Our latest mixtape is by the DJ, producer, and OC friend Deemehlow. A born and bred New Yorker through and through, Dee tours both solo as well as with the likes of the tropical punk songstress MALUCA (whom loyal OC Blog followers know all too well). Check his track below, which is structured around one of his typical nights out, and read our Q&A, where we talk walkmen, Big Sean, Dominicans and reggae.
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OC Mixtape Series #17: Deemehlow by OpeningCeremony

Tracklist:
Kry Wolf - Ninety-Nine
Gel Abril & Andrea Oliva - Scene
White Shadow - Let's Work
Adam Port - Someone To Love
Bailey Smalls - Music Is The Answer
DJ 4B - Doo Doo Brown (Instrumental Mix)
Boys Noize, Bart B More - Yeah Girl Swoon (The Loops Of Fury VIP Booteg)
Major Lazer - Original Don (Dj Sliink Remix | Deemehlow Edit)
Dj Swizzymack - Back Up
Dj Sliink - Put Cha Back In It (16bit-Master)
MPEACH — Venamo (Cardopusher Remix)
Modek - Flip Flop(Mendoza Remix)
Rihanna – Cockiness (DJ Lemz Remix)
Schoolboy Q - Druggys With Hoes Again Feat. Ab-Soul
Usher & Diplo - cl1m4x (Phi Unit Remix)
Missy Elliot & 702 - Beep Me 911
Kirko Bangz – Drank in My Cup (Remix)
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OC: How did you get your start as a DJ?
Deemehlow: I've always been completely obsessed with music. Even as a little kid, I would sit next to the stereo obsessively making mixtapes off of songs from the radio. I'm talking about hours of trying to get a song with no radio DJs talking over the track or any background noises so I could create the perfect mixtape to listen to on my walkman. Later on, around the end of high school, a friend of mine got a pair of turntables to mess around with and that was it. I bought a shitty turntable and mixer, and I practiced mixing along with a cd player I had 'til I could afford a decent setup. I kept it going from there.

OC: Why the name Deemehlow?
D: It's a nickname that my childhood friends gave me. Growing up I was always the non-Dominican hanging around a mostly Dominican crowd, so they'd call me dímelo, which means talk to me in Spanish. As a joke, they spelled it phonetically since I wasn't really Dominican. Once I started spinning, I just went with it as my DJ name. And being the outsider still holds true to this day––I still work with crazy Dominicans on a professional level, like Maluca or Oscar Sanchez, who helped start the 1992 parties. I love Dominicans.

OC: What are your top 5 favorite tracks at the moment?
D: Yuna - Live Your Life; Waka Flocka - Round of Applause; Rhye - Open; Travis Porter - Bring it Back; Young Jeezy - I Do.

OC: What makes someone a good DJ?
D: It's probably cliché, but getting people moving. For awhile I was crazy about being ridiculously technical and didn't realize the importance of just getting people to move. For the most part, a crowd is not going to realize the extra stuff going on behind the decks. But if the music is bad, they will notice––no question. I guess a lot of professional DJs get upset at "laptop DJs" but some of those laptop DJs know what tracks to play better than those who've been doing it for years.

OC: What track never fails to pump up a dancefloor?
D: Right now, Big Sean's "Dance." Who doesn't love that damn song.

OC: Where's the coolest venue you've ever played?
D: I'd have to say this warehouse party that Mad Decent did in London a few years ago. It was ridiculous––it was my first time playing overseas and I couldn't even count the thousands of people there that night. It was definitely a "is this my life?" kind of moment.

OC: What's your drink?
D: When I'm not DJing, I'd probably say whiskey neat. But when spinning, probably a vodka-cranberry with Redbull.

OC: What's one thing most people would be surprised to know about you? 
D: I have the biggest fear of flying.

OC: What are you doing when you're not doing music-related things?
D: Reading, doing crossword puzzles, or nerding out online.

OC: How do you make the world a better place?
D: By showing people that you can live a life doing what you love.

What was your first...
Record: This reggae series on vinyl called Strictly the Best. At the time that I bought it, I was hanging around Fulton Avenue in Brooklyn a lot, so I was listening to a lot of reggae. I got it from a glass room all the way in the back of a record store called Beat Street, which is sadly no longer there.
Job: As a waiter at a catering hall. I hated it but I did learn how to make a mean duck à l'orange.
DJ gig: At this hole-in-the-wall lounge in Queens that I can't even remember the name of. It went pretty well, actually. I was scared shitless about messing up in public, so I'd spent a lot of time at home practicing before I ever went into a club.

What's the best music to...
Drive to: Like a typical New Yorker, I travel mostly by cab or train. But if I did drive, it would possibly be Spanish music played at unnecessarily high levels.
Clean to: Any kind of Lite Fm [the radio station]-style music. I picked it up from my dad as a kid, when Sundays were our cleaning days and we'd have the station blasting.
Work out to: Silence. I get too distracted by making a playlist or by songs not being in the right order, so I leave the iPod at home.
Chill to at 4am: Anything in the style of Alicia Myers' "I Want To Thank You," meaning old-school ballads that you can step to and sing to obnoxiously while drunk. Can't go wrong with that.
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If you are an artist whose music is on this mixtape and wish not to be included, please E-MAIL US and we'll remove it immediately.



FILED UNDER: Mixtape , Oc Mixtape Series , Interview , Deemehlow