Above the bridge
Above the bridge
Episode 169 DJ HAPA BOY 2026
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A five-hour flight talk, a dare to build something new, and the belief that R&B can still make a whole room sing—this is how Laid Back came to life. We kick off the year with DJ Hapa Boy to trace the journey from a chance question at lunch to a full-fledged R&B day party crafted with intention and island flavor. No filler, no gimmicks—just great DJs, careful curation, and hospitality that makes people feel invited, not processed.
We dig into the blueprint: assembling the team, locking the name, shaping the brand, and sweating the small details that turn an event into an experience. From flower leis at the door to Noms, we bring back the lost art of promotion by caring more than the flyer. Hapa Boy opens the crate on craft too—why reading the room beats pre-planning, how multiple record pools keep sets fresh, what gear fits which stage, and how sobriety sharpened focus, transitions, and crowd engagement. We talk island culture with pride: the right local track at the right moment, a room bursting into song, and the joy of seeing new DJs get their first real stage.
The heart of this episode is connection. R&B as a bridge across generations, families showing up and singing together, and the way intention changes everything—from how you treat people to how you build a brand that lasts. If you care about music scenes, event design, and the craft of DJing, this one gives you playbook and purpose in the same breath.
Grab your tickets to Laid Back: Sunday, January 18, 3–8 p.m. at Capitol Modern. Hit laidbackrnb.com or Eventbrite and come sing with us. If you enjoy the show, follow, rate, and share—then tell us the one R&B song you need to hear next time.
New Year Kickoff And NFL Banter
SPEAKER_00Okay, welcome to another edition of the Above the Bridge Podcast. I'm your host, Thaddeus Park, and just wanted to wish y'all a happy new year. If this is your first time listening to the podcast, hit that sub button and tune in every week. I appreciate you. Aloha. Okay, this week for the first episode of the new year. I have my best friend, my best man, and my brother pretty much uh for the first episode of the year, and I'm pretty stoked. Uh DJ Hoppe Boy, welcome back to the show.
SPEAKER_05How's it? Thank you, man. It's been a bit a minute.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's a good time to do it. Um, let's just address the elephant in the room. By the time this thing drops, one of our teams will be season over, game done. And what are your thoughts for the defending champion? I got I just gotta take it, huh?
SPEAKER_03Um, I'm just hoping uh Vegas doesn't do Vegas because I know everyone's going Eagles on this. Um I know the Niners are kind of depleted and hurt, and um we're playing on our turf, and all the check marks are on our box for the most part. But again, um I know and we both know how any given Sunday, so I'm not um I'm not saying we're gonna fucking win right off the bat. I know it's gonna be a great game. Um but I mean we have the stuff to prove it. It's playoffs.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yep. I agree with you too, and uh honestly by the way, this is this is from you. Yeah, that's pretty sick. That's a yeah. I did I tell you I'm I got one for me for when we went to the Super Bowl and I had it in the shed, and I was waiting for the last for the dub, and I was gonna pull it out the shed, but it didn't happen, so it's still in the shed.
SPEAKER_03They're getting rusty, guarantee.
SPEAKER_00But I'm the same. I think our team honestly, I'm not I don't feel that feeling where it's like, oh yup, but we're gonna make a run. This year's been holy shit, we we won. Oh shit, we won. And it got us here. And honestly, I if I would have been way happier beating the Seahawks and having the first round bye and not having to go to Philly. And for me, I I always yeah, I always want it to be if we're gonna play each other, I want it to be for the NFC Championship. At least we made it as far as we could before one of us gets knocked out. For me, Philly is my second favorite team, and I follow them. So I know the culture, I know what everybody says, I know when they're pro Eagles, I know when they're not. I've I've follow the team pretty like almost as much as I do the Niners. So I I definitely have a feeling for the Eagles, but you know, it is what it is. One of us is gonna be done, and one of us is gonna be happy, one of us gonna be sad. It's exciting. Yeah, it is. I wish I had more confidence in my team. Like if it was your best team up against my best team, it would feel a lot better. I'm just like, oh shit. I hope we don't get destroyed, and I hope it's a good thing.
SPEAKER_05We're trying to we're trying to make sure McCaffrey plays quarterback again.
SPEAKER_00Maybe the way oh we well, we got Mac Jones, but I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Eagles took out Brock Purdy last time we played in the playoffs, and it's gonna be a fun match, and uh yeah, so many freaking Niner fans.
SPEAKER_00So uh they hitting you up talkie shit.
SPEAKER_03I mean, you pretty much explain how you feel as a Niner fan with your team. That's how they all feel.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I think um a lot of them are too confident, so they're not talking as much shit. But yeah, man, I tell you what. That's one thing I'm glad you guys aren't click, man. Oh, be hearing it uh the most. But um it's part of the game, it's what makes it fun um for you to be able to talk shit with people and and it goes back and forth, and that that's what it's all about. So we're having fun and it's gonna be a good uh playoffs. Um I think we can I think we have enough um to make a run and go back to the Super Bowl. No one no one believed me last year. Um, so I'm saying it again. I think we can do it.
SPEAKER_00What are the what are the teams you're worried about? Like what what other teams in the NFC are like do you think like, oh shit, these guys are gonna be tough to beat?
SPEAKER_03Um I mean, I guess it would be the Seahawks are at the top of their game at the moment and and whatnot. I I know their defense is shown in other games, but I I don't know. I'm I'm not a fan. I think our defense is better than theirs, and I think our offense can be better than theirs, or at least compete with theirs. So we can get to that game. That's all we need is just an opportunity and chance. And then uh yeah, it's crazy to think, man, all of us is like three games away from the Super Bowl.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it is uh crunch time, and by the time this airs, one of us will be pissed. So at least it's a good vibe now for the show. Because if we were recording next week, Monday, one of us wouldn't be too joyful at the time being. But all right.
SPEAKER_03Shout out to the cowboys not being in the playoffs.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, fuck them cowboys. I'm getting I'm getting texts from cowboy fans about this game. I'm just like, bruh, like stop. Like it's embarrassing already. I'm embarrassed for you.
SPEAKER_03We better switch subjects, man. We're gonna talk about football damn dearly.
Memorable Year Moments And Travel
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's true. Well, the year just finished and the new year started. I just want to kind of take it back from last year. There were a lot of memorable moments we had throughout the year, and as like all my guests know, I talk about you all the time. You're like my brother, but one thing I wanted to bring up, one of the best memorable moment moments I had this past year, 2025, was I'm sure you remember, but we took a trip to uh to go snowboarding. And for me, we took a plane ride and it was a five-hour plane ride, and we talked the whole plane ride non-stop. Yeah, that's right. And for me, that was huge. Like that I've never done that before. Now with my daughter, Sasha, anybody. I've never just had a five-hour long conversation just about everything we could think of. And and for me, that was one of my top memorable moments of this past year. That was super cool.
