how are you guys doing today
thank wonderful thank you guys so much
for having me today so my name is Brian
Alvarez and I am a DJ this is what I do
for a living so public speaking is part
of it but admittedly so I’m a little
nervous coming up here and talking to
you about guys but I am so grateful for
this opportunity so thank you so I was
born right here in southeastern Michigan
I went to scarlet Mitchell
and for 15 years I’ve been DJing I
played for all over the state I belonged
to a DJ collective called DJ DC
productions and they’re located right
here in Saline but the work that I’m
most proud of is the work that I’ve done
for charity like the North Star project
the Chad tuff foundation and also the
events on main and the events on main
actually put me in contact with Mott
Children’s Hospital this was an amazing
opportunity for me to share my love of
DJing with children a lot like you
except that they had a little bit more
tough situations that were in the
forefront of their life and what
happened was I brought my DJ equipment
too much Children’s Hospital and I saw
something and it was amazing I saw these
kids light up when they had the power of
music and I knew this feeling very well
because that was the same feeling I had
when when I was in touch with music
right like when I was able to DJ for the
first time it was pretty exciting so
this was actually the inspiration of why
I started my school DJ Academy
technically sound so let me tell you a
little bit about how I got here I
started promoting my school technically
sound in Ann Arbor and you know what
Celine reached out to me and showed me a
lot of love they said we would love to
have your school here so I taught my
class at Heritage and I had well over 30
people attend this DJ class and I was
blown away at the response it was so
cool to have this many people interested
in the magic of DJing so not only did 30
kids show up but all the support of
their parents showed up as well and one
of the parents was a teacher and she
approached me later and I shared a
little bit about my history with music
and the power of that through my life
and she asked me to speak here today so
that’s how I got here so let let’s
address the obvious I’m a DJ and I don’t
think I don’t have any music with me so
it’s a little odd and I apologize for
that in advance you probably should have
you know a senator up here or a
legislator someone with a very positive
message but you know when when I was
asked us to speak here today I decided
that I wanted to tell you my real story
not all the deejaying and all the stuff
like that but how I got here to honor
the kids that are going to be coming up
here today so if you would allow me I
would like to share a little bit about
my past and and how I became right here
on stage so I’m painting a picture of me
as a preteen my mother was was adopted
and she was from New Jersey and my
father he was from South America so he
was an immigrant they moved to Michigan
and when when they moved to Michigan
they we didn’t I didn’t have any
immediate family so I was kind of lonely
I remember growing up not very not very
affluent we didn’t have very much money
and we moved around a lot so I did not
have a lot of friends and my parents
split up early on when I was a kid and I
turned to food to comfort me and I put
on a lot of weight when I was a kid and
and because of this I did not have a lot
of self-esteem and I was shy this is a
stark contrast from the guy who’s here
talking today so growing up I did have a
relationship to music I love dancing and
this is one of the first times I had the
experience of getting positive feedback
for something I did rather than the
person that I was dancing gave me a
place to to express myself in a safe way
and this was this was this was an
amazing gift so you might be asking
yourself why is this guy telling me
about his life this guy’s a DJ I want to
hear about the DJing stuff and I would
love to tell you about all of my
successes as a DJ I’d love to share the
stories about how I hung out with
Beyonce a few times she’s an amazing
woman and she was very nice to me as a
kid we had similar friends but I have to
save that story for another time because
if these kids are gonna come out here
onstage and they’re gonna be brave I
decided that I wanted to be brave too
and share my story so I want to tell you
a little bit about how my music my
journey through music reflects some of
the same values that kids are learning
right here in Celine schools so when I
listen to music I listen to it from all
sorts of countries my dad listened to
Latino music we listen to Bob Marley and
all sorts of different cultures and what
this led to was me being able to
empathize with other cultures now I grew
up kind of poor and I grew up in a
majority-black neighborhood because of
this I adopted a lot of mannerisms from
my community so when I went to middle
school I was actually bullied a lot they
told me that I was acting black or I was
a poser and I didn’t belong but you know
for me as a kid growing up I felt too
