Avoid These Programming Pitfalls: A DJ's Insights | DJ Bonics DSH #811

It's important to have those types of people in, you know, in the cannabis space, not just like, you know, regular people who are obedient employees.

I've been to a few shops out here, but Hardeen always feels different.

Different approach, and it's still Wild West, so I love how just one little shop in Las Vegas has a lot of attention around the world.

DJ Bonnick's in the building brought me some goodies.

Thanks, man.

Hell yeah, yeah, man.

I hope they help, you know, with your brain.

Yeah, help me sleep at night, man.

I'd be laying in bed for hours.

God damn.

Yeah,

cannabis.

A proper tool.

Yeah, I had to.

I used to be a runner.

Okay.

That's the main reason I stopped smoking, but I used to love cannabis, dude.

Yeah.

Now I get anxiety from it, too.

Yeah, I guess it depends, you know,

because of like terpenes and all that stuff.

So it's cool.

I think, you know, it might come back in a season.

So.

Yeah, we'll see.

I'm not ruling it out completely, but I just feel like it's way stronger than it was when we were growing up.

Definitely.

It's nuts now, dude.

Definitely.

I mean, it's like, what, 20% THC now?

I mean, there's the ones that are like 37%, and then there's Infuse, and there's all the, you know, like,

what do they call it?

Like, shatter and batter.

So many, so many different levels of it.

My first time ever getting high was off a dab, and I started hallucinating.

Wow.

And it was late as fucking night.

So I was at my friend's house.

I started seeing monsters and ghosts.

I had to run home, dude.

My first time, I think I smoked a cigarette and weed in the same night.

And I was a bad Asian kid.

So I like was mad at myself.

Like, oh, my God, I can't believe I did this.

And then here we are many moons later.

Damn, my mom was Asian too, and she didn't even know what weed was.

Yeah.

She didn't know what weed was.

Yeah, moms don't think

they would smoke it.

Yeah.

No, I would literally have it in the house.

She would be like, what's that smell?

And I'd be like, I don't know.

Yeah, it's weird too because I'm like grown man and I still try to hide it from my mom.

Oh, she still doesn't know?

Uh, well, she knows.

I mean, I obviously tour with Wiz and stuff, so she knows, but she'll catch me on, like, the ring.

Like, I'll try to smoke weed right up in front of her house, and then she'll be, like, I saw you.

Damn.

And I'm s you know, grown man, but I still feel bad.

Wow.

Maybe you should have a sit down with her and tell her, like, she's good.

She's good.

I mean, she knows I work at Hardeen and do the Wiz stuff.

So, you know, but to her, I'm probably just her sweet little boy.

Love that.

How'd you get involved with Hardeen?

I was an ambassador at first.

So they, in the beginning of their,

you know, journey, they were reaching out to different people.

And, you know, a lot of DJs, man, that's the one thing I love about Hardean is that they really like support the culture.

Right.

And, you know, where did you hear about weed?

Probably music and, you know, movies.

So I feel like that for them to, you know, give back to the DJs, that's kind of where it started for me.

And so, you know, I'd have a residency here with Wiz and we'd come and, you know, they'd invite me into the shop and et cetera.

And then it kind of blossomed to a great relationship.

And now I kind of oversee their ambassador program and you know help people bring in the shop and I like to call myself like a in-house artist I don't know if they'll look at it that way yeah but I like to look at myself as that like hey man you know I'm running around I'm still doing Wiz stuff DJing and getting my hands into certain things but being able to bring people to the shop and having people who like we're we're a part of the culture or are part of the culture.

You got to love that because I think there's a lot of people in the cannabis business that are just kind of like for hire people and not necessarily people who, you know, thugged it out and, you know, almost got arrested or have gotten arrested or did time for it.

So I think it's important to have those types of people in, you know, in the cannabis space, not just like, you know, regular people who are obedient employees.

Yeah, no, you definitely feel it because I've been to a few shops out here, but Hardeen always feels different.

Yeah.

It feels like you're there.

Yeah, it's cool.

It's a different approach, and it's still Wild West.

So anything that we do or anybody does in this business is

we're always creating.