SPEAKER_03Right on, yeah, that was cool. Um, yeah, by the time we knew it, they're telling us we're gonna land soon. We're like, what? What the fuck? Like, yeah. So yeah, yeah, that was that's um, yeah, that's a good good time as well. Um, even that whole trip, um getting to Vegas, meeting with our friends. Uh we watch a watch a game or something. We saw something, watched the fights, and then yeah, we booked it out to the snow to Utah and um did our thing. Shout out to Ku. Uh yeah, that was a fun trip, man. My brother and Mike, and yeah, that was that was awesome.
SPEAKER_00It was a kind of a full circle moment because the aspect that your brother is not a kid anymore, he's a man, and he was with us doing adult stuff and being not like my friend's little brother.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, he was a he was a peer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and uh to me that was like full circle because I mean the first time I even met him was because you brought him around my apartment, and he was like I was gonna say Arya's age, but he was way younger than that, and he he's now an amazing individual, he just turned 25 on Christmas, so 25.
SPEAKER_05He just turned 25, and he's all tripping. Um, he told me some he was talking to a group, and they're they just turned 21 or 20 or something like that, and uh made him feel old. This is the first time he felt it, but he made him feel old because they told him, Oh, you're almost 30.
SPEAKER_03And that that hit him. He told me on the phone, he's like, Oh man, like that like bruh, it only gets higher.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and bro, you turning 30 fucked with my mind big time because that wasn't supposed to go down, like say, how did that happen?
SPEAKER_03That was fast, but time is definitely doing its thing. Um, but I don't know. You just gotta be happy with life, and and uh even for my brother, for example, just enjoy watching his his journey and um yeah, he's gotta enjoy it while it's while it's going.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and he's doing the mega trip. He's on a I don't even know what you call it.
SPEAKER_03It's not even backpacking, he's just on a mission, flying all over the world, doing crazy life experiences and it's not even a travel bug, it's just just it's a lifestyle to kind of backpack around and and live that that way. And um, yeah, that's what he likes doing, that's what he's all about right now. And um, I think he's in Thailand at the moment. Um, I think he's next, he's gonna go to Vietnam. And uh yeah, I'm I'm super stoked and proud of him. He's a huge inspiration to in in my life just because of the things he's doing, uh stuff I can't do or or even want to do, but or can handle at least. But he's he's doing it. He's got certified scuba diving, he's doing all kinds of stuff, man. Um again, living life and uh yeah, it's fun to watch.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, shout out to Trey and what's his Instagram, Trey Boy?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Trey Boy. He'll be back. Um, he'll be back in May, I think. Hopefully. Uh we've got some family graduating, and uh yeah, we might have another event on the way. Uh Rob. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00Uh let's see, we'll close out 2025. Any memorable moments you had that you want to talk about?
SPEAKER_01Hmm. 2025.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I got married. Forgot about that. Was this past year?
SPEAKER_03That was a big one.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that was a huge one.
SPEAKER_03Um memorable. Uh I mean, even like work-wise, I was say working with the green um this past year. Uh, we've been doing a lot more stuff lately. Um and yeah, just working with that that team, squad, band, family is just uh yeah, it's super special. And I'm happy to be a part of uh what's what's what they have planned. So that's it. We have our blue note shows coming up for January. Um oh this this weekend and a couple weekends after. Uh so it should be good fun and hopefully bigger things in the future with them.
Growth, Mindset Shifts, And Intentions
SPEAKER_00Okay, I want to take this short moment to shout out my sponsor, Defenhawaii. They've been with us from the beginning and they've been doing new drops throughout the Christmas season. They got some new stuff for the new year. Give them a look. They have a store in Winter Mall called No One, and they also have a website, defendhawaii.com. And if you use the website, use promo code ATBPod upon checkout for your first purchase, you'll get 15% off your entire order. Defendhawai.com. Aloha. Like DJ-wise, did you accomplish what you had set for your goals for 2025?
SPEAKER_03Um, to be honest, 2025, I I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. I had a lot of different um obstacles and whatever you call it, trials and tribulations, uh, with um some of my gigs and venues and stuff. So um after going through everything and and whatnot, I just even with my mashups, I had to take a break this year. I took a massive break. Uh I don't I think I didn't post for almost like three months or something, four months, whatever it was. Uh, but it was a break much needed. Um but yeah, 2025 it was no really vision or goal for the most I'm I'm still trying to figure that out. Um but uh in May, 2025, I think it's May, um I got I did find a vision and um find kind of a target of what I wanted to do. And it was creating a RB day party. Uh it was something I wanted to do for years and years. I just never pulled the trigger or had the right team to do it, or um didn't maybe didn't believe in myself and even others didn't believe in me. Uh so it's yeah, uh that turned into a goal and um the after effects of that. Uh shoot, now we have laid back.
SPEAKER_00Yep. And we'll get into that in a little bit, because that was that was a huge part of my 2025 as well for a bunch of reasons. But I think watching you this past year to go through what you went through, I think I caught a lot of growth in you, not as a DJ, but as a person, and your mindset shifted in ways where you're not saying um you're immature, but you grew a lot as a as an artist, but your personality and the way you see things changed and way more mature in the aspect where you control your emotions and don't fly off the handle immediately.
SPEAKER_05My 20s and my 30s.
SPEAKER_00It is what it is, and I think I always say to be to be old and wise, you gotta be young and crazy. And I'm pretty sure your young and crazy will make you very wise in the future.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I was just talking to someone about that. There's uh yeah, the 20s is the decision making, how you react to things and all of that is um is so different from from now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And since our last conversation, you had a lot of stuff happen, good and bad, and how you navigated it could have been better, could have been worse, could have could have been just right. And I think moving forward in the future, when problems will arise, I think your mindset is totally different. And it's gonna probably work in your favor. I think um you grew as a as a person, not just as a DJ this past year for sure. Oh thanks.
SPEAKER_03Uh frick intentions, man. I think that's the biggest I've always been big on that, but um yeah, I would say since my in my 30s and as I get older, it's just um just more realization of being kind, spreading aloha, and yeah, um yeah, that's how you treat other people at the end of the day, and um that goes a lot a long, long, long way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and for me I've learned a lot too because what you said, like living aloha and how you treat people, I would get kind of caught up in how people treat me, and that would change my way of thinking, like uh fuck these fuck these guys, I'm gonna try to do this, and then I've spend so much time focused on getting back or getting one up on certain people, and it's like if I'm living my life to be better than this person, that's not really benefiting me. And watching you change from that mindset help me also in certain areas. I'm still, I mean, we both still kind of figuring that out, and and we both are very driven as as like competitors and just warriors.
SPEAKER_03It's it takes a little longer for us.
The Spark Behind Laid Back
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I agree, and we we uh we always want to catch that dub, you know what I mean? Yeah, no, but yeah, it's good and I think we're doing a doing things in the right way where we're focused on certain things and progressing ourselves, and then it shows to the people that kind of hate on us or whatever, but it's not the reason why we're doing it, and that's that kind of makes it feel so much better. So move moving forward to uh talk about laid back and um for me personally, it was it was a breath of not even fresh air, like fresh mountain, uh crisp oxygen, like it was just amazing for me. It was some something that probably one of my most favorite events I've done in I don't even remember, but I want to know like how you even came up with the idea and what motivated you to move in that direction because that was a that was a huge uh huge project that you wanted to do and and got got us all on board and it was super cool. But how did it how did it even start?
