THE DJ WHO TURNS A ‘FUNERAL’ INTO A PARTY! (Dj Hamm 454)

by Ian Elroy Ogonji December 27, 2018 · Interviews

He is a car fanatic, multitalented and an adventurous millenial. He sheds off the boredom in every building he strides into with his turntables. He never went to a Deejaying school but his mixes can make you invent new dances in seconds. From High City Entertainment, Dj Hamm454 the Hypemaster rubs shoulders with us. Let’s win!

The Youthing Magazine: Describe yourself in 3 words

Hamm: Passionate, Go getter, Believer

The Youthing Magazine: What does 454 mean?

Hamm: 454 is a Chevy 454 big block race engine so I have this love for cars especially Chevrolet cars so that’s where I drew my inspiration.figuratively it means that the way the engine has the power of running a car Dj Hamm also has the power to inspire, entertain and reach out to people through the power of music, across the world, No matter what the challenge.

The Youthing Magazine: Very creative right there, When did you start Deejaying and what Inspired you?

Hamm: I started drawing interest back when I was in highschool in 2014 and I used to tell my cube mates that, ‘guys I think I can do this thing.’ I could play with Virtual Dj during the \nholidays alot. Now, professionally I started taking Djing serious in 2017 and through God’s Grace in 2018 I started now doing gigs. so professionally I can say this is my 2nd year as a professional Dj.

The Youthing Magazine: Awesome, what was your best gig this year?

Hamm: Mmh my best gig this year has got to be one, the Oga Bachelor Afro party and comedy show.. I really had a lot of fun and got the chance to network with new people and also very talented upcoming artists one of them being an artist by the name PrayzzZ.

The Youthing Magazine: Have you ever messed your mix during a gig?

Hamm: yes it has happened considering that I’m also still learning, yes it has. One time I was playing and I mistakenly loaded a song to the deck that was playing. The other time I forgot to adjust the tempo of an incoming song to match the outgoing song, it was chaotic (laughs) but I thank God since I’ve learnt from those mistakes
Hold up, there’s time I forgot and closed the software by mistake while mixing as I was searching for a song.

The Youthing Magazine: How did your fans react?

Hamm: let’s say they went from 100 to 50% hyped but the good thing was the emcee covered it up for me and did a short standup to lighten up the mood
But one fan after the show came to me and told me yooh Hamm we saw what you did there and we laughed it off.

The Youthing Magazine: Apart from Deejaying what else do you do?

Hamm: I’m also a student training to be a professional Radio presenter/Director I also do music video editing so far I’ve done 1 this year. I used to be a beatmaker, I’m a hypeman and in future I’m looking at also being a music video director.

The Youthing Magazine: Awesome staff, whom do you look upto?

Hamm: Meehn I look up to aloot of DJs out here but my top ones are Dj Jazzy Jeff of Philadelphia, Dj Angelo from the Uk and in my country Kenya I look up to Dj joe Mfalme ,Dj Bash Dj Joelz turntablist and Dj Noldi plus many more like Dj KimNickdee.

The Youthing Magazine: Alright, If you were to change something about Deejaying in kenya what would it be?

Hamm: I would like to change the mentality of most upcoming Djs that Djing isn’t all about Fame, money and big gigs but mostly about passion, self-drive and just having fun in doing what you love and developing skills first before thinking about hiting headline s out here.
Also I would love to change the level of support that DJs give each other I feel like here in Kenya DJs don’t support each other that much it’s more of everyone for himself but God for us all thing(but we can still meet up and share drinks.)

The Youthing Magazine: What advice can you give to upcoming/aspiring Djs

Hamm: Believe in yourself Be passionate about this art, don’t compare other people’s lives with yours be inspired by their lives instead, work on building your Own name as a brand.Dont be afraid to make mistakes learn from them instead.NEVER give up and always keep practicing and Praying