And, you know, the rules are all weird still.

So it's hard to navigate.

But I love how just one little shop in Las Vegas has a lot of attention around the world.

And people come here just to go to Hardeen.

Thanks to a lot of the ambassadors and, of course, a lot of the kind of marketing plays.

But it really is lifestyle, man.

Yeah, they do some interesting ads.

I've seen some in some interesting places.

Yeah, no, it's cool.

It's all in-house made.

A lot of the people in it are local influencers, our influencers or employees.

so just that you know that whole thing is cool not just hired looking girls like no these people work here they know about the business and i love that aspect of it is that we're using people who are actually you know um not just front facing but they're you know they're with the culture absolutely so how did you get into djing and what was that first breakthrough moment for you in that space i mean you know i just like music and growing up in philly by default you're listening to some of the best djs in the world and you don't even know it you're just like used to it so you know when i went to college i got into college radio I literally walked into this buddy's house and he had turntables there and it literally was like love at first touch and kind of took that and you know college radio

local clubs on the regular radio

you know performing in Pittsburgh it really like a culture play man I was a supporter you're gonna hear that word a lot maybe in this interview where you know I was a part of the thread yep and then when that culture sees you thrive or sees you work they're gonna to support you.

And now, you know, I feel like Pittsburgh, because that's kind of, so, you know, I went to college in Pittsburgh is kind of where I started my DJ journey is that, you know, I can always go back there and have that support.

But, you know, I went up, write the rankings.

College parties, you know, clubs, radio,

stage, whiz, worldwide.

And, you know, now I'm here in Vegas.

Wow.

How long did all that take?

I mean, I guess I'm like almost 25 years in DJing,

which is definitely, you know, put my 10,000 hours in.

And honestly, like, I like the idea that, you know, I moved to probably like five different cities through my journey because of radio, but I love, I'm meeting new people all the time.

And I have this new audience, every city that I move to that are like, holy shit, you do a lot.

And I'm just like, man, I've been at this pace for a while.

But I just love growing in, just growing and still doing it at 43 years old.

To me, it's just like, it's amazing, man.

You know, I've been able to do a lot with hip-hop hip-hop and just now in cannabis, it's great.

That's so cool.

How did you develop a relationship with Wiz?

Because he probably had thousands of DJs coming at him, right?

Yeah, so

he was like 13, and I was friends with where he was like after school recording.

I shout out to ID Lab, shout out to my boy E-Dan, and Wiz was like coming after school with a group of kids who were freestyling and making music.

E-Dan

was like, hey, this kid,

Cameron, is very talented.

And they kind of just, I watched a whole team kind of

grow around him.

And of course, I was on the radio and did all that.

So I made sure that I did what I could do with my platforms.

And eventually, when I was ready to leave iHeartRadio,

which was Clear Channel at the time,

you know, it was around the same time Wiz needed a new DJ.

And they basically were like, hey, this fall, we're going to go on a tour, tour bus tour, Wiz's first tour.

He just got signed to Atlantic.

Nobody knows yet.

We're going to do this.

He's going to drop this song called Black and Yellow.

And imagine Black and Yellow drops.

We're on a world or a U.S.

tour.

And then the Steelers go to the Super Bowl.

So it was just.

The timing was just crazy.

Man, the timing was crazy.

You couldn't have planned that.

You could not plan that.

That was peak whiz, man.

I remember that song.

Right.

God damn.

Yeah, that was big.

Yeah, going on tour with him during that time frame.

You see anything crazy?

I mean, it was just crazy.

You had like 15 dudes on a bus driving around the country for the first time.

So, you know, I definitely saw some things I shouldn't talk about.

But also, like, you know, there were different times where we would, like, you know, maybe get in fights locally with like, you know, it was just, it was, it was like a crew from Pittsburgh just running around for the first time and,

you know, smoking weed everywhere and dodging,

you know, the police.