SPEAKER_03Um so like I mentioned earlier, um I was having a lunch, it was supposed to be just a lunch get together meeting with uh a homie, DJ homie of mine, um DJ Rod. Uh shout out to him. Uh while we're talking, it turned into like a business meeting almost. He was asking me all kinds of extra questions. He does um he does insurance and uh life coaching and what and all of that stuff. So he was getting into his groove, asking me questions, and um that was at the time I was going through some some things with uh my my venues. So I don't know, I didn't know where my head was at. I a part of me wanted to to move, a part of me wanted to just change a lot of things, and I don't I don't know. It was a lot up in the air at the at the time. Um so while I was telling him this, like well, I want to move. I kind of did everything here. I played it all the the the biggest venues, uh like just talking. My shit to him, and in the midst of that sentence, and while I'm talking, he he asked, Oh, you ever throw your own event? So I'm just and kind of caught me off guard and and shut me up because I I told him no. And I I I never really did my uh own event. And that made me think of uh the RB day party thing, and I brought it up to him and he said, Ah, why don't you like why not? I was like, fuck, yeah, you're right, why not? Uh after that day, that's why I was in May. Um June, I spent that month putting a team together, and that um comes with talking to you and and and uh a few of my friends and um getting a little more confidence and um June into July I started locking some things in. Um August we pulled the trigger and uh basically created everything. Um the name, the the the domain, the um just everything. We created everything from scratch and it it took took felt like it took forever, but it really I mean May, June, July, August, and then September tickets are available.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, it was pretty quick. Was September. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. September tickets was available, October. We we did some some cool things to push um on social media, and um I was very consistent with posting and um just keep keeping the brand and and building it. And um and yeah, it's October into November. We did our first uh laid back event at Capitol Modern. Um, and it was amazing. I uh like you said, it was it was a it was a breath of fresh air, it was it was new, it was something everyone could experience. Um brush is such a great word for that because that's what it was. It was fresh, it was different. Um, and that's what a lot of people are looking for with the events. Um I want to be something different, um safe, and the product of a good RB party or event is good music, and that was the main focus of this entire um brand is good music, good DJs. Um the DJs that can actually curate a playlist for RB. And um yeah, I I have a lot of um uh homies, DJ homies and and friends that have been doing these type of events in the mainland and touring around the world with it, um, not just the West Coast, not it's just going around the world with it and um very inspirational. So I wanted to create my own lane and niche for the most part, um, which is bringing that kind of island style and island flair to this RB feel and vibe. So that's why I took so long to get the name laid back. Um it once we once I got it, and I think I called you, I called my brother. I I was like, I got it laid back. It's done. Like I was super excited for that. That was that was a huge milestone of just getting the name um laid back. And then uh yeah, as I think the the name kind of speaks for itself when people talk about it now. I was like, well, laid back. Yeah, I know they all like that that feels laid back. It's it's um somewhere where you want to be at with your friends and and your your people.
Naming, Branding, And Building The Event
SPEAKER_00Yep. And I thought it was super cool. The name kind of came out and people kind of were just wondering what it was, but the promotional side and aspect that you had running was on point to the T. And through the videos, through the social media, through the releasing of the DJ lineup to explaining where the park, where the venue is, it was like wow, it was it was such a cool thing to see how much attention to detail you put into it and got me motivated. I was um pretty much retired from promoting, and when you kind of brought this up, I was down to be a part of it, and watching you be the face of it was super fun for me. You have no idea. Like I've been doing promotions for 20 years, and it was a full circle moment watch you just explode, and you just kinda took the reins, and and everything you learned from like you said earlier, being with or before being with your dad and watching him do his thing, and then being part of Artist Group Network and promoting with us for the last how many years, and then being a DJ and promoting yourself, you just took all those chunks of the puzzle and put it all together, and then you just kind of knew what to do, what not to do, and and bruh, it was hit out the park. The event went way more smooth than a first event should ever go, which knock on wood happens again, but yeah, and that was because of your attention to detail. You you thought of everything, and the vibe was amazing, the music was awesome. We had whiskey smoke there. Shout out to them for providing awesome food, and every single person there had an amazing time, and I had all good feedback from it. It was something that people didn't know they wanted, which was kind of cool, you know. I mean, it was like, oh, we'll check this out, it's cool. And then it's like, oh, this is what I wanna do, this is where I want to be every time. And uh for me as someone older, the vibes and the music that was played brought me back to a lot of like early moments from me being out and going through stuff when I was younger, and it just hit hit every every song I could pretty much sing to, and I didn't even know I knew RB that much, and and it was just good vibes, and it was what I said a few times is that I guess RB transcends generations, and it happens a lot with my daughter because she listens to a lot of the music that I listened to when I was younger, and it transcends generations, so you grab the niche where it's marketable for not just older people, younger people, and everything in the middle, and that's a good marketing brand. Target market is is huge, and I think the music is what you focus on to sell the event, and it it it hit it hit home with everybody.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was it was really special. The again, the music is is number one, um, but I get next in line is the experience, and that's what's something I I really wanted to give um our customers and our our goers is a good experience. Um I I'm not trying to throw any shade, um but in the past decade, I feel like, especially um recently in the years, promoting has gone downhill in a in a sense. Um it's I mean people are are barely even texting you like, hey, are you free to come to this? Yeah, it's not even like that anymore. They just post the flyer and then on Instagram or whatever, and then expect. Yeah, and um I don't know. If you're if you're a great promoter and that works for you, that's fine. But um to me, if I don't get invited, like why am I gonna go? You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like a personal invite, like hey Taylor, this is that I'm doing this event. I would love for you to come. I got a spot for you on the guest list. Um roll up with a guest and come check it out, have a drink with me.
SPEAKER_03That's how a promoter should especially talk to another promoter or another person in the industry. So I don't know. I feel like a lot of um a lot of the events going on right now. I I know everyone's got their own thing going and whatnot, but if you want this certain person to come to your event, yeah, you gotta ask them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's just not it's not rocket science.
