not, Dr. D used to sing.

[00:06:16] Okay.

[00:06:16] And we, and we did skits.

[00:06:18] So whoever would hire us, we did all three.

[00:06:21] We DJs, we did skits, and we sang.

[00:06:24] Hold up.

[00:06:24] So we had a whole program.

[00:06:25] Hold up.

[00:06:26] Hold up.

[00:06:26] Hold up.

[00:06:27] Hold up.

[00:06:27] Hold up.

[00:06:27] Hold up.

[00:06:33] We came ready.

[00:06:35] I'm seeing a living color.

[00:06:36] Am I right?

[00:06:38] Six of us, and like I said, I'm the youngest of the group.

[00:06:42] I don't, I didn't think I could sing at the time, but I carried a note about a couple blocks in my five minutes before I went off to.

[00:06:48] Yo, when you said, I'm literally seeing a living color like when Damon Wayans was going between the skits.

[00:06:53] Let me do the joint with Jim Carrey on the boat.

[00:06:55] That's right.

[00:06:56] Fire Bill.

[00:06:56] And then he'd do the next skit of Homie the Clown.

[00:06:59] Oh, man.

[00:06:59] Then the next one of him and Sean on the back of the truck selling stuff.

[00:07:04] Sell them.

[00:07:04] So that's what we did.

[00:07:05] So what made y'all dive into doing skits?

[00:07:08] Because, again, when we, it was to me the need.

[00:07:12] Okay.

[00:07:13] It was to introduce people, especially young people.

[00:07:17] Our whole goal was young people.

[00:07:19] Introduce them to the music out there, whether we were singing it, whether we was acting out about being saved, living a life in Christ.

[00:07:28] Yeah.

[00:07:28] Or whether we was playing it.

[00:07:29] It was all about reaching young people with the music and with the message of Jesus Christ.

[00:07:35] Man, I love that.

[00:07:35] Okay.

[00:07:36] So after you did the skits and did all that, what was the next thing?

[00:07:39] The whole thing was, again, churches are inviting us, hiring us to do their anniversary, their church party, whatever.

[00:07:48] So we did the whole program.

[00:07:50] We entertained.

[00:07:51] So now, fast forward.

[00:07:53] You just got inducted to the Gospel Hip Hop Hall of Fame.

[00:07:56] We did.

[00:07:56] What is about you right now?

[00:07:58] What about you?

[00:07:59] And I understand next year you're nominated for the National Black Radio Hall of Fame.

[00:08:05] Yeah.

[00:08:05] That was this year.

[00:08:07] That was this year.

[00:08:07] And the person who nominated me is going to nominate me again for next year.

[00:08:12] Got you.

[00:08:12] Because believe it or not, 2025, we celebrate 50 years.

[00:08:18] That's crazy.

[00:08:19] And to me, anybody and anything doing 50 years is a milestone.

[00:08:25] That's right.

[00:08:25] It's a milestone.

[00:08:26] So, again, what Father God told me to do, my assignment was, it was not only to celebrate 50 years for the six of us.

[00:08:37] Right.

[00:08:38] But to create something that gospel DJs have not had until this day.

[00:08:43] Yeah.

[00:08:43] And that's a movement.

[00:08:44] Yeah.

[00:08:44] See, in 2003, we saw the hip hop movement come together for a whole year.

[00:08:52] Right.

[00:08:53] Hip hop, they know they're pioneers.

[00:08:55] They know they're stars.

[00:08:56] They know who's up and coming.

[00:08:58] Right.

[00:08:58] And they work together.

[00:09:01] People know that.

[00:09:02] That's right.

[00:09:02] You can't do that, gospel DJs.

[00:09:04] Ask who their pioneers.

[00:09:06] It wasn't until God blessed me to get all six of us back together at the beginning in May, and we took another picture, a picture of all of us together, that I started putting that picture out, that people actually saw who the fathers of the gospel DJ movement, who they were.

[00:09:22] I have, even, because the year between 75 and 85 has never been documented.

[00:09:29] We had, we had our brother Darius, Darius West.

[00:09:33] Darius West.

[00:09:33] He, he documented, but he started like from 83, 85 when, when, when gospel rap was first signed to labels.

[00:09:42] It's a great movie.

[00:09:43] Mic drop.

[00:09:44] Oh yeah.

[00:09:44] Yeah.

[00:09:44] Mic drop.

[00:09:45] He started when gospel rap was signed to labels.

[00:09:48] Correct.

[00:09:49] And that was great.

[00:09:49] It was never done before.

[00:09:51] Right.

[00:09:51] And when I had the chance to talk to him, I was like, Darius, I love what you did.

[00:09:54] Right.

[00:09:55] I said, man, but why didn't you go further?

[00:09:57] He said, number one, I didn't know there was a further.

[00:10:00] Yep.

[00:10:00] And he said, number two, I had to go with my budget.