And then also, man, I just remember, because I'm older than Wiz, I'm about eight years older than him, but I just remember doing these shows and watching these kids like rap rap word for word and i'm like yo people in pittsburgh don't even know of like how big whiz is you know so to do that world tour or to do that first tour bus tour um you know we i think we sold over um

i don't want to say a million tickets or something but we sold a hell of a tickets that tour and it was just crazy to see a song called, you know, Black and Yellow

representing Pittsburgh go worldwide.

Like, I never thought that that would actually, when when they first played it to me, I was like, this song's dope because I live here in Pittsburgh, but how will it be received?

And fuck, it was a big song.

I'm so bumped that song if it comes on.

It's a good song.

It's a banger.

He's got so many hits, too.

Got good anthems, man.

Not a lot of artists last that long.

What do you think contributed to that longevity for you guys?

Culture.

You know, seeing him, you know, be a proponent.

with weed because here's the thing like a lot of artists have to survive off hits and whiz has hits but there was a time where we were on tour, and I'm like, why is Wiz out here?

Why isn't this artist, this artist?

We're actually in Europe.

And that's what I recognize, though, is that Wiz actually representing a culture.

Now, let's bring it out.

Like, any culture could get you deep.

Like, if you love puppies and you're just like, know all about puppies, like, someone might call you and be like, yo, we need your puppy expertise.

Yeah.

Like.

Wiz rotting with the weed culture.

Like, you may not know his music, but if you go see him at the festival, you know what he's going to be about, right?

Oh, this is a safe place for me to smoke weed.

He's a proponent, a la Bob Marley, or something.

So, it's cool to see Wiz is actually like,

you know, he caters to like a wide audience, you know, not just like hip-hop heads or, you know, urban,

you know, like his music is worldwide.

He's pretty eclectic with it.

So just seeing these people from, you know,

Japan to South Korea to, you know, fucking all over Europe to Brazil, South America.

It's like, man,

watching someone in Africa wearing a fucking Pittsburgh hat, you're like, geez, this is

crazy.

Yeah.

Yeah, and I think it's crazy.

I agree with you.

I think we definitely played a role because that is international language.

Well, that's what I'm saying.

It's an international language.

So, like, we just were in Costa Rica recently, and someone in Costa Rica was like, Wiz is the fourth hip-hop artist to ever perform in Costa Rica.

And in my mind, I'm like, Well, who are the other three artists?

One of them was T.

Payne.

One of them was Lloyd Banks, but that was like a club club show.

And the third one was Cypress Hill.

So,

you know, Cypress Hill obviously have great songs, but they probably got there too because the weed culture.

You know what I mean?

And of course, Snoop Dogg is international language.

So

I just actually had the opportunity to

tour with Snoop.

He took me to Europe with him.

And just like being with that legend and everyone kind of still being like, he's still the weed god, you know?

So culture, man, I think it's super important.

Legendary, yeah, him and and Snoop Dogg, man.

That was the duo, Mac and Devon, baby.

Yeah, man, that's a classic.

That was a good time.

Where were you in high school for all that?

Or yeah, I was literally in high school when it came out, so it was so relatable, you know.

Yeah, wearing camo shorts,

yeah, I love that.

Classic.

Uh, what do you think about current hip-hop scene?

Do you have any artists you really like right now?

Uh, current hip-hop scenes, cool.

I mean, I do like

what the Earth Gang is doing,

uh, Spillage Village.

I don't know if you know those guys,

um,

JID.

I kind of like that.

I know JID.

Yeah, I kind of like that whole lane and what they're doing.

I've actually

just getting into like a lot of like newer jazz music.

I do a jazz show in UNLV,

which is dope every Saturday night.

And so, I don't know.

I've kind of been on like this instrumental tip because

I've been saying this, like, I don't like to be influenced right now necessarily with words.

Like, I know, you know, I definitely respect people's poetry and how they express themselves, but like, I also don't want to be influenced right now.

I'm kind of like in my deprogramming stage.

So So I kind of like list, don't listen to a lot of words with music right now

because it's helpful.

Literally, Sam, dude, I've been trying to deprogram the past few years ever since I found out I was programmed.

Right, right.

And yo, that, and that's like,

I'm going to tell you, my road to that was really interesting.

If we could talk about that.