Experience Design And Bringing Back Care
SPEAKER_03Yeah, like so I don't know. I've people come up, oh are you um you didn't come to whatever, and I was like, what when was that or what what was that when was that? Like I I didn't like I don't know, like and yeah, I don't know. I'm just trying I just want to bring back um that feeling of a promoter or someone doing an event that cares. Um so if you know or you hear laid back, you're like, oh, those guys, those guys care about what they're doing, you know what I mean? Like it's so um and that and that goes a long way just of how to treat people when they that's why we we show up to laid back the the the early goers, they get a free lay, like a free flower lay. And that's just a share and show aloha to our our guests coming in. And I know a lot of other places don't do that, I know other events don't do that. I'm trying to be different. I want to make people and regular people feel special, feel good, feel connected. And that's a huge word that um I'll I like to piece in with laid back and and um RB music is is the connection that people make, not just with the music, not just with you know with with the people there, but with with the event and just knowing oh, laid back, oh yeah, that's that's a good product.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I agree, and it was a great product to the people we had working the door, to the photo booth, to that walking into the venue. It was like perfect. The bartending staff was amazing. Mikey had his best people on it, and the the vibe was amazing. The music, I think, too helps people relate to good feelings in the past.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, the nostalgia from from these tracks are something special.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And it's fun. Um, that's the one of the funnest things for me putting this event together um is curating the DJs and hiring the DJs and and you know, filling the slots and kind of it's just basically putting a uh puzzle together, but you don't know what the art's gonna be. Yeah, you know, we're the only ones that can kind of see it, or it's on our side, but you know the puzzle's done. So when you get to the event, that's what you're experiencing, is that puzzle flipping over and you're seeing the the art of it because it's just it's special when the DJ knows how to mix, transition, and um song the song selection of of these classics and hits, and even the new the new RB song is like you can really um like touch someone, no diddy. Uh you know, you can really connect with someone in that way just by playing music.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I've seen it, I think a couple moments watching there there's some things that stood out. One was that I really enjoyed the fact that we didn't know everybody there. That means they didn't come because it's that and Taylor, they came because this event looks cool and I what they wanna they wanna lock in, tap into it. And yeah, that was for me was huge because for the most part, every other event we did, we can pretty much name 90% of everybody there, or we could shake we know who they are, and there were people that we didn't know that we got to meet and that got to experience something with us without being there because of us, you know. I mean, like personally, I like that. I liked watching people sing songs with each other, like groups of girls when a song came on, and you know they're in their mood, their fields, and it's like that's probably something they would sing back in the day when they were going through a breakup or something like that, and they were just all singing together like it mattered, and like that's magical. Like it to me, that was something cool to watch, and of course, like all our bigger events when me and you stand on the side and just look at everybody being like, Oh shit, everybody came because of us. That's always the best.
Music, Nostalgia, And Multi‑Gen Appeal
SPEAKER_03Oh, we we invited these guys and they came up, yeah, they showed up, yeah. It's um yeah, the music part is is is again it's number one on the list. And uh I don't know if other people know this, but RB is my favorite genre to play. Um in the position I am, especially here in Hawaii, um the rooms I get are so mixed and different every time, um, no matter what venue I'm at. So I gotta be kind of versatile in every genre. I mean, I look at the crowd as like, oh, younger, you know, whatever. It could be an EDM crowd, whatever it is, just reading the crowd, playing to that and and and doing the thing. But um with RB, man, I have so much fun playing RB, and it's even funner playing it to people who want to hear RB, and it's um it it really hits different. And that was something another reason why I I created laid back was there's all these little RB events like going on, and um I know I know every city's got their clicks of people and and whatnot, but I don't know, I feel like I've I'm cool with pretty much everyone, and if you know if I'm not, it's kinda because of them and whatever that relationship is, fine, whatever. But um with these little R and B events going on, like frick, I couldn't like I'm not getting asked to play, you know, and yeah um uh the opportunity isn't there for m for me to to get on. So a lot I think the the first thing you I don't know. I I think you have to create those opportunities sometimes. And um you know, doing creating a an event like this was uh opportunity for me to play R ⁇ B music. And um it's it's been already fulfilling giving other DJs a platform to do the to do the same thing. Um our first laid back, we had DJ Musube. She just um she just finished this DJ school the with the workshop um with DJ Tidabyte and DJ uh Revise, and they did this DJ school, and um she just graduated from it, and it was she loves R and B. And um it just it just worked out that I could give her an opportunity to play her first big show and it was R and B music and it was a it was a nice stage to be on for the first time, and um again, it was really cool for me to be the person to to give that um opportunity and um all the DJs killed it that that night. Um or that day. That was another thing too. We we also learned was the timing of our last laid back because of the um how the sun works in Hawaii. Four to nine. Man, it gets late. It gets dark, yeah. So it was a lot darker than than or a lot more night than day at the last laid back, but we changed the time um this this uh this time around in January. So it will be from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. a lot more daytime, and um yeah, I'm excited, man. Just talking about it. It's so easy to break the ice and promote it to people. You walk up to someone, do you like do you love RB? I mean, most of the time they're gonna say yes. So you just go from there and invite them to something cool.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's been fun, and honestly, for me, the big moment for that event. I mean, as a crazy dad, like that's the first event Aria ever got to come to and experience to see what we do. Like me and her uncle does, and it she had a blast, she related to the music, she knew more pretty much all the songs. What I thought was super cool is that some of the songs that were played that night, she put on her Spotify playlist, and she showed it to me a couple days ago, and I was like, Oh, how'd you know that song? And she's like, Oh, from laid back, or how do you know that song? And like she said, from that night, and uh that's forever gonna be in ingrained in her in a moment that I got to to experience with her, and for me that's huge, probably not the best dad choice, but I think it was a good choice, and she had a blast, and it was cool to see um her interact with with everybody that know seeing her grow up through social media and through stories or seeing seeing her through me. So that that was kind of cool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and yeah, even my my mom she made it, she brought her friend, and uh that was special. She came out from um you know the island, and it's just um yeah, the the demographic is is so broad, and there's there's just no age limit to R ⁇ B music. And yeah, I'm I'm excited to keep growing this thing and and keep creating this brand. It's it's really special to me. And um again, bringing that care and intention back to an event, I think um people will will know and recognize. And um yeah, I hope I hope everyone that hears about it will come experience it because I promise once you
SPEAKER_00once you come to a to lay back you you'll you won't regret it yep I agree and shoot it got me out of retirement and it gave me of sense of purpose in that industry again and and it gave it gave me a sense of pride and something a spark to want to keep doing it like I'm not I'm definitely not gonna be in a nightclub every single weekend but I can I can get with this and I'm definitely down to help grow it and shoot I'm down to take it other places eventually like I want to see this go to the mainland that's one of the goals I have for 2026 um is to take laid back uh to another state or another country we'll see um is yeah the possibilities are endless um again it's just super inspirational to to have uh friends and other DJ homies um doing their events and whether it be whether it be a RB day party or not um just learning from from their events learning from our events learning from other people's like it's just that was that was the big niche that needed to be filled here in Hawaii was there wasn't a like a legit RB event you go to a R and B party says it on the flyer and like that's this isn't the music we came for you know and yeah um it is it's yeah it's not what you expect and this and that so um we take full pride in in letting people know that you're gonna hear RB music and it strays off a little every once in a while because you know people got to dance and um a little hip hop in there and whatnot but it's it's up to the DJ that knows what he's doing to bring it back and um yeah it it's it's really fun and special.
SPEAKER_03I love this event I'm super stoked and thankful for the team that has been built shout out to Hawaii Events Unlimited um for doing our sound and lighting um shout out to Mikey uh yeah all the all our bar staff was um so amazing and friendly and even our security shout out to paradise yeah um protection all those boys they they are professional they know what they're doing um and yeah the guys in the front they knew how to talk to our guests and that's what I care about I I want our guests and our our customers to feel safe and you know feel that aloha and feel um uh comfortable so once they get that greeting at the front door and you know all that aloha all the way through and you're not even in the air you're not even in the event yet you know so um yeah I look forward to to continuing this um and see where where it goes and I appreciate you being a part of the team as well. Yeah yeah I'm not sure who else I would trust or or do this with so I'm very thankful um for your for your guidance and um yeah I've learned a lot a lot of shit from you bro um I know we don't talk about that as much but um yeah you're what we've been through and uh the events we've done together and uh it it shows through through all of this that we're doing and stuff so I'm thankful.
