"Serato is thrilled to welcome DJ Perly into our family of artists, and we’re excited to see where she continues to grow in 2020." - Serato
It’s my honor to announce that I’m an official Serato artist! Truly is an honor that the Serato team has welcomed me to their Serato artist family! I never thought in a million years this was going to happen. As a I’ll perlz I vividly remember the 1st time getting Serato and instantaneously feeling a rush of inspiration filled me up to just create anything. I’ve spent hours and years just dedicating myself to the art (still do) & it’s an honored to get welcomed into the family!
This precious moment has given me time to step back from the fast pace movement of life - that GO- GO- GO on the run motion - and gave me a moment to reflect, rest, and give thanks for the little things that life has given me in this journey. These past couple of days
( like everyone else) I’ve been adjusting to a new ‘normal’. Yes it's tough and a huge bummer what ever are all feeling and going through right now :/ however, I felt rush of gratitude during this time.
As I sit here typing this, I think back of the early days of my DJ journey, when I was justing hearing about Serato, and I even remembered the crazy time / the story of when I was starting out DJing at a local bar/club (using Serato) and some guy in the club covered with tattoos head to toe (not kidding) was trying to give me a free download of another DJ software from his homie that knew a guy who knew his cousin that knew another guy who can get hook me up for free. - True story!! But for another post, maybe..
Anyways! I remember years ago, 10+ years ago pre Youtube, I was teaching myself the art of DJing. I was listening to Mark Ronson and Aaron LaCrate “Authentic Sh!t” on East Village Radio every Friday night. I was trying to figure out the scratch patterns they were doing and even try to learn how they mix, blend, and backspin song for song. I used my dad’s records to practice but eventually saved up money to buy my own. As time went on I was introduced to the world of Serato via Youtube - the Young Trizzy (A-TRAK), Jazzy Jeff, and DJ AM (RIP) were talking and demoing about this new software called Serato Scratch Live. Little did I knew back then that this software was going to change my life forever. It blew my mind! All these questions of who, what, when, where, why, and how filled my mind. “How is it possible that a DJ can change a songs without lifting the needle off the record to change the song on the record?” and “Wait… You can scratch the record without scratching or damaging the control vinyl?!?!” I watch countless videos of DJs using Serato Scratch Live and ended up saving for that too. What surprised me was that one year I’ve gotten Serato as a X-Mas gift from Mama and Papa Perly.(thanks xoxo) They saw how I was struggling to save up for it so they chipped in as a surprise. Hey, I was still in high school. I was saving up for lunch and vinyl. *Side note, some of my lunch money went for records *Ahhh the good old days!*(After that, I continued saving up and bought everything else on my own)
So, one X-Mas morning I was shocked! A big box under the tree waiting for me. I tore the wrapping paper and there it was! I think I even cried a bit when I saw the logo appear from the torn wrapping paper. From then on my life changed. Thanks ma and pa dukes!
That night I spent hours and hours practicing and learning. Hours turned to days. Days turned weeks and weeks turned to years. I guess you can say those many countless hours spent in my cave - practicing, learning, digging, and going to bed at 3AM, even in the early hours of the morning paid off.. Years and many mean mugs later , I won the in 2017 DMC USA title and then went onto the DMC World finals in 2017 repping' the USA, placing 4th. The only woman in the whole battle. While most DJs, from what remember, were using Serato DJ, I was still using Serato Scratch Live! Yup! I'm not embarrassed about it either! I was still using the same control vinyl from when I 1st got it that Christmas morning years ago.. The labels were starting fade and somehow my control vinyl covers were still intact. I did have new control vinyl but it was just something special about that pair that I couldn't let go. It was a beautiful reminder of my journey. Fast forward years later, to now, I’m a Serato artist on a line up with my heroes. I’m truly humbled and grateful for this moment. Oh yeah, here’s that video from back in the day that got into Serato. Damn! Look at the date stamp!! Sheesh.. has it been that long?!?
“Never underestimate the power of music. The power of music is universal. It unites us all and with it, we come together and dance as one heartbeat.” - DJ Perly
I’m grateful that there’s technology out there for us to use to expand our creativity and reach out t people in ways we’ve never thought of doing before. And now we have the power to do so more than ever! With this, we all have the power of music! Don’t believe me?? Let’s talk about D Nice and his 100k+ views on IG live and let mention all the DJs around the world going live as well! *Air horn*
A beautiful example that we can all come together as one. As thousands of people, like myself, watched on their phones, tablets etc… we ALL came together as ONE. One heartbeat. We all felt the love, shared the love, and even forgotten about our worries for that moment in time. And that’s what we do as DJs. We unite people from all over, near and far, with the sonic force of music! We all tuned in to the positive vibrations and embrace the love. We became the one heartbeat! *Go re read my quote*
That’s what it is - It’s all love and good vibes.
Years ago, I remember seeing an interview with Qbert (shout out to Q!!) and one of the quotes that stood out to me was something along the lines of "Music is like a shaman being able to help people." Or something like that..( don't quote me on that). Pretty cool that we DJs / artist, have to power and influence to not only unite but we also have the ability to heal via music. Like Shamans, healers, we Djs have the ability to use music as medicine to help heal others. Music heals. It does! Don't believe me? Aight -
Example, how many times have we’ve been to a concert to see our favorite bands, or favorite DJ etc.. and later that night we left feeling a rush of an euphoric emotion of gratitude and or a rush of inspiration from a simple action of just getting a ticket and see your favorite song performed live! Or how when we felt depressed, had a bad day or just needed a pick me up? And the one thing that helped was your favorite song. I’ve defiantly had many moments like that and I bet you did too! I bet right after, you felt better, right? don't lie, you did. So with that being said - music heals! When we connect and or be in the moment with music, all worries diminish. When there’s a negative or a darkness, there’s always a positive, a light, waiting to be seen and or discovered. And that positive is - music, love, etc... (A yin and yang if you think of it).
So overall during this uncertain pandemic time in our lives, it’s our moment to share the positive energy through music. Yes the media spreads a lot of info all at once to us but this is our time to come together and just share our love with the world. This is our time to be the media and share good news! Whether your a producer, a painter, a chef or whatever it is that you do, its time to share your talents with the world and just be in the moment, together. Who cares the ‘likes’ or ‘follows’ (screw that) just be and just create. Let’s raise our vibrations and just take each day, day by day and create. Call a homie, reach out to family and create memories. Take out a piece of paper- and doodle. When this is all over, we'll propel forward.
In conclusion - before I go on another tangent- I’m grateful for the opportunity from the Serato team for welcoming me into the Serato Artist family! Words truly cannot express the gratitude I have for this moment. If someone would've told me years ago that I was going to be a Serato Artist along side the greats - I wouldn't believe you.
Side note:
(Gonna add "Mean mug specialist” on my resume as ‘special skills’ with this photo below attached, haha!)
So with that being said - thank you to everyone at Serato HQ! Thank you to the homies at Serato BK Studios (OP! And DSTRUKT), you guys are truly like family and I'm forever grateful for you guys! Shout out to all the Serato studios from
HQ to LA to Uk and beyond!! Thank you to everyone for the support through the years. Keep doing what ya love and the
love will come back.
Peace Perlz x
P.s. Wash your hands, Stay safe and please Stay home! But most importantly - be kind and spread the positive vibes xo