So I was wondering, you know, I felt like a lot of times, even been doing this for so long, like, I feel like I have imposter syndrome or like I'll step on stage or I'm about to DJ and I'm just like,

you know, and and I and I would kind of like hate on myself a little bit.

Like, what am I, am I good enough to be here, blah, blah, blah.

And even doing it for so long.

But someone said to me once, they were like, well, it's natural to feel that way about yourself, to doubt yourself.

And so I thought about that and

I went back to when I was born in my brain and I came out the womb.

And I said, well, what's natural there about hating myself?

Right?

I thought about that specifically.

Like, I came out the womb and for what reason would I doubt myself?

There's nothing that tells me that that's a natural thing.

And then what I realized is like, oh, no, shit, we were programmed this whole time.

You know, I'm too chubby.

My teeth aren't straight.

My skin is this.

I'm too short.

I don't belong.

And then, you know, even being a person of color and growing up.

You know, like I realized that that's not normal and we literally were programmed to doubt ourselves, to not think we're good enough, to compare ourselves constantly.

So I just feel like that, that deprogramming is happening now and giving myself like a hella grace to be like, well, maybe what I think success is isn't my version, you know?

So now it's about me actually focusing on that and also deciding what the definitions of words mean to me.

I think is really important because if we take on other people's definition of words,

then we may not really see the magic.

So for example, if someone's like, that's hard.

Well, like, we want to avoid things that are hard, right?

So when we, so sometimes I'll change that into, well, what's necessary, you know?

And I think that sort of owning the words is so important to reprogramming because when, you know, we wake up every day and people see, they see two things on their social media.

One, perfection.

And then they see if you're not perfect, we're going to ridicule you.

And that is a very hard space to be in.

So that's what I recognize is like we're still contributing to that and

we're volunteering ourselves

for that validity, which is we shouldn't.

We should not.

We should not at all.

It's tough though because negative headlines get way more views.

So I see it from the media's point of view, right?

Because they're trying to get eyeballs.

Right.

And if they have a positive headline, it won't get as many views.

But the important thing, I think, is...

That you see it in that filter, though.

Like, hey, look, they're just trying to sell this shit.

Yeah.

Not instead of actually

taking on that emotion and be like, fuck them.

They shouldn't be like, all right, yo, chill out.

Like, you know what they're doing.

You're trying to get hit.

So I think it's about like walking around with that filter and just seeing like if you're dealing with someone and they, you know, don't respond in a certain way.

Like a lot of times it's like, well, he's just programmed to think that way.

So I can't be mad at him because he's like, you know, he's, you know, maybe hasn't realized that he's been programmed.

Yeah, I actually don't watch videos on drama anymore.

Like I used to watch Drama Lure.

I used to watch Jamari, I think whatever his YouTube is, talk shit about rappers.

But yeah, I don't watch any of that anymore.

I don't watch a lot of it, which is kind of weird because I feel like I should be like a historian.

But I don't watch a lot of shit right now.

I don't watch a lot of, I was just telling someone, I don't really watch a lot of TV.

I don't, I listen to like only a few certain podcasts because I'm really right now just testing the whole like

waters for myself of like, well, how deep am I programmed in certain things or not?

You know?

Facts, dude.

Because I used to watch the news.

I used to read every day.

Yeah, NPR, all this shit.

And I used to think I was listening to good guys and bad guys and whatever.

But, you know, I think COVID definitely

that era, you got to watch people like become zombies for whatever side that they were.

And I'm glad they were passionate about it.

But like someone said to me something one time, they're like, if you feel the need to be right, be kind.

And I think that kind of is very important.

Especially today where everything's polarized.

I love that.

This is very interesting to me.

So is this why you took ayahuasca recently?

Well, so that was a couple years ago and ayahuasca, first of all,

I just want to put this out there.

Like I know that a lot of people feel funny about talking about that.

Yeah.

And not for it to like necessarily come off as like a,

I don't know, like an escapism or just like,

I don't know what the right word I'm looking for, but

it wasn't for sport.

You had intention.

Yeah, I had intention, and it was just literally to

what is it about?

