DJ Blue Diamond is the next hottest DJ in Brooklyn to lookout for. She went from living the video vixen life to DJing and now, learning to produce in the music industry. Although her journey hasn’t been completely easy, she has worked hard to get to where she is now.
Blue Diamond has made her mark in the industry by touring internationally with well-known rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine and established a professional relationship with Richie Valentino, Jim Jones, which they have a new song “Tiddies” coming out soon.
She is helping pave the way for female DJs and aspiring producers. True Urban Culture had the opportunity to speak with the Brooklyn native about her transition into the DJ world, touring with 6ix9ine, the important aspects of DJing, and her next moves into the producer world.
1. What was it like for you growing up in Brooklyn and being a woman of Dominican and Lebanese descent, who was enamored by the hip-hop culture?
Growing up in Brooklyn definitely played a major role for me because I remember going to school and having dance battles as a young girl. So It definitely played a role in the urban culture for me. I like all genres, so I think being from Brooklyn, I got to experience Reggae, Spanish music, and urban music. It was cool growing up in Brooklyn.
2. Before you got into DJing, you were a video vixen for several well-known artists. How was the transition from being a video vixen to a DJ?
It wasn’t the smoothest transition for me. It’s been a very rough ride for me, being that I’m a female DJ, and especially being in New York City, because we take our DJs very seriously. So it’s been very difficult to kind of breakthrough, but being that I was able to have a lane coming from the video vixen world, I was able to open certain doors, which landed me the 6ix9ine gig, so that was cool. I got to use all of the connections that I made in the video vixen world in the DJ world, but it wasn’t an easy ride for me either.
3. What sparked your interest in DJing? And how did that develop into your passion?
What made me want to transition into DJing was the fact that the video vixen thing was becoming oversaturated at the time. Not only was it becoming oversaturated, [but] they were starting to not pay the girls either, so it was no longer a real career. It was kind of people just doing it for fun and exposure – hoping you got somewhere. I needed a check, so I made the transition.
4. Who were some of your inspirations that helped you navigate toward the DJ scene?
Somebody who pitched to me to be a DJ was DJ Webstar. He made “Chicken Noodle Soup.” At the time, we were friends, and he was playing at the Harrah’s Pool Party, and he pitched it to me. He was like, what are you doing after this whole video vixen stuff and he was like, you should become a DJ. He took me to a show, and I kind of saw how he moved the crowd with music and took a liking to it. Then after that, the rest is history. I definitely want to mention DJ Scenario, DJ Wikki, and DJ Sammy Blendz, who are the three DJs that took their time out to actually teach me how to DJ.
5. How was the learning process for you with all the technology that comes with DJing?
It was extremely, extremely, extremely tedious. I hated it. It took DJ Scenario to really listen like there’s competition coming up. Because when I started learning there were other girls who were also learning, and he knew who was coming up in the DJ world too, so he kind of gave me the oomph – that kind of like, hey, you got to put some more time and effort into this and do it faster. If it wasn’t for him, I would have taken my sweet dear time. I didn’t want to take bookings or anything. My first booking was Highline Ballroom, and I only took it because I was opening up for DJ Khaled. And I guess I didn’t do that bad cause they hired me afterward.
6. Can you tell us the story behind your DJ name Blue Diamond?
My DJ name – I wasn’t necessarily trying to be a DJ when I first started. I knew I wanted to have a cool name, and I wanted to brand a color. So in looking through names I came across the name Blue Diamond. When I looked up the definition, Blue Diamond was the second most expensive diamond in the world, and it was very, very rare and hard to find. So that defines me – I’m rare and hard to find.
7. You worked alongside Tekashi 6ix9ine for his international tour. How did that come about?
First, I was Young Syrup’s DJ, and Young Syrup was his opening act. So the first time I got to meet 6ix9ine’s team was the first show that I was doing with Young Syrup, which was in Connecticut. And Will Cornish saw me, which was his manager at the time, and he was booking everything for the tour. So instead of having two DJs, because I was already going to be the DJ for the opening act, which Will was also managing, they said let’s just cut cost, and let’s bring one DJ. And I got the opportunity.
8. Can you describe your experience on that tour?
In a nutshell, it was crazy. I got my fifteen minutes of fame. It was cool to be away. It was cool to be with the hottest rapper at the time. I still pinch myself every now and then to make sure that I’m here because I can’t believe that happened. It was a dream come true what can I say.
9. You recently had a music video shoot with Richie Valentino and Jim Jones for a song that you all collaborated on. What can we expect to see on that? How did that collaboration come about?
The video shoot was a lot of fun. That came about – me and Richie Valentino worked back in Long Island. He’s a promoter, and he gets me gigs, and I’ve been doing a showcase with Jim Jones, so it’s been nice to work with both of them. In the video, you guys can expect to see a lot of boobies since the song is titled “Tiddies.”
10. How was that experience on set?
I can’t say anything more than positive things about Jim Jones. He did nothing but drop gems. I was asking him questions on distribution deals and stuff in that nature, and he tried to stir me in the right direction, which is really dope. Valentino, like I said, he and I have a long relationship for years. That’s my brother. It was just another day in the office with him.
11. What has been the most memorable moment you have had as a DJ so far?
I’m going to have to say absolutely the tour. I haven’t had another experience like that. It was just like – 15,000 people is 15,000 people. That adrenaline’s unmatched.