Scaling The Brand And Staying True
Sponsor Shoutouts And January Show Details
SPEAKER_00For sure I'm definitely thankful too and yeah like I said you gave me a purpose in that industry again and the next one will be when this drops it'll be this Sunday give us give us the dates time and where the people can get tickets oh um laid back rb day party happening January 18th it's a Sunday uh the day before Martin Luther King so Monday's a holiday is no excuse come party on a Sunday from 3 p.m to 8 p.m at Capitol Modern and this will be chapter two and you get tickets from laidbacklmb.com there it is laidbackrmb.com or you can check it out on Eventbrite will pop up on there as well and uh yeah get your tickets now don't sleep on it get them now for sure right right when you're done listening to this podcast go get your tickets or put it on pause and then go get your tickets okay I want to take a little break and shout out our sponsor iRep Detail Supply iRip Detail Supply is your one stop shop superstore for everything you need to detail your car vehicle truck van motorcycle whatever you got they have a store in Temple Valley shopping center also in Las Vegas their website is irepdalsupply calm use promo code ATV pod upon checkout and you'll get 15% off your entire order if you go to the store their um staff there is so knowledgeable they can help you out with anything you need so go over there i rep detail supply aloha okay this one's cool i put out a feeler uh get some questions this time i didn't say ask me and you questions so i got a lot more DJ questions which I kind of like a lot better so I don't need to answer these but I got a bunch of questions and then I'm gonna do some flash questions something I did with aria the last podcast I did that was kind of fun so I try to try to do it with you on this one okay let's get into it what music do you like to listen to and play most you kind of just answered that uh yeah I I would say um I like to play RB the most uh listening wise though you'd be surprised uh I like everything if I could do a a shuffle of just all genre and of my favorite music and stuff it it it would surprise a lot of people but um yeah the music I listen to is not the music that I play in the club and all of that um honestly a lot of the times I'm describing is in complete silence I don't have the radio on I don't have like it's straight silence sometimes and um yeah just offset that's kind of cool well I guess this question is for me and you but are you guys gonna watch the game together this weekend we're trying to figure that out yeah we're trying to figure that out um I know I'm may or may not be stuck in town uh but um yeah man it just sucks because one of us is gonna be pissed you know what I mean like one of us won't have a tomorrow but by the next day we'll yeah yeah by the next day it'll be all good like be happy for the other person but yeah we'll see how it plays out okay here's a question this is a good one how would you describe your sound to someone who never heard you energy um that's a good answer I I think energy would probably be the best word to describe it um I've said this before it doesn't matter if it's five people or five thousand I'm gonna do my thing I want I want whoever's in the room or building to feel uh to dance to sing to yeah just to feel the energy so that's that's what I try to bring to every performance and show and um I think that's what uh separates me from others as well. That's an awesome answer. Like I agree because the energy you bring just DJing it honestly it doesn't matter where you could be DJing on a wedding or or just a gig somewhere or a club it's the same energy and whatever event you are you definitely get it hyped for sure. Alright what do you like to play on the most vinyl CDJs or controllers I guess if I had to choose it would be vinyl I guess um but I was just talking to the uh about this with uh Jimmy Taco and technique um it's yeah it's just different the the setups now so the industry standard in the clubs are CDJs now with with a mixer whether it be a 900 and s9 or s11 but um yeah vinyl is non-existent in clubs that oh oh wow I didn't know how to do that I didn't know you could do that either right on oh mine doesn't work oh this this must be for the Super Bowl teams it just celebrates that all right so next year it'll work then um but I like to play play a vinyl I mostly play on a controller um when I do other gigs and I I bring my uh my Rev 1 it's like the size I can it's like a suitcase so I'm just showing up to my job with a little suitcase I've set up my thing and it's a controller but that's more for convenience right yes it's light it's um light and compact and then um yeah in most of the clubs it's just CDJs and uh and a mixer so I I literally use all of them and it is not really I don't stick to one it's it's all of them that makes sense all right uh what is the toughest crowd you have played for uh I we DJ'd that UFC event when we're doing rock bottom and I remember um or when we were doing that event and then it's it's the worst when the home home hero loses man nobody wants to party nobody oh was it Max I think so it had to it was either him or BJ and it was just it's hard to pick up a pick up disappointed crowd yeah that's funny I didn't forgot about that let's see oh this is a good one what local DJs inspired you um shoot we got a handful of them uh DJ technique DJ uh taco toma is huge um it's kind of a decent long list of that it's it's really it's it's hard out here I've realized to find inspiration from other DJs like uh on a competitive level um but I can say like for example if I go to see or if I go to see the homies and DJ techniques playing for some reason he can do something or play something that I've never heard or seen and then I'm like oh this fucker and I I like fuck I like go home and practice you know I mean like I want to this guy oh and um that happens a lot when I travel we go to the Bay we go to LA we go to other places Vegas and beef staying like all the homies like you see them perform you see them do their thing and it's just like oh shit okay okay like um it's it's almost like a sport like a competitive thing it's just like oh you see them do that like okay like um so you want to get better you want to um you want to level up because you see something and hear something different it's tough out here to get that from other events a lot of the DJs are playing the same um same tracks because there's there's only a handful of record pools out there like on the web so if you're not if you're not digging for m like certain mixes or or um just people are getting eggs from the same basket basically yeah so when they play play a remix and I I'm like oh they got this from DJ City or they got this from Club Killers or they got this from you know whatever I can tell what it is but but that's because I'm such a nerd and I stay up on my music like I think I have four record pools and I dig for music once a week sometimes more but I'll go through find out what's what's what's the hottest what's playing in in in the clubs in the mainland because it's tough too on that aspect because Hawaii's three months behind yeah so something's hot in the mainland if I play it at the club tonight no one will know what it is like I'll be like oh no you guys not yet and then three months three months later I see another DJ playing it and they're going like I'm just like it's time so and then I'll I'll I'll play I'm like oh yeah they know it now okay that's cool I I do understand what you're saying because some local DJs especially ones I would hear all the time like I could call out what song they're gonna play like they they're set like I would know they're set and it's not even changing to be like oh they're gonna play this song next it's gonna go right into this song and I was nine times out of ten I was pretty accurate that was a good that was good answer.