[00:10:03] So part of what I want to do is document from 75 to 85.

[00:10:08] Yeah.

[00:10:08] There was a lot of rappers.

[00:10:10] There was a lot of DJs.

[00:10:12] There was a, there, there was a whole culture in gospel music.

[00:10:15] Yeah.

[00:10:16] Christian nightclubs.

[00:10:17] Right.

[00:10:17] Christian entertainment events.

[00:10:19] There was a whole history that nobody knows.

[00:10:23] Gospel roller skating.

[00:10:25] Absolutely.

[00:10:25] Gotcha.

[00:10:26] Has to be documented.

[00:10:27] I'm curious, man.

[00:10:28] What, what's your advice to those who have an interest in making sure the history is told?

[00:10:32] Like you're doing something with the gospel hip hop movement.

[00:10:34] What have you learned so far that the broader Christian hip hop community could learn in terms of trying to pull that history together?

[00:10:40] My thing is my assignment is to document the history of the mobile gospel DJs.

[00:10:48] Okay.

[00:10:48] That's my assignment.

[00:10:49] Okay.

[00:10:49] To go back to 70, 75 and document everybody that's still alive.

[00:10:55] And I'm telling people all the time, even now, it doesn't matter if you started yesterday, go to the website on www.

[00:11:04] The gospel DJ 50th anniversary.com.

[00:11:07] Fill out the questionnaire.

[00:11:09] So at some point we can pull all that information together.

[00:11:13] Okay.

[00:11:13] And document the movement of the, well, the history of the gospel DJ, mobile gospel DJs.

[00:11:20] And then at the same time, our next phase was ahead.

[00:11:24] It's a pull that together.

[00:11:25] It's a movement.

[00:11:26] So that from 2025 on, we do things as a movement.

[00:11:32] We do things as one voice.

[00:11:35] We do things as one body.

[00:11:37] That has never been done.

[00:11:39] The gospel DJs have never moved as a movement.

[00:11:44] And therefore we have never been counted in gospel music as a movement.

[00:11:51] I went to the Stella Awards last year and I'm in the class and the lady, she's from Nielsen.

[00:11:59] She's talking about how radio is documented, how they know how many listeners they have and stuff like that.

[00:12:05] And that's all good.

[00:12:06] Right.

[00:12:07] And I asked, I said, Hey, in that number of counting, how many listeners on people, the radio has how many people that they reach with the music.

[00:12:16] Right.

[00:12:16] Have you ever done anything with the DJs?

[00:12:19] And she said, Nope.

[00:12:20] Nope.

[00:12:21] Why?

[00:12:21] Because there's no way to document what they're doing.

[00:12:25] There's no way to document what DJs are doing.

[00:12:28] Well, there is a way.

[00:12:30] I believe God has given me a way and that's moving forward.

[00:12:33] But in the past, we've never done it.

[00:12:35] Say one DJ and he's hot.

[00:12:38] So on Friday, he's on a gig.

[00:12:39] That's 300 people.

[00:12:41] On Saturday, he's on a block party.

[00:12:42] That's 500 people.

[00:12:44] Then even Sunday night, he might be doing another gig with another 200 people.

[00:12:49] So that's maybe a thousand people that one DJ hit on the weekend.

[00:12:54] Right.

[00:12:54] So if you document that, multiply that by 100 DJs.

[00:12:58] Right.

[00:12:59] So that's 100 times a thousand that are not being documented.

[00:13:04] Right.

[00:13:04] So you're right.

[00:13:05] It's not easily trackable.

[00:13:06] But if you have an interest to do so, you could create mechanisms.

[00:13:10] We're going to do that.

[00:13:11] So that way we can go to Nielsen or anybody else and say, Hey, the gospel DJ movement hit

[00:13:18] over 100,000 people this weekend.

[00:13:21] Well, I see you pulled together an advisory board as well.

[00:13:24] That's right.

[00:13:24] Tell me about the upcoming event.

[00:13:25] Yeah.

[00:13:26] This weekend, we will be in Nashville with the Gospel Industry Network Convention.

[00:13:31] They were birthed out of the GMWA, the Gospel Announcers Guild, out of that.

[00:13:36] The Gospel Announcers Guild was the first convention that gave us an audience, that opened the door

[00:13:43] and said, Radio Announcers, we're good, but guess what?

[00:13:47] Guess who's coming in?

[00:13:48] Guess who's out there doing what we're doing?

[00:13:50] The gospel DJs.

[00:13:51] And so now they asked me to be in charge of that.

[00:13:55] And through the gen, we're building the gospel DJ division.

[00:13:59] And we're having our inaugural event on this Saturday down in Nashville.

[00:14:06] It's called the After Party.

[00:14:08] Right now, my thing, my assignment is to pull the DJs together.

[00:14:13] Yes.

[00:14:14] I got to get those 50 DJs on the same page.