12. What is your go-to song that gets the crowd hyped?
It depends on the crowd, but I’m going to have to say any Lil baby song, honestly, gets the people jumping, and he’s kind of international too.
13. What would you say are the most important aspects of being a DJ? How to balance on stage?
I would say crowd control. Crowd reading, so you have to be able to read the crowd. Song selection and being able to MC – speak to a crowd while you’re DJing. You have to engage with the crowd. It’s hard. It takes a lot of practice and trial and error. I can’t say that I was always good at it. It took me a lot of time to be like, ‘hey I did this wrong,’ ‘alright let me work on this.’ I sat at home and practiced what things to say on stage and all of that stuff. So it just takes a lot of time to actually preplan before you’re on stage and not just think you’re going to wing it.
14. You also have your own woman’s clothing store, World of Bizarre. Can you tell us a little about that?
During the pandemic, everything was shut down, so I was looking for other outlets to make money at the time. So I came up with a clothing line, and I started off remaking other brands. But right now, I’m sitting back on it, and I’m remaking the whole thing. I want to actually make the brand, a brand if that makes sense.
15. I noticed the clothing store a lot of fashionable and well-known designer prints. What was the inspiration for those looks?
My thing is, I always want to give back to the culture, and I always want to give back to the community that supports me. I understand that not everybody has a thousand dollars to spend on an outfit or a pair of shoes, so my thing behind that was being able to make people, who can’t afford those items, they can still dress up like us, and they can still fit in. In doing that, I also realize that I’m taking away from these companies, who worked so hard for so many years to make their brand [and] to build their brand. Because in the same token, I was noticing that other people were stealing my ideas. I fell off of the plagiarism, and I’m going to take a step back, and I’m just going to build a brand that caters to people who work nine to five’s, and can still be fly. And still, be a brand, that’s affordable.
16. Do you have an idea of what that might look like? Will it be still fashionable prints, or is it going to be something more casual, or a little bit of both?
A little bit of both definitely. I want to incorporate the same blueprint that a lot of these big brands have from like Louis Vuitton and Gucci. And I like how Off-White is very casual. So I definitely want to incorporate both. I want to incorporate where I come from, which is the urban market, so I want to cater to my community.
17. Has the pandemic affected your creativity in any way? If so, how have you found inspiration to continue?
I can’t lie and say that the pandemic hasn’t mentally messed with me because it definitely has not gotten my creative juice and flow. It’s been very hard to be stuck in the house with one person – I live with my other half, and it’s kind of difficult – we clash a lot. It just hasn’t been the best for me necessarily to get creative, but the show must go on. Eventually, I got to get to work. You got a job to do, you got to do it, period.
18. What are some challenges that you have faced as a female DJ? How have you overcome them?
A major challenge is just my physical — just me being a pretty girl. Behind the DJ booth, I’m automatically looked at like “she can’t DJ she’s just a pretty face.” And what I had to learn is how to be very aggressive as a DJ. So what I tried to learn — while I was learning how to DJ — was how to DJ exactly as a male would. When I MC, I MC how a man would. When I pick songs, I make sure that my song selection is as a man would. I try to play a lot of — I would say — gangster music just to portray that I can hang with guys.
19. What advice would you give to an up and coming female DJ?
Stay consistent. I always say that consistency is key because there’s going to be a lot of doors that shut in your face and a lot of people that you thought were going to support you, and [they] won’t support you. But you got to stay consistent because if you’re not, then they’re going to be like, oh, what happened to you I thought you were DJing, you’re not DJing anymore? Meanwhile, if you stay doing it, they have to respect it. You got to make people respect what you’re doing by all means necessary. Consistency is key.
20. What are some future goals that you have for yourself as a DJ?
Right now, I’m aspiring to be the next female DJ Khaled, DJ Skrillex, Carnage. So right now, I’m learning to produce. I’m in the studio. I’m putting together songs with other artists and things of that nature. You know you got to look out for my music soon. I want to definitely tap into other genres. I don’t want to stay necessarily in the urban market, so I’m looking into tapping into festival music, EDM, Hispanic music, things of that nature.
21. If you had to describe your DJ skills in three words, what would they be?
The first word would be aggressive. The second word would be — I think I’m going to describe it as colorful. And the third word would be vibrant. I’m going to say aggressive because you’re not going to expect to hear what comes out of my mouth, or you’re not going to expect to hear the songs that I play. I’m going to say colorful because I try to play a diversity of things. I don’t just play necessarily hip-hop. I try to tap into all genres depending on who’s in the room. And vibrant would be because my ultimate goal is to get you off of your feet. I don’t like people sitting down. I don’t like to see people just standing around when I’m on the set. I want to make sure that people are movin’ and groovin’.
22. Do you have something you’re currently working on that we should be on the lookout for?
I’m currently working on more music with more artists. I don’t want to drop any names just yet but definitely look out for more music with more known artists.
23. What does True Urban Culture mean to you?
I would have to say that the Urban culture defines me that’s what made me, me. I would say, the Urban culture is where you come from and the things that surround you, and who you are. That’s the only way that I can describe it. I am Urban.
24. Is there anything that we might have not touched based on or anything that you would like to add?
I want to stand behind the women empowerment movement. I definitely believe that we need to empower our women, and we don’t need to be looked at any different than men. I definitely want to add that in there.
