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[hip-hop instrumental music]
- I feel like
I'm a eclectic ball
of awesome and exciting things.
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My name is Nelly Vigil
and I'm a professional DJ in Milwaukee.
My deejay name is DJ Loop.
L, double-O, P.
In high school, I was going through a rough time,
and hip-hop was
the only type of music at that time
that really fit what I was going through.
I'm not from this country,
so growing up has been different for me.
What I'm going to do with my life,
the plan isn't the same as everyone else.
And so that's how I got into hip-hop music.
I just wanted to have my own spot in it.
So I chose deejaying.
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There's so many layers and parts to it.
It's not just going up there and pressing a button
and letting one side, one record, or one song play,
and then you press play on the other one, right?
No, like, you gotta blend it.
Every song has, you know, a heartbeat.
Its own beat per minute: how fast, how slow.
Does it fit the vibe of where you are?
[crowds cheers]
So, connecting with the crowd when it comes to deejaying,
you just really got to know what the crowd wants.
And it can start from you playing one song.
If you see that they're really into it,
they're really feeling it,
you're going to play a song that's similar to it, right?
You want to keep that vibe going.
You're not going to play something
that's completely different.
You know, you want the energy to keep rising.
My background is heavily influenced by hip-hop,
but I also know so much music,
especially being on the radio.
*
What up, what up, Milwaukee?
This is DJ Loop, and you're listening to Fresh and Direct.
I'm a deejay and host on 91.7 FM, WMSE.
It's community-powered,
so it is a college radio music station.
But I am a deejay so I curate my music.
I have all my playlists ready to go.
So, tell me, why did you start rapping?
And I'm also a host so that means getting interviews,
getting content for my show
because I don't want it to be
me just playing music for three hours.
It's from 9 p.m. to midnight on Tuesday nights.
If there's something you want to tell the people of Milwaukee
that are listening to you right now...
I always thought, "Hey, if I'm ever going to be in a position
where I have a platform to uplift my community,
that's what I'm going to do."
Here at WMSE, we are 100% community-powered.
So, that's what I do on my show: interviews
and, of course, I play a lot of hip-hop,
independent and old school hip-hop.
So Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, Gang Starr,
all the, you know, OGs of hip-hop,
as well as, like, JID, Denzel Curry, Travis Scott,
but I try to make sure
that I don't really sound like other radio stations
that could have that content.
"90210" Travis Scott,
coming up on Fresh and Direct.
Peace.
[scratching record "zwicka, zwicka"]
- Eep, eep, eep, [chicky-chip-chaw] eep.
- So, that motion is good.
Both of your motions are good.
It's just the timing.
The Scratch Sessions started
in 2017,
in about September or October.
[scribble, scribble] They're basically at a place
where we'll have women, men who just want to come in
and, you know, learn how to deejay.
Maybe it's their first time
touching a controller or turntable.
Or maybe it's their first time even thinking
that it's a possibility for them.
[juggling the beat]
It's just a space where people can come in,
and feel comfortable, and see if they want to deejay.
Yeah, close it. Bring it back.
For the most part,
girls catch on faster than the boys,
which I think is very interesting.
It's always like that.
And I feel good when I see girls, you know, getting it
and just being, like, super quick about it
[bzzzt, bzzzt]
because that's part of the mission
that I'm here to serve.
Not only have them doing it, right,
but to make women and girls feel like they can do it,
which is the biggest takeaway because even if they don't DJ,
they'll go do something else that's male-dominated,
and be like, "I can do this.
You know, I already did it."
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I feel like The Scratch Sessions
is me trying to give back to my community
and trying to give back to someone that is in my situation
or somehow feels like
they just want to DJ, man.
You know, like, I just wanna be a DJ.
[smooth dance music]
Ultimately, I just really want to be someone
that the women in my community can look up to
and be like, "Hey, you know,
I can do what she did, just in my own different way."
I just want to be someone that people can look up to,
just, like, a source of inspiration.
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