Brown to be white I felt too white to be
black and I was cut off from all of my
heritage as a Latino so if you asked me
I would tell you the same thing that I
felt then is that I was somewhere in the
middle and I was American and to be
honest I love America and as a son of an
immigrant the idea of America is very
important to me because I didn’t feel
like I belong the idea of the American
Dream was no matter who you are and
where you come from you can work hard
and you can make it here and that was an
idea that I clung to desperately
I wanted in on this deal I wanted to be
a part of this thing so this is also
another common idea that is shared with
an african-american writer called Afrika
Bambaataa he said no matter who you are
where you come from what are your
background is that you can express
yourself in this art form he understood
he was a DJ like me and he understood
that music made the world smaller and
when we listen to music we actually
connect with our ancestors we can travel
time we can predict what’s going to be
cool in the future and we can also
listen to people in the past and by
doing this we can empathize and when we
use empathy we foster kindness and
kindness connects us to a larger family
and makes us globally connected now I
lacked family support when I was young
my parents split so that was a tough
situation I felt hopeless and it was not
safe for me to express this internal
angst that I felt right and you know I
had trouble in school because I had so
many things going on in my personal life
it was very difficult for me to focus in
school I actually thought that I was not
very smart because I couldn’t solve
simple math problems but I was just I
just had trouble and I learned
differently it wouldn’t be until many
years that I would figure out my recipe
and it was in at high school and some
brave teachers Kurt Meyer Gail Gail
Dimmesdale they held a pilot class it
was an african-american know as African
drumming class so we got to hit these
drums can you imagine if your teacher
said go be as loud as you possibly can
for an hour it was amazing I loved it I
got to bang on these drums and something
happened to me I would go to my I would
do drums in first hour and then second
hour my hands would be kind of bleeding
because they would be I would be but but
something happened I was calm I could
listen whatever was happening inside of
me I got to get out and that physical
release helped me learn
many years later I would actually be
engaged to my best friend
her name’s Shannon she’s amazing she is
the CEO of a company called professional
communications please bear with me
professional communications developed a
sociological tool that develops so it
show takes groups of people and it
divides them up I’ll save you all of the
boring stuff but I fell under the
category of reactive stimulator what she
found in her research when she did it
with schools and corporate America is
that kids like me are misrepresented in
corporate America they’re gone where do
they go I thought wow maybe these kids
are like me and they learn a little bit
differently so please excuse me um to
switch this page so this
african-american this African drumming
class which I took taught me the
fundamentals of rhythm but moreover it
taught me about having a physical
relationship to numbers now because of
this class I was able to break down
fractions and learn percentages and I
became more successful at school because
now this this this physical sort of
learning helped me feel like I was no
longer stupid I felt adopted like I was
home I think the 25 percent of the
population is like me this is just the
theory I don’t know if this is true but
these are the ones that that are in
class that might have that might be
disruptive or have trouble focusing or
connecting with other students but I
think for me at least this music was a
big connector to help me become a
complex problem solver so when I was a
kid I also felt stress and I used to
draw a lot I’m still an artist and I’m
an artist to this day and I would draw a
lot of disturbing images and as I
understand it if you grow up in the in
schools and you draw certain images that
there’s kind of a profile
that happens that you might be
predisposed to a certain sentiment so I
am lucky that I grew up then and not now
but honestly this was a place for me to
hide all of my emotions that I was
feeling because I needed a safe place to
do that the same was for dancing and you
know I danced very aggressively and from
the outside looking in and I’m a parent
so I could I could definitely see that
there was some worry cuz my dancing kind
of looked a little violence right but we
never fought
there was no and there was rules to help
protect the participants another way for
me to healthily get out these negative
emotions finally I was able to put into
words what I felt
hearing artists and their frustration
through rock and roll rap music reggae
folk music helped me understand that I
wasn’t alone that people like me felt
just like this and music is true beauty
