DJ Piklz
As hip-hop has confined itself to sounding more and more like a played out record, a ground breaking DJ/Producer with an innovative production style surfaces; making his mark with instrumentally inclined bangers in his journey to conquer the hip hop industry through a unique, soulful style that has become lost to simple, empty beats
Tell me about your history? How did you get where you are now?
On January 11th, 1986 Nicholas A. Ditri was born in Neptune, NJ, where he still currently resides. Raised mainly by his grandparents, due to the full-time jobs of his parents, they influenced Nick to take on the piano at youngage of 7. Ditri was being trained on classical melodies and little to none of any other genre of music, he somehow found his way into oldies. First hearing the sounds of groups like The Temptations and Marvin Gaye, the soon to be producer, moved into jazz. By learning the techniques of greats such as Monk, Miles Davis, and Charlie Parker, the foundation for his future songwriting style was established. In the year 1998, after the death of his closest partner through life, his grandmother, Nick found an outlet for emotion through entertainment. By working his way up, he was able to purchase DJ equipment and slowly start a business. By mid-2001, he had found his niche as a DJ and he took on a family given nick-name Piklz. By now he had enough money to begin creating a full customized project studio through the help of Steve Lewis of Creative Records.
In the early days of September when catastrophe struck down on America, DJ Piklz responded with a gut wrenching song that he entitled Under Attack. It was a simple track based on Beethovens Moonlight Sonata with a collage of various news clips from the recent reports. This track was picked up by the Millennium Radio Network Station, 94.3 The Point, which is broadcast throughout the state of NJ. UPN Network News also picked up on the single, and did a segment on Ditri as well as many other local newspapers, and radio stations who promoted the single since the proceeds were being donated to the Red Cross. It was about a month later when the now acclaimed producer received a call for Grammy award winning singer BJ Crosby who preceded to ask him to play at an upcoming Open House at the Museum of Natural History. A few months later after the release of his solo album. "Below Zero", Piklz met with various rappers and ultimately signed Little Italy and Nablidon along with 1Self who was the last man standing from one of the first groups that Piklz had worked with.
Getting into hip hop more and more , he strayed further away from the typical sampled rhythms of todays underground tracks to bring together an array of genres and create more original , musically advanced beats. Using synth sounds in combination with samples, live instruments and many other aspects of production, Piklz created the 98 Proof sound. Producing over 60 officially released tracks and 5 full length albums by the age of 18, hasnt been much of an easy job for the young producer. He now is seeking to validate his skills on paper and further his career as a student at Berklee College of Music. On May 10, 2005 DJ Piklz will drop his 2nd solo release, although its really his first official release to the hip hop market, entitled Off The Meatrack?! Vol.1. merging his innovative production style with the 98 Proof artists as well as accredited East Coast Underground artists such as Q-Unique, Oktober, Substantial, and more. Stretching the limitations by bringing a more musically composed feel to evolve a new era of music, his sophomore album will be equally satisfying to the hardcore heads as well as those with a looking to explore the more soulful side of Hip Hop.
DJ Piklz and his tracks have appeared on MTV-U, Hustler Films, NESN (Port-O-Call), Meddafore.com, Maxed Out (Cox Cable Sports Network) as well as WMCX 88.9 NJ, 89.5 WRSU NJ, Channel 18 - Polluted Garden NJ, WKTU 103.5 NYC, 102.5 MVS Mexico City, 88.7 NJ, WUIC Chicago, 90.3 WKNJ, WMNF 88.9 FL, 88.9 NYC, Staten Island, 94.3 NJ, 98.5 NJ and many more.
What equipment do you use?
* TOP SECRET *
Anything else?
ALL TRACKS ON HERE ARE AVAILABLE FOR EXCLUSIVE LICENSING. THIS LICENSING IS LIMITED TO ALBUMS ONLY AND DOES NOT INCLUDE SYNCRONIZATION LICENSE. THOSE DEALS WILL BE SORTED SEPERATELY - I WORK WITH ALL ARTISTS, CUSTOMIZING AND TAYLORING ALL TRACKS TO THEIR PARTICULAR SOUND EVEN AFTER THE PURCHASE. NO GENERIC SERVICE HERE!ALL FULLY CUSTOMIZABLE TRACKS IN FULL 24 BIT SOUND QUALITY!