[00:14:17] Man, what you said is spot on because I think it's easy to look at social as almost like the

[00:14:25] unilateral place to break an artist now.

[00:14:27] And they may, quite frankly, not even consider radio anymore.

[00:14:31] That's right.

[00:14:31] Radio is looked at as more traditional in many cases.

[00:14:34] Right.

[00:14:34] And it is traditional, right?

[00:14:35] It is traditional.

[00:14:36] A lot of things have changed.

[00:14:36] It's traditional.

[00:14:37] That's cool.

[00:14:37] Right.

[00:14:37] But more than 90% of people still listen to radio once a week.

[00:14:40] Yes, they do.

[00:14:41] More than 90%.

[00:14:42] Yes, they do.

[00:14:43] Go look at the data.

[00:14:44] You should search.

[00:14:45] Just Google.

[00:14:46] How many people listen to radio each week?

[00:14:48] Over 90%.

[00:14:49] Still do.

[00:14:50] Because there's something about the convenience.

[00:14:52] There's something about the companionship of a host that they love.

[00:14:56] That's right.

[00:14:57] Things are still there, people.

[00:14:58] And so, but this is just another one where at one point DJs were highly regarded, particularly

[00:15:02] in hip hop.

[00:15:03] If you're going to break a record in hip hop, you had to get the Funk Flex.

[00:15:06] Yep.

[00:15:06] Okay.

[00:15:07] If Funk Flex said he was going to play it, that was it.

[00:15:09] That was it.

[00:15:10] Latin Quarters, whatever.

[00:15:11] That was it.

[00:15:12] DJ Red Alert.

[00:15:13] That's right.

[00:15:14] Whatever the case may be.

[00:15:14] And you can look all this up.

[00:15:15] And so I love the fact that this is still here and you're rejuvenating it and really elevating

[00:15:22] people's understanding of the importance of it.

[00:15:23] Because once somebody sees it and says, look, as an artist, I need to use all these things

[00:15:29] in my tool belt.

[00:15:30] All the vehicles.

[00:15:30] That's right.

[00:15:31] I need to use social.

[00:15:32] I need to use maybe some ads.

[00:15:34] Yeah.

[00:15:34] I need to use radio.

[00:15:35] I need to use video.

[00:15:37] That's right.

[00:15:38] I need to use the DJs.

[00:15:39] That's DJs.

[00:15:39] And make sure you're taking care of all of that.

[00:15:41] So as a DJ coming into it, part of the value prop, like you said, is one, not just being

[00:15:46] a part of the collective, but also getting the music.

[00:15:48] That's right.

[00:15:48] And understand the focus that's happening a bit in the market.

[00:15:51] So if people want to join y'all this weekend, what do they need to do?

[00:15:54] Come on again, because we're part of the GEN, the Gospel Industry Network Convention, we're

[00:16:00] asking everybody to go to the GEN, which is www.thegengin.org.

[00:16:07] Sign up for the convention.

[00:16:08] Because the convention is a whole other track.

[00:16:11] Yeah.

[00:16:11] The DJs have four classes specifically for DJs, but the two days are nothing but tracks.

[00:16:16] We have a gospel concert that Friday night.

[00:16:19] We have the after party from 8 to 11 that Saturday night.

[00:16:23] And then from there, like I said, if you know DJs, go to the DJ website, the Gospel DJ website,

[00:16:30] which is www.thegospeldj50anniversary2025.

[00:16:38] Got it.

[00:16:38] If people want to get in contact with you, man, what's the best one?

[00:16:40] Call me straight up.

[00:16:42] 917-520-7704.

[00:16:44] He said it.

[00:16:46] 917-520-7704.

[00:16:49] The email is info at thegospeldj50anniversary2025.com.

[00:16:57] Just put info there, and that's the email.

[00:16:59] I love it.

[00:17:00] But that's what we're about.

[00:17:02] I love it, brother.

[00:17:02] The 50th anniversary moving forward as a Gospel DJ movement.

[00:17:07] Yes, sir.

[00:17:07] Family, thank you for listening as always to this episode of The Coring Solution Show.

[00:17:12] And by the way, if you haven't already, please hit the subscribe button.

[00:17:15] Please do a review, and please share it with someone.

[00:17:19] Hey, if you feel compelled to help Dr. D in his mission, do what he said.

[00:17:23] Hit that website or call him on his phone as he gave you the number.

[00:17:27] He is on a mission.

[00:17:29] And I don't know about you, I'd love to see him fulfill that mission.

[00:17:33] As always, if you've got some comments or there's something you think we left out,

[00:17:37] please send me an email.

[00:17:38] Trig at holyculture.net is that simple.

[00:17:41] Trig, T-R-I-G at holyculture.net.

[00:17:45] Until next time, family, be informed, be empowered, be accountable.

[00:17:49] Be accountable.