and we can all speak it this concept
like others that I have struggled to to
understand are the same things that are
promoted here in Celine schools so
whether whether on the stage or on a
dance floor or a sports field or even a
science fair I believe that we can give
kids here a opportunity to communicate
their ideas positively I truly hope that
the children of Celine and I and I know
that they’re getting a place to share
their stuff today because you guys offer
them this stage which is amazing and
kudos to you and your community for
doing that so I had no one teaching me
these life skills as a kid all right
it was through sheer grit that I became
successful as a DJ I remember having
TJ’s teachers give up on me and actually
some of them told me to drop out of
their classes because they didn’t think
that I could accomplish them it wouldn’t
be until many years later that I found
out my own recipe for success
and I actually became I was on the
Dean’s List many years in a row in
college which is a sharp contrast from
how I grew up
so this feeling of rejection is
something that if you have felt it it’s
something that you’d never want to pass
on to anybody else no matter what their
skin color identity or where they came
from or how smart they were it was
probably the most destructive force for
me growing up feeling dismissed I
gravitated towards passionate songs they
gave a voice to the voiceless I love
this one song by Creedence Clearwater
Revival and it was called fortunate son
and it was so angry but that anger in
that voice maybe want to learn more
about that person and what I found out
through my own independent research is
that he was upset that he had to fight a
war in Vietnam and he was also feeling
very dismissed like I was feeling
dismissed he felt like his voice was
being heard and his song was a protest
to that and I related to that not only
that but that song helped me understand
a little bit of history and geography so
music was a big force for me for
learning so I took these lyrics to heart
and many others I dedicated myself to
art and music and I perfected my craft
but what I realized is that life was not
a sprint it was a cross-country race and
if I needed to get to my goals I needed
endurance and a consistent drive to push
through if I had listened to what other
peoples told me about me I would
probably be in jail but I knew and
realized that if I worked very hard that
I too could reap the rewards of the
American dream to become a DJ was more
than just learning the technical skills
it was also leading and motivated and
self-directed life I think people can be
dismissive of children I think that they
judge them before they open their mouths
calling them childish but I think if we
listen to children that we would hear
some of the most heartfelt and honest
comments on life that we would ever hear
today I think that their blend of
passion and honesty is something that is
missing today in the world of adults
and as educators and parents we should
because I grew up poor
I felt like my opinion didn’t matter and
although I was skilled in art and music
I didn’t feel like they were acceptable
career paths nobody supported me in this
and actually they discouraged me they
said you’ll never make it as a DJ you’re
never gonna make it as an artist you
should probably just give up you know
but I had to find value in myself first
and then I had to find an audience
I had a friend growing up his name was
Donald he was black and I remember going
to him in his mother’s house and they
were talking and they kept using the
word ain’t and I pretty self righteously
walked up to his mother and I said ma’am
I don’t know if you know this but ain’t
is not a word she looked at me and very
politely said yes it is I just used it I
will remember this because this is kind
of like she pushed through with her
self-confidence and just made something
out of nothing and that’s very similar
to what I did as a DJ people said that I
couldn’t do it I just said no I am a DJ
and eventually I became a DJ you know
and and all it took was a little bit of
imagination now as I began to build my
DJ skills I learned many things that I
was not accustomed to being a business
owner I had to be financially
responsible something that did not come
easy for a kid who did not have a lot of
money growing up the other thing is I
had to be good at computers something I
wasn’t good at and was not formally
taught at my school but both of these
elements are something in the sass
compass and I believe that Celine can
build these kids up to with their skills
they’d be paving the way for the next
generation of entrepreneurs and problem
solvers kids are usually told all the
time that they’re young idealistic views
are not are not valid or not valuable
but I would beg to differ
I think kids can truly do whatever they
want if they have you know a community
unlike me so I think that they could do
whatever they would like the talented
speakers that are going to follow our
eviden
that saline has something to offer the