DJ Q&A: Sound, Gear, And Crowds
SPEAKER_03And I'm not gonna lie there's certain there's certain gigs that DJs do especially their res residencies that um you kind of play a similar set and transitions because they don't they still work like you have a certain crowd yeah I call them combos so you have like a two three song combo um it sucks because the bar and the staff has heard heard it a hundred times possibly but that new crowd you're playing Waikiki none of these people have heard it a hundred people have never heard it so they're gonna react to it oh but you know the bar might have heard it a a bunch of times so there's certain situations where um it it's tough not to kind of get that repeat sense um for DJs but it happens all right let's see what annoys you the most as a DJ and also while you're in the DJ booth requests I guess would be the biggest one um and I've I've talked about this many of times um it's all about how you request things how you ask for things just like in outside the DJ booth anywhere else you go it's how you ask so if you you know show up and in into someone's face and tell them play this you're not gonna get what you asked for because you're not asking you're telling me what to do I'm not going for that so there's there's so many situations and um things I've been through in that category of of that but yeah the most annoying thing I I would have to say would be song requests. Some of them those request it while it's playing like that's how irritating it is like it's it's it's on now.
SPEAKER_00Like yeah so and I've seen it happen uh many times people come straight up with the name of the song on their phone and just shove it in your face and it's like they don't understand BPMs or if you're building to a moment or like the song doesn't fit what you're doing. It's like there's a reason why you're hired to do with you what you do and people are just uh ignorant to that and they just want to hear what they want to hear right then and there.
SPEAKER_03And who's to say their song choice will get the whole place in a mood like that's kind of selfish in that aspect also you know I mean yeah unless again you know how to ask yeah so you got a hundred dollar bill attached to that song request boom boom right on the whatever I'm playing drop your song right there like play how much of the song would you play for a hundred though the whole fucking song or I usually no I usually do well depending on the song and how the crowd reacts to it um I'll play at least because it's a tip I'll play at least um a chorus verse chorus okay so two choruses guarantee most of the time yeah I try I'll try to but if it's um yeah a lot of the times it's not like a you know a hitting song or it's something that they want personally so it kind of might throw off the mood a little bit but like you said it's up to the DJ to you know do their job so I can I can get away with it I can play um bohemian rhapsody and I'll bring back the party after that you know it's like it's yeah um it's just all all about how you do it and again bringing back to how you ask the hundred is nice that's awesome I I'll play it but uh if you were to come to the booth I'd be like hey oh DJ Hopper boy you're doing amazing you don't have to call me by my name but hey you're doing you're doing awesome um if you have time or if you can fit it in if you could play this song please and you know like be polite and kind about it like how you would at a restaurant and talk yeah properly yeah I'll play your stuff I'll I'll fit it in I'll get it you know I mean like that's that's how you communicate but it's 90% of the time or I don't know probably a higher percentile it's usually a rude rude way so I respond the same way you ask and the second part of question is what annoys you the most in the booth and for me as a promoter it's always drunk bitches they're the most annoying in the DJ booth but that's me as a promoter. It's really uh it's cool now um um I I'm I'm so tight with the the security at most of our venues and stuff so they know how I am With with guests, and so like they'll look at me, and I just gotta look at them back with whatever face I give them the help me or the get the fuck out. They they'll I mean they'll get them out and the bitch be gone face. Yeah, but it's really cool. The security, they they know what's up, so they'll they'll check with me. They'll basically ask for you know, thumbs up or thumbs down. And um it's it's e it's been easier in that aspect to to control the the actual booth. But um, yeah, a lot of those videos you see um with the DJs playing and like the crowds all up behind them for their YouTube videos and stuff. Um, a lot of those are their friends and whatnot, so they kind of get the gist. Uh but some of them that aren't uh it's it's just a trend, so it's uh it's part of their performance and what they're trying to you know bring bring the energy with their guests and stuff behind them, so it's different. But at a club, yeah, it's it's tough to just have random people behind you with their drinks and stuff. So I rather.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Alright, here's a good one. Do you ever get burnt out DJing or having to do a gig?
SPEAKER_01Yes, it is possible and has happened, um, but I try not to uh get to that point.
SPEAKER_03Um being as established as I am, and again, thankful I'm in this position I am to be able to pick and choose my events and stuff. So if I get um I get inquiries for private events, whether it be a wedding, first birthday, graduation, or whatever it is, I can pick or choose if I want to do it. Like, you know, I don't I don't have to, oh man, my weekend's uh stacked, uh I'll try and fit you guys in. Like if you can't do it, just say no, you know, or send send it to another DJ or whatever you gotta do. Um I try to schedule and do my gigs where I have I make time to balance myself out and have uh a day off. And um I know the whole hustle thing, no days off, and uh, but uh I feel and how I like to do things in me personally, I think there is a need to have at least one day off to um decompress. That's that's the word that I use the most, is um a lot of people see the the hype parts of being a DJ and you know popular and in the spotlight and this and that, and but you gotta understand those four hours, five hours go by, and it's done. Everyone's gone. You're at home by yourself, and you you gotta you gotta switch gears and and going from that guy to um you know just back to going from hoppa back to Taylor, yeah. That's a good way to decompress, and it helped helps me a lot to make time for for that.
SPEAKER_00That's a good answer. So you just differentiate between the two. Let's see what guarantee song always works no matter crowd or venue. This was a DJ who asked this question, he's probably gonna play it. That's why.
SPEAKER_01Um well depending on the crowd, but uh in general.
SPEAKER_03I mean any any classic go back hip hop or RB, it's it's usually a a hit. It's oh man, that's my that's my um kryptonite trying to think of one single song. Um you know it's it's really cool. Um it's really cool seeing more DJs play local music um after all these years. I know it wasn't um a thing most times uh to get away with in the club, but uh not saying I'm the first, but I know that I strategically and like I purposely put in island reggae stuff to our local crowds because I know it's gonna hype them up. I know it's gonna, you know, give them a certain appealing and do this and that, but it's just the timing of it and stuff. So I know it was kind of taboo before to do that. Like club owners wouldn't, nightclub owners don't want to hear a reggae song or you know that type of music at their venue, but you see their crowd reacting and singing along and moving the way they are, it changes your perspective. You're like, oh wow, that song does that. Yeah, and um it it's kind of funny. I saw, I mean, it definitely boosted uh uh rest in peace, Fiji, Uncle Fiji. Um, but after he passed, how many DJs were playing music, you know? Yeah, and that's that's cool. I love I love to hear and see it, but um, it's it's funny to me.
SPEAKER_00It's like uh like you gotta now you like let people play it.
Digging Music, Local Influence, And Pride
SPEAKER_03Yeah, or not let people, but the the DJs, they now you can play it. It's not the people, it's like it's like I don't know. It's um again, I'm happy it's getting played and shared, but I think it's funny how uh most folks they kind of they gotta wait for them to pass or something happens for them to play their music, and it's like do it now. Um yeah, I'm um yeah, I'm very proud of how I implement our culture into my music that I play, whether it's in Hawaii or a different country or a different state. Um if I see locals there, shoot, I'll I'll play play something to get them going, you know. It's yeah, it's it's a part of it.
SPEAKER_00So speaking of proud, what would be your proudest moment DJing?
SPEAKER_01It's a good question.
SPEAKER_03Um one of my I mean that I can think of was probably during the Pitbull show um a couple years ago at the Blazedle. That one was really, really special to me in just in a few different aspects. Um one, it being Pitbull, uh that was that's already huge. It being at the Blazedale Arena, already a huge deal. Um another cool thing was my mom being there, she flew out for that, and um she got to experience it. She was backstage with me, she got to, you know, just experience that life for a little bit. And then the the um other big thing because I was playing at the Blazedale, and you you know of this, but my uh my grandfather was uh ceremony and um funeral was in the Blazedale, and uh yeah, he's he's in ashes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, his ashes are there. Shout out to Tiny with the LeBron boss, yeah.