And so when I agreed to it, I didn't think about it.

I literally was like, yes, because I do feel like that it comes in your life at a time.

Like, I don't,

if you're invited.

So I just said yes.

And it was like six months before.

And

I ended up going.

And I'll just say that it prepared me for the next few months, which was like some of the darkest times of my life.

Wow.

To go through something, which I don't want to be that specific about, but I think it helped me kind of purge because it's what it is, like a purger.

Yeah.

Kind of helped me,

it took things out of my life that shouldn't have been there.

And those things, you know, I'm not going to say those things are good or bad.

It just was like, yo, let's, let's, uh, we got to purge this out.

And I'll tell you, man, it was a wonderful experience.

Not only the actual sort of

ceremony,

but the people that that were there.

You know, I went with one friend, and then there was 22 other people probably from all over the country.

And,

yo, these are the people seeking,

you know, everyone was there for a different reason, but to be around those types of people who

basically are like non-judgmental of like, well, while you are here, because like when you're doing the ceremony, like people are crying or screaming.

You didn't know any of these people?

I only knew one of them.

Got it.

And, you know, by the end of the week, it was a a week i did three sittings yeah uh and uh man it's amazing i cannot wait to go back but i also um i'm i have to go in with like a different mind frame and and uh it was beautiful man i mean it really like uh

it really just helped me with a lot of different perspectives And I was waiting for the whole like scary moment.

Yeah, yeah.

And it didn't really happen.

But it also made me think that like I was doing the right work to get to that place.

And whatever I expected is that's the problem is that you have expectations.

So it really was, you know, one day we'll get specific about it, but it was it was just a beautiful, freeing, and you felt super connected

and it really made a lot of sense.

And it really prepared me for those next few months

because I don't know if I didn't, I may have

not survived that situation the way I did if I didn't go through like it was like an ego death basically for me.

That is crazy.

And then, you know, COVID was so weird.

We didn't know if the industry was coming back.

Blah, no work, pinching pennies.

So it was a, it was a great thing, but it brought me to Vegas, man.

Like the whole circumstance, kind of when you zoom out, it brought me to Vegas.

And,

you know, still working with

plant medicine out here.

So it's crushing out here.

Now I'm hearing of ketamine therapy out here.

Yeah.

Yeah.

My friend just tried that.

I'm very curious.

I don't know if you've dabbled with that yet.

No, I saw it.

I'm a little weary of it because I've had some hard stuff in the past and I know that and I could be wrong.

So whoever corrects me, cool.

I think ketamine kind of slows that down.

So

I'm not there yet.

You know, I definitely want to do more

do more ceremonies.

I want to try like Toad.

Ooh, I've seen that.

Yeah, it's kind of like a test do that.

Yeah, so I think, you know, when I get...

It'll get trippy again.

I can't wait for that.

I'm not a fan of how they burn it on your skin, though.

Yeah, see, it's one of those things, again, where I don't even want to, like, look at it and dwell on it.

Like, I'm just going to be like, yes.

And then, so who knows?

That is kind of scary, though.

It's cool to see you open up to psychedelics, man, because I feel like it was kind of a negative taboo maybe 10, 20 years ago.

I mean, look, I feel like we live in an upside-down world, right?

Anything that they tell us that's bad for us, I actually think is probably good for us.

And, you know, things that they say that's good for us is probably bad for us.

So,

you know, I know that mushrooms is like a hot button right now in a great way, man.

But it's just like, dude, plus one, like, this shit comes from the earth.

So it just feels like, it feels like the right thing.

Yeah.

No, I agree.

I mean, look at the food pyramid they taught us as a kid and how much of a joke that is.

Everything.

And just all of it, you know,

it's weird, though, because I also do think that there is like media out there that's basically trying to have you, I like, you know, rewire everything.

But listen, man.

Our grandparents lasted a whole fucking long time drinking milk and doing all these things that they said was bad for us.

And I'm not saying they are good for us, but I just think the answer is somewhere in the middle.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, you got to look at who's funding the new source.

And then from there, that's all you need to know.

It's crazy.

We can go down.

