Smoke Dee: Co-CEO for the House of DJ’s
(Photo Courtesy: Smoke Dee, 2022)
Smoke Dee is a hip-hop activist, historian, practitioner, and old school pioneer DJ Master of Ceremony since 1983. Currently he is the Co-CEO for the House of DJ’s, which is a recording label production unit.
He said, “I’m a single Dad from the North side of Minneapolis. I have always raised my daughter, I was granted custody in 2003. We relocated to a different city to be closer to my parents. My daughter is 24 years old now and we still have a strong relationship.”
Dee grew up on the north side graduated from North High School, currently working for Minneapolis Public School system for 15 years. He said, “I am a NFL, North sider For Life. I have many part-time jobs such as DJing.” Dee is trying to make steps to incorporate his talents to be able to monetize them together.
The House of Dj’s consists of Ausar Lovestar & Smoke Dee. Lovestar’s vision was to bring together the top Dj”s in the Twin Cities. Dee said Lovestar “always was a fan and hung out with DJ’s & promoters, he is someone who is down for the culture.” He wanted to build a collective of DJ’s to form a crew and business. The launch of the House was in 2012, which was Dj’s, recordings. DJ’s is the center of Hip-hop culture. Dee added, “Everything comes from the DJ, without any DJ there would be no hip-hop.”
The technical term for rapping was MCing. An MC can rap, host a party, and control the crowd, share announcements and also can DJ. The MC’s motivate, control and rock the crowds. Part of Dee’s make-up is DJing and MCing.
House of DJ’s goal is to represent the culture and the music. To help those who want to succeed in the DJ culture. They offer counseling, focus on connecting communities and try to keep in context the origin of hip-hop in the Twin Cities. They are directly related to some of the origins and pioneers we are trying to maintain and tell their stories.
Stay on the lookout for the podcast and You tube coming soon. The podcast would let people express and talk about their experiences in the hip-hop culture.
Hip-hop is a way of life. “I’m hip-hop all day everyday,” states Dee. “What I say, what I wear and what I listen to”. Rap is what you do but hip-hop is how you live. Hip-Hop never stops!
Author: Nikki Love
