As the resident DJ for the annual Ghanaian New York Boat Ride & Picnic, DJ Hollywood is a name that readily comes to mind when DJs of Ghanaian origin are mentioned in the USA.
Born on February 25, 1980 in Ghana, West Africa DJ Hollywood’s love and passion for music(which brings him peace, joy and happiness) made him decide to be a DJ.
He is also the CEO of Hollywood Xclusive Entertainment, a business he started with two close friends of his by raising funds and buying their first equipments.
“GOOD MUSIC IS TIMELESS is my motto“
DJ Hollywood is not limited to DJ’ing for only Ghanaian events. He DJs at events from other countries and recently helped host a Gambian pageant.
I have been a professional DJ for more than 12 years. I was nominated for GMA-USA and won BEST DJ in 2021.
His style is a combination of Highlife, Hiplife and Afrobeats, which bridges the gap between African and the American communities.
As one of the skilled DJs in USA DJ Hollywood was nominated for GMA-USA which he eventually won as the Best DJ in 2021.
DJ Prince & DJ Love are two people he considers as his mentors who have had a tremendous impact on his style.
“Seeing people being happy while dancing or listening to music brings me joy“
One piece of advice Kojo Woode has for upcoming DJs is not limit themseves to one genre.
Expand your knowledge of music and challenge yourself. Success doesn’t lie in comfort.
DJ Hollywood on recent Ghana v Nigeria music conversation
It’s very different when it comes to Ghana and Nigerian music. The way I feel Nigerians is putting a lot of work into the producing aspect of the beats; makes it different.
It makes Nigerian music moving far from Ghana music.
Ghanaian music is not doing any much better due to the fact that even our own Ghanaian promoters and DJs will have an event and add ‘AFROBEAT NIGHT’. 95% of the music being played that night is Nigerian music.
Now I even hear Nigerian music even being played on a top radio stations in America. We can invest more but it will have to come from our artist coming from Ghana.
Instead they come here and and perform then take the money back home instead of going to the radio stations and making sure their music is being played.
But they don’t. The event promoters don’t take them to radio stations so how can we take our music to the next level.
Then or artist also needs to have more hit songs in English that will help a lot.