We can go down those, but we'll probably get banned if we talk about it.

Yeah, no, it's scary.

I mean, it's, I was just thinking about this today.

Like, what's good actually good for you?

You know,

water is scary.

I appreciate it.

Any glasses?

Glass bottles, of course.

I just kind of purchased a a condo recently and i was having this guy look at plumbing and he basically was like we're gonna replace all this copper uh you know and give you plastic

and uh you know i for some reason i had this i had this like content coming up where basically like you know copper is actually good like i have a copper pot it charges your water yep uh and the reason why that they probably use copper uh in I'm not expert in this so you know I'm just going by what I hear and see is that it actually charges your water for good.

So, like, I didn't want to get rid of any of the copper in my MP.

Oh, no, not for plastic, yeah.

God damn.

I just found out last night that toilet paper has carcinogens in it.

So now I just had to buy bamboo toilet paper.

What's that like?

I just bought it this morning while it was on Amazon.

Costco has it too.

Really?

Yeah, bamboo toilet paper.

So the one you're probably using now, I'll send you the video, but yeah, it might cause some health issues because it's going in your bloodstream when you wipe your ass.

Right.

You know what I mean?

Man, plastics.

Plastics, dude.

That's scary.

Even like your toothpaste, bro.

Right.

The fluoride.

All of it.

Literally everything you used and used on a daily basis your whole life.

Yeah, so I use non-fluoride toothpaste as well.

Shampoo and conditioner.

I don't actually use shampoo and conditioner.

Oh, really?

I just use soap to wash my hair.

Is it natural soap, though?

It's Dove, so it probably is not.

I know.

Even that has harsh sanctions.

So literally everything, bro.

I know.

I got to do that.

And there's levels to it.

So now there's people that aren't even showering because the tap water.

Right.

Well, I used to use the Dr.

Bronner's for a while.

I don't know if you know that.

Dr.

dr bronner's it's a very popular hippie soap i guess oh okay uh but it's like supernatural um

it's uh you should check that out dr brand's yeah it's pretty you can buy it a target and all that the food is the main concern i know you got to spend a lot of money to eat healthy these days it i um

so i don't eat chicken pork and beef right now wow it's been like four or five years so you're not saying i'm not saying i have a perfect diet i eat fish and all that okay that's good but i do feel like that that sort of break from it has helped me um you know, slim down a little bit.

And then, you know, I feel like I don't knock on wood, is there wood in here?

I don't get colds and stuff as much, you know, and I don't know if that's the weed or this or that, but I don't, I feel like my family, like I smoke weed and I'm out constantly, like, this is a lack of sleep shit, but I feel like some of my family members, they get colds all the time.

They're always sick.

I used to get colds monthly, bro.

And it might be because I was eating shitty quality meat, honestly.

I used to eat.

What's your diet like?

So I'm very conscious about meat.

I do eat meat, but it has to be really high quality because if the animal is killed in an inhumane way, the stress can leach onto the meat and that can affect you spiritually.

So I don't eat cheap meat, organic.

There's grades.

I forget the highest grade, what it's called.

Prime, I think.

I'll only eat that.

Yeah, I'm thinking about going back into the meat game because I feel like I'm missing, like, man, I want to eat some good Filipino food that I've been missing out, but I don't know.

I appreciate that.

I appreciate anyone that actually can

have that discipline.

Yeah.

I mean, it's it's interesting.

A lot of spiritual people don't eat meat and I just don't know if I'm there yet.

Right.

But it's interesting to me.

Right.

I just don't know if I'm missing out on like proteins and this and that, but there's a lot.

Someone actually said to me before, they're like, um,

like

cows, like big ass animals, they're not eating meat at all.

They're eating shit.

No, they're eating fucking grass.

Yeah, so the grass isn't what it used to be.

Yeah, that's true, too.

The soil I just had a doctor on, our topsoil will be gone in 20 years.

So we're pretty much.

save the soil i know right we have a soil epidemic right now man everything everything's bad for you but you know i just feel like uh that everything will yin and yang itself you know what i'm saying like

um we just have to adjust and again there's people who've been living kind of programmed lives that are healthy and and successful that's true yeah i try not to focus on it too much because you could just live that way and be fearful of every single thing but that's not a fun way to live right exactly here's the thing that i like here's a good piece of advice I like to say.