SPEAKER_03My my dad, LeBron James, my grandpa. So um he's in that building forever, and to be able to perform on that stage um was yeah, was a huge highlight and proud moment for my myself. Um yeah, I was special.
SPEAKER_00Okay, last question. What would you tell an up-and-coming DJ, especially a local one?
SPEAKER_01Um first thing first, uh just treat it uh treat everyone with respect and kindness.
SPEAKER_03Uh again, we I've talked about that in the beginning. Um and there's a s that saying, you don't step on toes because you never know uh if that foot is connected to you know someone.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But we were just talking about that.
SPEAKER_03That's kind of make sense, and I think uh well it was that um how you treat people is is the biggest thing. Um, and you're you're how personable you are with people. Um you can't talk to managers and talk to other DJs if if you don't have have that, you know, and and if you don't know how to talk to them. So being kind and knowing how to to communicate is is huge. And then um reliability would be the second thing.
SPEAKER_01Um if you if you say you're gonna do something, do it.
SPEAKER_03And um if you're and that goes for for everything. If you say you're gonna be here on on time or you're gonna be here at this time, you gotta you gotta lock in, you gotta execute. Um, I think that's you mentioned local and Hawaii. If if that I think that's one of the biggest flaws, not even just in the DJ industry, just overall biggest flaw is laziness.
SPEAKER_01Um so yeah, as long as you um treat people treat people well and uh and be true to your word.
SPEAKER_03I think those are the two biggest things that'll help you. I think and it's not even DJ related, but I mean DJ related, I would say practice. That's the biggest thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Okay, wanna take this break to shout out our sponsor, Medicinal Mushroom Hawaii. They're a locally based medicinal mushroom company. It's not those psychedelic mushrooms, it's uh medicinal mushrooms that help with a lot of different things. Uh, we have turkey tail, chaga, uh red reci, lion's mane, and cortiseps. And if you don't know the properties of each of these mushrooms, if you go on their website, medmushroomhigh.com, it'll explain to you the medicinal properties of each of these mushrooms. I take them all every single day uh religiously. I take the first three in the morning, I take uh the um red Rachi at night to help me sleep good. I take the quarter steps as a pre-workout before I work out. But medmushroomhigh.com promo code ATB pot upon. Check out all capital letters and you'll get 45% off your first tinture of extracted mushrooms. So give them a look. Medmushroomhigh.com. Aloha. All right. Well, that's all the questions. Now we're gonna do this flash questions, which is just answer them as they come. Uh I did this with Aria and I kind of had fun with it, so I'm gonna try to implement this uh here and there throughout the year. Cave. Opening set or closing set?
SPEAKER_01Closing.
SPEAKER_00Club or festival?
SPEAKER_01Festival.
SPEAKER_00Day party or night party?
SPEAKER_01Day party.
SPEAKER_00One genre that you're tired of hearing.
SPEAKER_01I don't break no feelings, but oh man.
SPEAKER_00Uh mine is EDM. Oh, okay. Mine would be that too. Uh I'm not, yeah. All right, let's see. Song you secretly love but don't play.
SPEAKER_01I'll see a rock song. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_03Um Alicia Keys. I try like it's it's you gotta have the right little crowd for that. But um, yeah, when you do that, everyone sings along and it's it's fun to play. But that's it, it's you can't do it all. So that's something, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Crowd reading or pre-planning your set? Kind of.
SPEAKER_03Crowd reading every time. Um have much I haven't really yet pre-planned a set completely yet in my career. It's not good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I agree.
SPEAKER_01Favorite city to DJ in. Um wow.
SPEAKER_03Vegas is pretty dope. Um it's between Vegas and like Saipan and Guam.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's cool. Let's see.
SPEAKER_01What would be your dream venue? Somewhere not here, I guess.
SPEAKER_00Uh 49ers Stadium. Gotcha. Let's see.
SPEAKER_03Financial.
SPEAKER_00What is the most underrated DJ skill reading the crowd, a hundred percent. Good one. One artist you wish more DJ pla DJs played now.
SPEAKER_01Energy drink. Biggest influence outside of music outside of music. Probably my brother.
SPEAKER_03Uh, and he's traveling.
SPEAKER_01That's pretty awesome.
SPEAKER_03That's uh different different type of influence.
SPEAKER_00Definitely. He's a vibe, man. Uh one song you refuse to play. That's a good one.
SPEAKER_01Oh man, what's on my list of that?
SPEAKER_03You know what it's funny? It's not that I don't play Bad Bunny. I'll play it when I want to play it. But when someone asks for it before I do it, it makes me not want to fucking do it at all. I don't know about it.
SPEAKER_00You just ruined it the whole night, no bad bunny.
SPEAKER_03You just ruined it for everyone just now. Now I don't want to play any bad bad bunny. But um that's kind of yeah, that's still kind of big on the on the list. That that he's part of the trend of everyone uh doing the phone thing. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00That was a good question.
SPEAKER_03Uh that's a that's a good one, that's a good one.
SPEAKER_00Okay, what makes you more nervous? A promoter watching you DJ and club owner or another DJ?
SPEAKER_03Neither. Don't worry. I don't care who's watching. Um I guess if I had to choose you, if I mean depending on who it was, I guess a DJ, if the but I don't know who would make me feel that way.
SPEAKER_00Let's see. Old school or new school?
SPEAKER_01Old school.
SPEAKER_00Would you rather have the crowd singing or dancing?
SPEAKER_01Oh man, that's a good question. Uh singing.
SPEAKER_03I I feel like the the singing is more more passion.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and it's more locked into the DJ versus each other. Yeah. Yeah. Let's see. Do you rather party after your set or go straight home?
SPEAKER_03Nowadays, I go straight home.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say, I knew I knew like back in the day, it was not there was no going home after it was like Taylor's done, now the fun begins.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there was um yeah.
SPEAKER_00Especially if you're midset. If you're midset, that was my favorite. Taylor's done, what are we gonna do?
SPEAKER_03I mean, all of our from rock bottom. Every time we'd be done with something, it's like, oh, where are we going? Uh yeah, yeah, good times. Plus too nowadays, it's just I've personally it's not safe, man. Yeah, and it not like that saying, nothing good happens after two, so I try and get home before then.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Okay, let's see. Uh which do you don't like more? A drunk crowd or a silent crowd?
SPEAKER_03A silent crowd. A drunk crowd can be fun.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, but yeah, silent crowd, uh, those are those are no fun. That's the it sounds like they need to get drunk. Silent crowd needs some drinks.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, needs to loosen up a little bit. Shot, shot, shot, shot, shot, shot. Well, here's a good one. Song requests from your ex-girlfriend, play or not play.
SPEAKER_04Uh, depends how she asks.
SPEAKER_00And which one?
