A twelve-year-old in the Bronx falls down a rabbit hole that starts with Lily Allen on SNL and ends with A-Trak's 1997 DMC World Finals routine. She taught herself for five to seven years with nothing but a Friday night internet radio show and pure repetition. Then in 2017, she became the first woman to ever win the DMC USA Championship. In 2022, she did it again, becoming the first woman to win it twice, the same year she also placed 3rd in the DMC World Beat Juggle Finals.
DJ Perly is our second Collector Spotlight, and it's one of our favorites yet. She talks candidly about the DJs who shaped her (Mark Ronson, A-Trak, DJ AM, Roc Raida), what it actually felt like the moment they called her name, and what she'd tell the next young woman trying to break into turntablism.
From the Crate
"I remember doing my final six-minute set and just basically leaving it all on the stage."
DJ Perly, on the night she became DMC USA Champion.
One More Thing
Perly closed out her interview with a co-sign of her own: Luvl1sa, a first-gen Filipina DJ and single mom building something real in the NJ music scene. Officially on our radar for a future spotlight.
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— Diony C.