Oh my goodness, it has been so long since I last written in this bih. I just finished my last day of class today so no more school until next week and I start all over again for the summer term. I have had so many ideas on blog topics. I have been exposed to a lot of new shit, especially music related. It has been amazing.
In my Mass Media class, I was assigned to career shadow a professional in the media industry. I did not think too much of it as I was searching for someone to shadow. I wanted to do somebody in radio because I wanted to work around music.
Blazin' 102.3 is the hottest Hip-Hop and R&B station in Tallahassee under the Cumulus market . I read the information provided about the different DJs that work on the station. For some reason, I was interested in Supa Star J Kwik. I googled him and found out that help put Gucci Mane (my future ex-husband) and other artists on the map. I did not research any other DJ; I already found who I wanted to shadow. I wrote him an email, but I did not hear anything back. So, I called somebody (I am so sorry I forgot who, I should have wrote it down) and he led me to DJ Dap, the program director of Cumulus. He told me that I could not shadow Kwik because of his work hours and that I would have to choose somebody else. So, I thought for five minutes and decided to shadow DJ Dap.
The day before the shadow, I was calling to confirm my date with the radio personality. This dude overheard me and was pretty surprised to hear that I would be shadowing Dap. I still did not think anything major, I'm not one to get star struck. But upon my arrival, I was super nervous. After walking nearly a mile on a dirt road because there were no sidewalks, I did not even know where I would end up.
When I finally got there, I was welcomed with open arms. The studio was smaller and simple than I expected. It had a big desk with two computer screens; one with a playlist and the other to edit and cut calls and to look up news information. I took my sit and was told by Dap to write down any questions I had so that I can ask him in between breaks. Dap got straight to business. His whole tone of voice changed when he spoke on air. It was exciting to see because even though this is radio, it's like a big play. It's not sweet being a radio personality, you have to act! Werq! The room had a lot of posters on every wall. I thought to myself how awesome it would be if one of my collages were on one of the walls.
I asked a LOT of questions. And Dap answered almost all of them. I met a few DJs; Boogie G, One Champ, but they might not remember me, I even got to meet Supa Star J Kwik, the traffic informer, DeeDee Roc, and Dap's assistant Estephania. She was sweet, she was like "Aw, I was sitting in that same chair when I was interning." My heart got warm :)
I left the shadow session feeling so high off of my future. I was SO hype. A lot of what I saw related to what I have been learning in my Mass Media class. I felt motivated, inspired, beautiful, unique, and positive. I walked my happy ass to the bus stop and waited ... like a boss!
I went again the next day. I had two days of shadowing. This time, DJ Full Affect bka Desmond joined me to shadow Dap. We talked a lot about our mission with music. He's a faithful church-going DJ. This session I didn't really get to ask Dap my questions because he was so busy. T-Pain called to tell him that he needs to cancel his concert date in Tallahassee set that weekend. There was a lot of hoopla going on. I did get to talk to Kwik and we exchanged numbers. He told me whenever I wanted to shadow him to hit him up. So I did! We arranged for him to pick me up to go to Cheeks Bar just to peep. It's a bikini bar, it was weird. I met CEO of BrickyardENT and Phat Night Club director, Jai Slim. We went to eat a t iHop afterward and talked about the opportunities I have by working with them. I was getting even more hype.
Today, I'm helping Jai promote his night club. I talk to Kwik every now and then. I'm taking things day by day. I'm looking forward to what this summer has in store for me and to being a 20 year old! I'm going to be a junior so shit has to start getting popping.
Thank you for reading <3