Inner Circle: dj mOma

Had the pleasure of chopping it up with dj mOma when he was in town to play #TheWaveBoston. He's a veteran in the space, so we wanted to get a snippet of what his experience is like and how anyone looking for advice can follow suit.

What was the scene like?

People like us. There were a lot of champagne parties, more like euro house at places in the meat packing district

How'd you get your start?

One of my homies that ran the Rivington Hotel, wanted me to do a party there so I was like this is perfect timing. You want me to do a day party, Sodom wants to start one, we came together with Roble. It spread like wild fire. The first one was 150 people, the second one was 250

At this time did you guys charge to get in?

No we didn’t charge, we actually didn’t have to charge until we became too big, and the city started shutting us down. Once the city and the community board as like I can’t have 1500 people lining up in the streets. Back then it was free, and we wanted to keep it that way. But once they shut that down, we had to find more traditional event spaces. Places you have to rent. Rent the sound system, or pay for security. But we had to keep the party going, and it’s been the same way for a lot of small parties that have grown organically in New York like my good friend Escobar, had the same thing with a party called Tiki Disco. They started in Bushwick, 2010, they became too big and had to move it around. They charge, and it’s even bigger now. You gotta do what you gotta do.

It's an honor for us to have you play the wave

I’m happy to be here. You know I walked in, like I feel like I’m in Brooklyn, Manhattan or like LA, I’ve never experienced this kind of Boston before.

How was it?

Yo first of all, I felt at home. I felt like I was in Brooklyn, I felt like I was downtown.

You said on the mic that you felt like you were in Africa

I played a lot in the middle and the end. I try to represent for the motherland.

How was the crowd vs. your expectations?

The crowd was a lot better than my expectations. I thought I was gunna have to work hard. I didn’t have to, I just had fun.

What do you mean work?

The work that I didn’t have to do was that I didn’t have to think about the music, everything came to me. But it was based on the energy that the crowd gave me. Whatever the crowd gave back to me, I just repackaged. On a night like this that’s when as a DJ, you just have a good time, and it feels like it’s not work. On a night where you get low energy, it’s hard work, this wasn’t one of them.

- Kibs