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Life & Work with DJ Double J

Today we’d like to introduce you to DJ Double J.  

Hi DJ, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
DJ Double J, my birth name Jalen Jarmon, was born and raised in the Bull City of Durham, North Carolina. I discovered my musical talent at the early age of 4 when saw my dad DJ Kraze doing it and I begged my dad to purchase me a pair of turntables. Eventually, by the age of 5, I received my wish, which was my first pair of turntables. After practicing and watching my dad and other area Disc Jockeys, for 2 years my talent was revealed. I did my first party at 8 years old in Durham, NC at a sweet 16 birthday party. DJ Kraze (my dad) introduced me to some of his colleagues. One of my first stops was with DJ Polo of WHTT Hot 92.7 FM (Charlotte, NC) where I got my 1st break into radio at 8 years old. I was doing so good that I did the whole show and I was only supposed to do 20 minutes! At the age of 9, I was chosen as a finalist to audition for Bow Wow, (So-So Def), as one of his official DJs on tour. Even though I was not selected I was still able to be Bow Wow’s guest in cities of the tour. Through that, I connected with DJ Nabs and recorded a few tracks that we were going to pitch to nickelodeon but they were never released. After that, I continued to rise to new heights as I builded my resume with Lil Jon, Lil Scrappy, The Butta Team, Big Daddy Kane, & more. Shortly after in 2007, Pepsi and Radio One (K97.5 FM Raleigh, NC) sponsored a DJ contest where the public was asked to vote for the DJ with the best skills to represent the area in New York City. As well as a chance to rock “LIVE” on The Russ Parr Morning Show “Back to School Bus Tour”. Out of all the contestants I won the contest & rocked “LIVE” with The Russ Parr Bus Tour August of 2007 and after attended a workshop @ Jam Master Jay’s Scratch Academy (NY) with Grand Wizard Theodore. In 2009 I began my career as the official DJ at North Carolina Central University’s home basketball games when Bull Dog & LuAnn Harris brought me on. From there on I’ve been the DJ for several years until this recent year when I moved to Dallas and I passed the torch to my little brother DJ Showout. I DJ’d my FIRST major event at 11 years old, it was the CIAA Tournament Grand Finale Party with P. Diddy in Durham NC Feb. 2005 over 5,000 people in the building. My dad was actually djing the party & after a monthly gig that we did call (Kid’s First Friday) he asked if I wanted to go with him and I was very excited but my mom wasn’t so happy being the fact that I was a minor and it was 12 am lol. We managed to make it happen and I ended up doing a 20-25 min set with Diddy! I DJ’d at my first club when I was 12 years old with a group of brothers out of Durham, NC formed by Mike Nice & Courtney C called the Butta Team. I was the youngest in the crew & so when certain dancers came out that hid me under the DJ booth because I was underage. Throughout my career, I’ve met a lot of great people and worked with a lot of great people. I’ve been a Disc Jockey for 24 years now and have done so many things! I’d like to give props to these Dj my dad DJ Kraze, DJ Nabs DJ Show out, DJ P Trol, DJ T Luv, DJ Cozart, DJ Fatz, DJ Kutta, DJ Mike Nice, DJ Bro Rabb, DJ Skaz, DJ Lil Bee, DJ Magic, DJ Lil Vegas, DJ Deron Juan, DJ Polo, DJ B Eazy, DJ E Feezy, DJ Scotty Rock, DJ Alpo (R.I.P), DJ Shout, DJ DVS & a lot more. I’ve met so many DJs the list goes on and on. Later on in my career I began to do radio, it started with live broadcasts from the nightclub, and later on, I was hired as a mix show DJ in 2015. I started off doing my own show on Friday nights, then I was doing mixes on Tuesdays & Thursdays nights at 9 pm and 2 years later I did the Drive at 5 mix. I’ve done a lot in my career as far as clubs, radio, big events, and many more. I’ve worked with promoters such as Brint City, Colton Palmer, James Lunsford, Tim Boss, Shaun Henny, Nemon Marcus, Tim Harrington & many more from North Carolina. I’ve also produced songs with artist like Polotaehood, Loverboy Vo, Chingy, Northside Rocky, Kyng KD & Lil Malik. In 2018 my career took a big leap as I became a part of THE BIGGEST DJ group/ brotherhood in the world! Famously known as the heavy hitters run by DJ Enuff. In 2019 when Covid-19 hit and they shut down all of the clubs and everything, DJs had a new outlet to which they could showcase their skills on Instagram and Facebook live. I took part of that because that was the only thing to do at the time and during that, I did something called “Sunday Service” whom my close friend CP (Colton Palmer) enhanced that I should do after bringing it up that went VIRAL. I didn’t think it was going to get the impact that it did but being the fact that church was out and no one could go, I thought why not bring something different and eventually I was booked to DJ at church because of the impact that my Sunday Service Lives gave during the pandemic. I’ve done so much in my career I feel like I needed to grow more but I didn’t exactly know how or what to do. I met a guy who’s a real good friend of mine by the name of DJ E Feezy in 2014. Me and Feezy became friends in 2015, we would talk occasionally and things, and one day he said to me “Yo you need to move out of North Carolina you’re bigger than that”. I heard what he said and said “ok I’ll move” and never acted on it because I was scared to start over and I was also comfortable where I was in my hometown. He told me this in 2018 and after 3 years of him telling me, in order for him to get me off my feet and move November of 2021 he made a substantial bet with me that I wouldn’t move by January 8th, 2022. The bet was for me to move to Dallas, Texas because he has been telling me to move to Dallas for years. This time I finally gave in and prayed hard about it and on January 4th I packed my bags and drove to Dallas, Texas. I didn’t know what to expect or what to do because I’ve never moved out of state before so everything was new to and for me. He instantly connected me with a promoter (Dre) who put me on as soon as I got to Dallas. His partner Sam and their promotion group Incrowd brought me in with warm welcome and ever since it has been nothing but love in the Dallas area and I have only been here for 5 months. I thank God, E Feezy, my parents, and everyone who supported my move, I was very nervous about it and now looking back I’m glad I made the move because great things happen on the other side of fear and I am truly blessed and thankful I made this move. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it definitely has not been a smooth road. Being an entrepreneur comes with a lot, people don’t see the gigs that you may didn’t understand the “business” side so you don’t do a contract and you might get your money or you might not. I’ve had people not pay me or get missing on me. I’ve had to sleep in cheap hotels and pay for them out of my own pocket simply because I didn’t want to drive back home that night and failed to ask the promoter for a room. There has been times when I was struggling for money early on in my career so I would take anything for a gig just to survive or get by. During those times I had to be strong which wasn’t easy because I didn’t know how to handle those bumps or I didn’t know the proper way to go about it but it definitely made me a stronger person and made me see and do things differently with my business. 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I think the thing I specialize in the most is my dancing skills lol, I love to dance and entertain that’s just something I’ve always done since I was a kid. I’m that person that will brighten up a room just based off my dancing or my goofiness because I’m one goofy person as well. I won class clown in high school so that should tell you a lot lol. I dance whenever I DJ and I have been doing that forever. I love to entertain the people and give them a show. I’m not a DJ that just gets up there and plays music, I give you a full experience of the Double J show. 

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I see myself becoming a big DJ/Artist like a DJ Khaled type or something of that nature. But honestly, I can’t really say where I see my industry going because at the end of the day, I want God to put me in the best position he knows is for me. I would like to be heard across the world and I would like for people to see and appreciate my talent that I’ve been blessed with. 

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