DJ Ku thinks that there’s a growing gap in how younger DJs are wanting to learn and how they define “DJing.” Ku — a Tampa local who got his start putting together mixtapes in high school — now tours the country and is a Red Bull Thre3style regional champ, but he’s not even sure if younger DJs could get by without seeing the BPMs of songs listed down to the decimal. Excluded from that conversation, however, is DJ Jake Dela Cruz, who isn’t even old enough to be in clubs without parental supervision.
MUSIC ISSUE 2018
Meet 30 young Tampa Bay musicians who are (re)making a scene
Many think that the 17-year-old who found his love for music at age seven is the best young DJ in the Bay area, and accolades from peers like Ku and DJ Fresh (the Tampa Bay Rays’ in-house DJ) make it hard to argue with that. The rest of the doubters can just watch videos of the young talent cutting records and mixing nearly every genre at iHeartRadio events (Dela Cruz warmed up the crowd before Zedd, Pharrell Williams, Calvin Harris and more at the radio company’s Jingle Bell events in 2014 and 2015) or listen to his weekly iHeartRadio show “Audio Mix Therapy.” Follow Dela Cruz via facebook.com/DjJakeDelaCruz.