world but these kids have the potentials
to be collaborative leaders and ethical
responsible citizens and we could use
more of that in this day and age so that
the child I was would actually have a
very difficult time sharing what I’m
about to share I many times in my life I
did not feel safe there’s a lot of
violence in my school my home and my
neighborhood there was nowhere that I
could go to feel okay and I imagine that
powerlessness is a feeling that many
kids feel and while their experience
might not be my experience it’s a still
a form of injustice but unlike these
kids adults have these ideas that this
is just the way the world is and as
adults we can sometimes get caught up in
very taking on very unacceptable norms
very terrible norms kids are beautiful
because they have the resource and
enthusiasm and energy to dream of a
world more perfect than this one when I
became a DJ I had a I had control over a
small place whether that’s the dance
floor of music I desired to create that
community that I never had I wanted to
be the adult that I never had and give a
place for they can they can safely
express themselves this is the impact of
small groups change is hard especially
when you’re alone but together as a
community we are capable of creating
long-lasting and positive change my DJ
academy where it wishes to give voices
to the voiceless rather than telling
children that their dreams are
impossible or impractical I would like
to invite them to play and learn with
like-minded people my life today would
have been impossible if I had not had
art so even though I’m a DJ I would like
to apologize for not bringing any music
for you today I’ll save it for the next
time in my defense those turntables are
pretty heavy so please excuse me you
know I’ve been using a word art music
and dance that word has another that
kind of encapsulates it and it’s called
hip-hop
hip-hop is an American tradition there’s
nothing more American than it and by no
stretch of the imagination
hip-hop definitely saved my life so I
would like to thank you very much for
allowing me to share my story and I want
to share one last thing if I could the
first step in becoming a good DJ is to
become a good listener listen to your
clients listen to the dancefloor listen
to the music and then make those dreams
come true so I invite you to be good
listeners listen to these children
listen to their dreams listen to what
they ask of you and then make their
dreams come true thank you [Applause]
thank wonderful thank you guys so much
for having me today so my name is Brian
Alvarez and I am a DJ this is what I do
for a living so public speaking is part
of it but admittedly so I’m a little
nervous coming up here and talking to
you about guys but I am so grateful for
this opportunity so thank you so I was
born right here in southeastern Michigan
I went to scarlet Mitchell
and for 15 years I’ve been DJing I
played for all over the state I belonged
to a DJ collective called DJ DC
productions and they’re located right
here in Saline but the work that I’m
most proud of is the work that I’ve done
for charity like the North Star project
the Chad tuff foundation and also the
events on main and the events on main
actually put me in contact with Mott
Children’s Hospital this was an amazing
opportunity for me to share my love of
DJing with children a lot like you
except that they had a little bit more
tough situations that were in the
forefront of their life and what
happened was I brought my DJ equipment
too much Children’s Hospital and I saw
something and it was amazing I saw these
kids light up when they had the power of
music and I knew this feeling very well
because that was the same feeling I had
when when I was in touch with music
right like when I was able to DJ for the
first time it was pretty exciting so
this was actually the inspiration of why
I started my school DJ Academy
technically sound so let me tell you a
little bit about how I got here I
started promoting my school technically
sound in Ann Arbor and you know what
Celine reached out to me and showed me a
lot of love they said we would love to
have your school here so I taught my
class at Heritage and I had well over 30
people attend this DJ class and I was
blown away at the response it was so
cool to have this many people interested
in the magic of DJing so not only did 30
kids show up but all the support of
their parents showed up as well and one
of the parents was a teacher and she
approached me later and I shared a
little bit about my history with music
and the power of that through my life
and she asked me to speak here today so
that’s how I got here so let let’s
address the obvious I’m a DJ and I don’t
think I don’t have any music with me so
it’s a little odd and I apologize for
that in advance you probably should have
you know a senator up here or a
legislator someone with a very positive
message but you know when when I was
asked us to speak here today I decided
that I wanted to tell you my real story