If you're going to eat the donut, don't cry about it.

You know, you know why?

Because look, if the doughnut's bad for you, okay, it might be bad for you.

But if you're going to cry about it, then you're doubling down on the bad experience.

True.

You know, so enjoy the fucking donut.

Don't talk about it.

Yeah, because some people complain about, oh, why'd I eat that?

Exactly.

Enjoy, because I actually do think that the energy that you're carrying is just as important, right?

So

pray over your food.

I'm all about energy.

Speaking of energies, what was your favorite city to perform at where the energy just felt really good?

I mean, it's always cool to go back to Pittsburgh because that's where we were in the trenches.

So just to be on the big stage every summer at the pavilion

and seeing the love that we get is amazing because I saw we were all in the trenches together before, like where people didn't think we would do it or, you know, people didn't believe in us or we were performing for

people.

But now, you know, taking that big stage and going back to Pittsburgh, and that was such a great era, like Wiz, Mac Miller, like, you know what I mean?

Like, Pittsburgh had a had a moment, and

it's still continuing to grow and prosper.

So

great place.

Who are your favorite DJs, artists, growing up?

I mean,

Jazzy Jeff, of course, Fresh Prince, Jazzy Jeff, seeing him on the show.

A lot of the Philly DJs seen Touchtone on Power 99.

And man, there's a whole countless amount of

Kids Swift was very important for me

and then you know when I actually

like that's what kind of planted the seeds in Philly but in Pittsburgh there was a you know the cult I like to say like when you're in a small city you like try to compensate that you're from a small city.

So it's like the knowledge you try to like be overcompensate like because you think when you're gonna you know go against people in bigger cities like of course they have more resources.

And I think we do it to

we overcompensate it so that when we actually like got to those different cities and DJ'd, I'm like, oh shit, I'm actually, I can compete against these cats.

Cause, you know, when you're, when you start from like a small city, you want to try to swing a big sword, right?

So

there's been a lot of Paul Dang, this guy, Ishka Bibble, DJ Selecta.

There's so many.

And the genres out there, like, you know, from between drum and bass and reggae, it was so plentiful.

So Pittsburgh's

a great place to start.

I've never been there.

I got to get out there.

Yeah, no, it's cool, man.

I mean, City of Bridges.

It's beautiful.

The Andy Warhol Museum is there.

Oh, no,

you know, so definitely worth checking out.

And, you know, good food.

And the Steelers are out there.

And the Steelers, man.

That's right.

If you weren't DJing, what would you be doing?

Do you think this is your true passion?

Well, you know,

I was trying to say this is like, okay, the DJ part

is what it is.

It's a, it's a part of me.

But I think the bigger thing that,

and I don't like to necessarily like say this because I don't want it to sound like braggadocious, like, I just like helping people.

So, whatever, whatever,

again, if I was a master of puppies, like, I'd probably be helping people with that.

And, and so, it's just helping people to me.

Music is my vehicle to help

people and help recognize their greatness

and the program.

So

I've had like a message for a long time about love and really trying to spread that and use love as like a big message.

But I've been kind of filtering and not kind of spewing that too much

because I need to be the example.

I think when you realize that

we need to be example, I could tell a bunch of motherfuckers how to live their life, but if I'm still doing not, you know, if I'm still doing shit that I shouldn't be doing, then who am I to like be telling people how to live their lives?

So I'm just trying to be the example at this point.

I love that.

And most people I would say that you meet are pretty selfish.

So how did you change that mindset to want to help people out where you always like that?

Oh, I think I was always like that, man.

I'm definitely in my mom's son.

You know, she's every year we send stuff to the Philippines and she's always giving.

If you know, if you've worked with my mom, she's just like everyone's mom.

And so I just think that's a part of me.