SPEAKER_01Somebody's ex is like, why the fuck are you even in here? That's a funny question. Uh let's see, would you rather have the DJ booth hot or freezing?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Fuck a hot DJ booth. You can always get I tell I don't this is uh, you know, a regular question, hot or cold, but I tell people you can you can get warm.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So I tell Sasha every you can't get unsweaty unhot. Yeah, yeah, you can't get unhot.
SPEAKER_00Like so I tell that Sasha every night because she doesn't like the AC. And I'm like, I can't get cooler without the AC. You can add more blankets, put on a hoodie, what have you. Exactly. Okay, do you like drink DJing sober, drunk, or tired? Which one don't you like the most?
SPEAKER_03Why is tired even on that list? I'm not trying to do that, but uh it happens. Um uh sober. Um yeah, uh I something we have didn't bring up or talk about, but I've been pretty I've been sober for since your wedding.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's it's been the truth. I have you noticed that your DJing changing at all, or like for the or better?
SPEAKER_03Uh definitely for the better. Uh I've talked to uh to DJ Weiss about this recently. Um uh shout out shout out to him too. He's a huge inspiration. He he stopped drinking a while ago a long time ago as well. Um, but yeah, the the no-drinking helps tremendously. Um just being more focused and on point um with my set, of course, and all that. Not you know, not missing cues more on point with that. And um another big thing is uh engaging with guests. Well how I engage with guests, uh whether I'm sober or drunk are two different things because you give me a stupid request while I'm drunk, like fuck who knows what it's gonna happen, like how what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00It could be either equal out either way.
SPEAKER_03But now it's just like yeah, it's it's a lot more control. Um and yeah, uh I mean I'm not trying to be an advocate, but it's it's it's been good for for the DJing person.
SPEAKER_00Super cool. Uh and on a banger or fade out smoothly.
SPEAKER_03And on a banger every time.
SPEAKER_00Zippies or L and L.
SPEAKER_03Oh man. Depends what we're trying to get. But I would say there's more men or there's more things on the zippies that I would get over the L and L. But there are a couple of items on the L and L that Zippies don't do the same.
SPEAKER_00Chicken katsu curry. I've been getting that. That's been my go-to at L and L. I just had it two nights ago.
SPEAKER_03So they're they're Kahua pork cabbage too is is mean. So I I like I like L and L, but I guess if I had to choose it would be zippies.
SPEAKER_00Okay, and last one, you what is your go-to snack?
SPEAKER_01I mean, besides ice cream, I I'm a huge ice cream dude. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um coffee's my favorite, but um I go I kind of go through phases with snacks and candies and stuff. Right now, um, I'm just getting done with a four-pound bag of jelly beans.
SPEAKER_00Oh, jelly bellies. Oh, that was mine one, the freaking one from Costco, the big jar. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That used to be. My go-to snack recently, and I don't know how I got locked into this, is these coconut flavored sunflower seeds. Bruh, it's this Chinese brand. And we were at we were at Walmart, and one of the dads bought it when we were at Walmart selling stuff for Arya's fundraiser, and I tried it, and bruh, I've been hooked on them ever since. I'll get I'll give you a bag, bruh. It's a Chinese brand, and it's coconut flavored, and bruh, you eat one, that's it. Half the bag is done. It's action.
SPEAKER_01One of those.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. All right, man. Well, we've been going for almost our half, and if like we we have record on talking for five hours straight. So we can't let our listeners go through that. But I appreciate you, man, and I'm looking forward to this new year with all of our endeavors, our goals, and honestly, as a friend, watching you grow as a DJ and and kind of do your thing. I talked to you about it at your brother's graduation, and the same feeling you got when you watch your brother do cool stuff like graduating, is the same feeling I get when I see you do cool shit. And um having you as the best man at my wedding, it was was different, and it was it felt super right. I have a lot of friends in my life, but I think with the connection I have with you is is a little different. And I don't have a blood brother, but you are definitely the closest thing I got. And um I'm looking forward to this year, and just with layback coming up this week and how it that grows in and of itself, and then just being able to call you up whenever and be like, where are you playing? And I can roll up. And you know what I mean? It's it's to watch you perform is always fun for me, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this new year progresses. I still gotta make a couple goals for myself. I never really had time to sit down and lock in what I'm trying to do this year, but I'll let you know when I do because I definitely want to hear yours as well. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, for sure. The what do chicks call it?
SPEAKER_03Vision boards.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was thinking about doing that, but I'm like, where am I gonna put it? And I don't know if I want like RSH to know my vision.
SPEAKER_03Look it up. Oh now though, it is important to do though, to uh gather your thoughts and your your dreams and goals and put them on paper and yeah and see it, you know, and then um fucking put it on your wall and now you have a target. Check check off the box.
SPEAKER_00Yep. All right, man. Well, I'm super stoked. You're my first guest of the year. I'm definitely starting this. Yeah, start starting this year. That's broken. Yeah, you used it up. Um one more time, uh laid back. When is it? How can you get tickets?
SPEAKER_03Laid back rb day party happening Sunday, January 18th from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Capital Modern. You can get tickets at you can get tickets at laidbackrmb.com. Laidbackrmb.com.
SPEAKER_00Right on and social media wise, where can people find you?
SPEAKER_03You can find me at DJ Hoppableboy anything. Uh Ig DJ Boy DJ Hoppleboy.com, uh uh TikTok, whatever it is, uh DJ Hoppaboy.
SPEAKER_00Yep. And for us, you can always find us at Above the Bridge on Everything, at B Pod.com, and my personal Instagram is daddy daddy high. All right, man. Well, we'll get this game going and see how it plays out. And then yep. And then we will be laid back in about a few days from when this drops.
SPEAKER_01World champion.
SPEAKER_00So does that void after this game on Sunday? Like, no, I guess not. You always have that. Does it have a date on there? Shit.
SPEAKER_04It does.
SPEAKER_03It does have the um suit, it's it's sealed, but um I wouldn't say void, but it's still it's still present at the moment, yes. At the moment, yeah. Yeah, but unrail that. Planning, planning to just replace this one in a few weeks.
SPEAKER_00Because you can't put another another plate on there, right?
SPEAKER_03No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00You only get two, like for us, we got five. So yeah, but yours is all dusty.
SPEAKER_04Yours stay all dusty. You can't even do this because it fall apart.
SPEAKER_00Touche, it is pretty dusty. All right, man. What is that?
Closing Gratitude And Ticket Info
SPEAKER_03Fast kind. There was a fun fact uh I saw um if you guys win this game, it would be the 40th uh postseason, like a playoff game that you guys won, and 40 is the um record. Oh 40 40 would be the record for most wins in playoffs, and you guys can achieve that with uh oh.
SPEAKER_00We'll see. That'll be a cool little record. I'm interested to see how this plays out. We just got a new linebacker from the couch yesterday.
SPEAKER_03We got Hassan Reddick, the guy who ruined Brock Purdy's arm, yeah, and played for our team for a little while.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, that's true. Fucking weird. Anyway, we're out, man. Shaka's for the camera. Yep, good luck. We're out, shout out to the artist groove network. Aloha.