not all the deejaying and all the stuff
like that but how I got here to honor
the kids that are going to be coming up
here today so if you would allow me I
would like to share a little bit about
my past and and how I became right here
on stage so I’m painting a picture of me
as a preteen my mother was was adopted
and she was from New Jersey and my
father he was from South America so he
was an immigrant they moved to Michigan
and when when they moved to Michigan
they we didn’t I didn’t have any
immediate family so I was kind of lonely
I remember growing up not very not very
affluent we didn’t have very much money
and we moved around a lot so I did not
have a lot of friends and my parents
split up early on when I was a kid and I
turned to food to comfort me and I put
on a lot of weight when I was a kid and
and because of this I did not have a lot
of self-esteem and I was shy this is a
stark contrast from the guy who’s here
talking today so growing up I did have a
relationship to music I love dancing and
this is one of the first times I had the
experience of getting positive feedback
for something I did rather than the
person that I was dancing gave me a
place to to express myself in a safe way
and this was this was this was an
amazing gift so you might be asking
yourself why is this guy telling me
about his life this guy’s a DJ I want to
hear about the DJing stuff and I would
love to tell you about all of my
successes as a DJ I’d love to share the
stories about how I hung out with
Beyonce a few times she’s an amazing
woman and she was very nice to me as a
kid we had similar friends but I have to
save that story for another time because
if these kids are gonna come out here
onstage and they’re gonna be brave I
decided that I wanted to be brave too
and share my story so I want to tell you
a little bit about how my music my
journey through music reflects some of
the same values that kids are learning
right here in Celine schools so when I
listen to music I listen to it from all
sorts of countries my dad listened to
Latino music we listen to Bob Marley and
all sorts of different cultures and what
this led to was me being able to
empathize with other cultures now I grew
up kind of poor and I grew up in a
majority-black neighborhood because of
this I adopted a lot of mannerisms from
my community so when I went to middle
school I was actually bullied a lot they
told me that I was acting black or I was
a poser and I didn’t belong but you know
for me as a kid growing up I felt too
Brown to be white I felt too white to be
black and I was cut off from all of my
heritage as a Latino so if you asked me
I would tell you the same thing that I
felt then is that I was somewhere in the
middle and I was American and to be
honest I love America and as a son of an
immigrant the idea of America is very
important to me because I didn’t feel
like I belong the idea of the American
Dream was no matter who you are and
where you come from you can work hard
and you can make it here and that was an
idea that I clung to desperately
I wanted in on this deal I wanted to be
a part of this thing so this is also
another common idea that is shared with
an african-american writer called Afrika
Bambaataa he said no matter who you are
where you come from what are your
background is that you can express
yourself in this art form he understood
he was a DJ like me and he understood
that music made the world smaller and
when we listen to music we actually
connect with our ancestors we can travel
time we can predict what’s going to be
cool in the future and we can also
listen to people in the past and by
doing this we can empathize and when we
use empathy we foster kindness and
kindness connects us to a larger family
and makes us globally connected now I
lacked family support when I was young
my parents split so that was a tough
situation I felt hopeless and it was not
safe for me to express this internal
angst that I felt right and you know I
had trouble in school because I had so
many things going on in my personal life
it was very difficult for me to focus in
school I actually thought that I was not
very smart because I couldn’t solve
simple math problems but I was just I
just had trouble and I learned
differently it wouldn’t be until many
years that I would figure out my recipe
and it was in at high school and some
brave teachers Kurt Meyer Gail Gail
Dimmesdale they held a pilot class it
was an african-american know as African
drumming class so we got to hit these
drums can you imagine if your teacher
said go be as loud as you possibly can
for an hour it was amazing I loved it I
got to bang on these drums and something
happened to me I would go to my I would
do drums in first hour and then second
hour my hands would be kind of bleeding
because they would be I would be but but
something happened I was calm I could
listen whatever was happening inside of
me I got to get out and that physical
release helped me learn
many years later I would actually be
engaged to my best friend
her name’s Shannon she’s amazing she is
