Quite frequently we overhear people around town say, “There’s no good music in Denver.” But Denver is blessed with some of the best DJs in the nation.
Over the next few weeks, The Met will be highlighting some of the DJs holding Colorado down within the mainstream and underground scenes. To kick off this series, we salute one of Denver’s biggest DJs — K-Tone.
“You don’t even know who K-Tona is,” is likely to be a soundbyte one hears on a project by DJ K-Tone. K-Tone hails from the Park Hill neighborhood, and despite that common soundbyte, is known as Denver’s Turf DJ. He is also part of a national affiliation of DJs known as The Core DJs.
“That just means I represent my city and state to the fullest, in an uplifting and positive way,” K-Tone said.
He started spinning in college when his cousin, DJ Krhyminyl, a Philadelphia DJ, gave him his first set of turntables more than 11 years ago. The craft of mixing hip-hop music into mixtapes has since turned into a lucrative career, and following suit, K-Tone has been playing some of the biggest parties in Denver.
He’s also taken his mixtape hosting around the country, working with artists like Twista, DJ Drama, Chingo Bling, Lil Scrappy, Slim Thug and countless others. On his Internet-broadcasted, weekly radio show, “Turf Time,” hosted on www.ustream.com, K-Tone plays track after track of Denver’s best and brightest artists, giving listeners a break from the over-saturated Top 40.
His accomplishments also include being a finalist in the Building Connections DJ competition the last two years, beating DJ Quote in 2009 and losing to KDJ Above in 2010.
Recently he has flooded social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and his fan base, with a movement called the “Moolah Shuffle.”
“[It’s] just something that we came up with to help motivate people to get their money in a positive way, whether you get up at 6 a.m. to go to work or you work [the] graveyard shift,” K-Tone said. “However you get it, when you know you’re getting your check come Friday, you gonna be doing the ‘Moolah Shuffle.’ So it’s more like a feel-good shuffle when you know you’re getting paid somehow,” he added.
Aside from being a successful DJ, K-Tone also owns his own promotional company, Still Livin Entertainment. He just completed a project with Tytanik and TC Crook as well as a joint project with KDJ Above.
As a whole, he feels Colorado doesn’t get enough attention for the scene it has cultivated. Local artists like Rockie, Young Doe, Kevin Pistols, Tytanik, TC Crook and Mr. Midas are overlooked, K-Tone said.
K-Tone’s skills as a DJ have allowed him to travel all over the world, but he never forgets to wear his hometown Rockies baseball hat. And spreading that positive message of unity to the young artists in The Box State is important to him.
“Make sure your business is on point,” he said. “Make sure your team is really on your side, and don’t worry about the negativity.”