So something I did, like, I'll give you an example when I was living in Minneapolis I did this thing called 10,000 hoodies for the 10,000 lakes and my mind frame was and I like to I like to speak the message from where people can understand it in a way then that's that's just different than hey why don't you donate like to me that's like it's not that's fake it's fake and like yo you got all these like

celebrities who are rich as shit trying to ask you for money like didn't make sense so the way I I I launched it through the radio station I was there with and basically I said, as hip-hop kids, as music lovers,

the culture's all about

stuff,

right?

Like, you go to how many fucking hoodies have you bought at a concert or whatever, right?

And I'm just like, we bombard the messages to

our next generation, to kids, that, like, if you don't have the illest sneaks, if you don't have this, and to me, there's got to be like a responsible part of it that's like reuse, recycle.

Like, how many many hoodies are you sitting on that you don't wear?

A lot.

And guess what?

In Minnesota, it's cold as fuck, right?

So like as a culture, look, cool.

If you work hard and you want to buy stuff, by all means, celebrate.

But as a culture, how are we showing the next generation that we got to be able to like reuse, recycle, be economic about how we spend in the hip-hop culture?

Because it's like, if you're going broke buying the coolest fucking shoes, and so like, let's give that.

Let's push that.

Because, you know, there's what i realized going through that it was that there was a lot of homeless there's a lot of kids that go to school and they're homeless you know and so i reached out to a whole bunch of people like listen send me your hoodies i was getting hoodies from around the world but imagine just a kid and you know maybe we're teaching them a little bit of commercialism at that but imagine a kid who is homeless and you got him like a just a dope nike hoodie that someone wasn't wearing and that kid might just feel a little bit more confident at school and and so that's why i just think it's important to reuse recycle and to reprogram ourselves not to thinking that we need all this shit like on my birthday this year i promised myself that for the rest of

um the rest of the year and you know it's kind of bleeding into this year that i wasn't going to buy any clothes wow uh at all shoes or clothes now you know when i went to the philippines like i was like listen like let's not be too extreme here you know i'm going to grab this or grab a piece of merch or something like that but that shit just really helped me unlock that habit and that programming of, I need this, I need this.

And then what I realized was it was actually making me value what I had already.

You know what I mean?

So going back to Minnesota, I was able to collect, I didn't hit 10,000, I hit like 7,000.

That's still insane, which is a lot.

And I had to fucking deal with it.

You know, package it.

And, you know, I donated it to a bunch of like, you know, shelters and salvation armies and distributed all these hoodies.

And there was some fly ass shit that people were sending.

And I was like, can you imagine all of this is just sitting in people's closets so i'm trying to find out what that version is here in vegas and you know i'm looking to do something for the community here um but i'm going to figure that out i want that to come naturally and not force it or just be like hey guys donate for this like i want it to be meaningful and i want it to help someone who needs to get rid of shit like you know yeah i'd love to help with that man i got probably 50 clothing items that i don't even wear so and that's what i'm saying is that i think that we can be Cool and have the cool clothes and flashy or whatever, but we also can be conscious about what we're doing with our extra.

And I think that's important in hip-hop.

How many times do you hear a motherfucker in hip-hop saying, like, recycle and reuse?

And, you know, I think it's important.

Yeah, they buy the $1,000 jackets and you use it once, I heard.

That's what I'm saying.

And, you know, I love that.

Again, but...

Man, support local and just be a creative, you know, be creative of how we do that.

Not just, don't, just be a consumer, you know, be a conscious consumer.

Absolutely.

DJ Bonnix, where can people find you and what you're up to, man?

At DJ Bonics, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch.

um

they can find me at hardeen during the week or you know uh on stage with wiz or at different clubs here in vegas been moving around a lot so uh please reach out to me we'd love to connect with you and yo thank you for you know having this platform and having me on it and congrats to your success man and seeing all the people that you have on here the numbers and you know just being a cool dude man thanks man means a lot i think this episode was great i think people can take a lot out of this one so thank you my asian bro half asian bro over here man

Appreciate you.

Big shout out to Hardin, real quick.

Thanks for rocking it.

Yeah, shout out to Hardin, my favorite dispenser Vegas.

Got some CBD products for tonight.

See you guys next time.

Let's go.