the CEO of a company called professional
communications please bear with me
professional communications developed a
sociological tool that develops so it
show takes groups of people and it
divides them up I’ll save you all of the
boring stuff but I fell under the
category of reactive stimulator what she
found in her research when she did it
with schools and corporate America is
that kids like me are misrepresented in
corporate America they’re gone where do
they go I thought wow maybe these kids
are like me and they learn a little bit
differently so please excuse me um to
switch this page so this
african-american this African drumming
class which I took taught me the
fundamentals of rhythm but moreover it
taught me about having a physical
relationship to numbers now because of
this class I was able to break down
fractions and learn percentages and I
became more successful at school because
now this this this physical sort of
learning helped me feel like I was no
longer stupid I felt adopted like I was
home I think the 25 percent of the
population is like me this is just the
theory I don’t know if this is true but
these are the ones that that are in
class that might have that might be
disruptive or have trouble focusing or
connecting with other students but I
think for me at least this music was a
big connector to help me become a
complex problem solver so when I was a
kid I also felt stress and I used to
draw a lot I’m still an artist and I’m
an artist to this day and I would draw a
lot of disturbing images and as I
understand it if you grow up in the in
schools and you draw certain images that
there’s kind of a profile
that happens that you might be
predisposed to a certain sentiment so I
am lucky that I grew up then and not now
but honestly this was a place for me to
hide all of my emotions that I was
feeling because I needed a safe place to
do that the same was for dancing and you
know I danced very aggressively and from
the outside looking in and I’m a parent
so I could I could definitely see that
there was some worry cuz my dancing kind
of looked a little violence right but we
never fought
there was no and there was rules to help
protect the participants another way for
me to healthily get out these negative
emotions finally I was able to put into
words what I felt
hearing artists and their frustration
through rock and roll rap music reggae
folk music helped me understand that I
wasn’t alone that people like me felt
just like this and music is true beauty
and we can all speak it this concept
like others that I have struggled to to
understand are the same things that are
promoted here in Celine schools so
whether whether on the stage or on a
dance floor or a sports field or even a
science fair I believe that we can give
kids here a opportunity to communicate
their ideas positively I truly hope that
the children of Celine and I and I know
that they’re getting a place to share
their stuff today because you guys offer
them this stage which is amazing and
kudos to you and your community for
doing that so I had no one teaching me
these life skills as a kid all right
it was through sheer grit that I became
successful as a DJ I remember having
TJ’s teachers give up on me and actually
some of them told me to drop out of
their classes because they didn’t think
that I could accomplish them it wouldn’t
be until many years later that I found
out my own recipe for success
and I actually became I was on the
Dean’s List many years in a row in
college which is a sharp contrast from
how I grew up
so this feeling of rejection is
something that if you have felt it it’s
something that you’d never want to pass
on to anybody else no matter what their
skin color identity or where they came
from or how smart they were it was
probably the most destructive force for
me growing up feeling dismissed I
gravitated towards passionate songs they
gave a voice to the voiceless I love
this one song by Creedence Clearwater
Revival and it was called fortunate son
and it was so angry but that anger in
that voice maybe want to learn more
about that person and what I found out
through my own independent research is
that he was upset that he had to fight a
war in Vietnam and he was also feeling
very dismissed like I was feeling
dismissed he felt like his voice was
being heard and his song was a protest
to that and I related to that not only
that but that song helped me understand
a little bit of history and geography so
music was a big force for me for
learning so I took these lyrics to heart
and many others I dedicated myself to
art and music and I perfected my craft
but what I realized is that life was not
a sprint it was a cross-country race and
if I needed to get to my goals I needed
endurance and a consistent drive to push
through if I had listened to what other
peoples told me about me I would
probably be in jail but I knew and
realized that if I worked very hard that
I too could reap the rewards of the
American dream to become a DJ was more
than just learning the technical skills
