Name, Location, What You Do:
DJ Mihoko. Brooklyn, NY. Professional DJ.
Influences:
I started listening to reggae music when I was 16 years old and started going to a reggae club in Tokyo when I was 17. My mom used to pick me up at the club with her bicycle at 5 o’clock in the morning! A few years later I began working at the club and started to play records, mostly lovers rock and roots reggae. My friend and I started a sound system. We were the first female sound system in Japan! We toured all over in Japan and I went to Jamaica five or six times to make dubplates with artists like Dennis Brown, Sizzla, Lady Saw, Anthony B, and others.
In 1998 I decided to move to NYC to become a DJ. I started playing not only reggae but hip-hop, soul, funk, disco, etc. Not long after moving to NYC from Tokyo, my apartment in Washington Heights caught on fire. The flames destroyed half of my record collection. Later my neighbor came to my apartment with a stack of wrinkled bills totaling like $200. She said that I should stop at her boyfriend’s place sometime. When I went there and knocked, Gil Scot-Heron opened the door eating an ice cream bar! He welcomed me into his place and I had ice cream with him. We talked about music and life, it was a memorable evening! And I’m still alive and still DJing in NYC!
Favorite Records at the Moment:
“Heaven” by The Vision
Best Digging Story:
I used to go to Jamaica to make dubplates because I used to have an all-female sound in Tokyo called Time Machine. In the ’90s in Jamaica, going digging for reggae rare 45s in the basement of record store.
Favorite Mix and Why. Any Genre, Any DJ.
Soul, funk, disco, hip hop, reggae and house mixes by DJ Spinna, Danny Krivit, Rich Medina, Bobbito, and Qool Marv.
LP, 12”, or 7” format?
12″, but I would love to get more soul, funk. or disco 45s because I mostly have reggae 45s.
Junk Food You Can’t Live Without:
I don’t eat junk food I eat only healthy, good, stuff!
Most Memorable Gig Played:
Playing at the Ace Hotel with Q-Tip in 2009/2010.
Record That Never Leaves Your Record Box:
“Give Me Your Love” by Sylvia Striplin.
Shout Outs, Last Remarks, and Gig Info:
Dig Deeper!
Flea Market Funk 