it was also leading and motivated and
self-directed life I think people can be
dismissive of children I think that they
judge them before they open their mouths
calling them childish but I think if we
listen to children that we would hear
some of the most heartfelt and honest
comments on life that we would ever hear
today I think that their blend of
passion and honesty is something that is
missing today in the world of adults
and as educators and parents we should
because I grew up poor
I felt like my opinion didn’t matter and
although I was skilled in art and music
I didn’t feel like they were acceptable
career paths nobody supported me in this
and actually they discouraged me they
said you’ll never make it as a DJ you’re
never gonna make it as an artist you
should probably just give up you know
but I had to find value in myself first
and then I had to find an audience
I had a friend growing up his name was
Donald he was black and I remember going
to him in his mother’s house and they
were talking and they kept using the
word ain’t and I pretty self righteously
walked up to his mother and I said ma’am
I don’t know if you know this but ain’t
is not a word she looked at me and very
politely said yes it is I just used it I
will remember this because this is kind
of like she pushed through with her
self-confidence and just made something
out of nothing and that’s very similar
to what I did as a DJ people said that I
couldn’t do it I just said no I am a DJ
and eventually I became a DJ you know
and and all it took was a little bit of
imagination now as I began to build my
DJ skills I learned many things that I
was not accustomed to being a business
owner I had to be financially
responsible something that did not come
easy for a kid who did not have a lot of
money growing up the other thing is I
had to be good at computers something I
wasn’t good at and was not formally
taught at my school but both of these
elements are something in the sass
compass and I believe that Celine can
build these kids up to with their skills
they’d be paving the way for the next
generation of entrepreneurs and problem
solvers kids are usually told all the
time that they’re young idealistic views
are not are not valid or not valuable
but I would beg to differ
I think kids can truly do whatever they
want if they have you know a community
unlike me so I think that they could do
whatever they would like the talented
speakers that are going to follow our
eviden
that saline has something to offer the
world but these kids have the potentials
to be collaborative leaders and ethical
responsible citizens and we could use
more of that in this day and age so that
the child I was would actually have a
very difficult time sharing what I’m
about to share I many times in my life I
did not feel safe there’s a lot of
violence in my school my home and my
neighborhood there was nowhere that I
could go to feel okay and I imagine that
powerlessness is a feeling that many
kids feel and while their experience
might not be my experience it’s a still
a form of injustice but unlike these
kids adults have these ideas that this
is just the way the world is and as
adults we can sometimes get caught up in
very taking on very unacceptable norms
very terrible norms kids are beautiful
because they have the resource and
enthusiasm and energy to dream of a
world more perfect than this one when I
became a DJ I had a I had control over a
small place whether that’s the dance
floor of music I desired to create that
community that I never had I wanted to
be the adult that I never had and give a
place for they can they can safely
express themselves this is the impact of
small groups change is hard especially
when you’re alone but together as a
community we are capable of creating
long-lasting and positive change my DJ
academy where it wishes to give voices
to the voiceless rather than telling
children that their dreams are
impossible or impractical I would like
to invite them to play and learn with
like-minded people my life today would
have been impossible if I had not had
art so even though I’m a DJ I would like
to apologize for not bringing any music
for you today I’ll save it for the next
time in my defense those turntables are
pretty heavy so please excuse me you
know I’ve been using a word art music
and dance that word has another that
kind of encapsulates it and it’s called
hip-hop
hip-hop is an American tradition there’s
nothing more American than it and by no
stretch of the imagination
hip-hop definitely saved my life so I
would like to thank you very much for
allowing me to share my story and I want
to share one last thing if I could the
first step in becoming a good DJ is to
become a good listener listen to your
clients listen to the dancefloor listen
to the music and then make those dreams
come true so I invite you to be good
listeners listen to these children
listen to their dreams listen to what
they ask of you and then make their
dreams come true thank you [Applause]
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