DJALEXMEJIA.COM
My Story
For over 3 decades, Alex Mejia has been a noteworthy contributor in music and the content-creator space where he creates multi media content for Artists, Lyric Videos, Dj Battles and more. While some of you know Alex from his work as the Mixshow Director at KMEL radio in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 80’s and 90’s, Alex’s true passion is his philanthropic work as the co-founder of Beats 4 Hope, where he brings the music community together for social good.
Alex has been recognized for his contributions to the Purple Pam Foundation, Make A Wish Foundation Greater Bay Area as well as LAVA MAE X. Alex is a huge advocate for the DJ culture and has created Let The DJs Play with Davey D and Dj Platurn and is working to create a positive relationship between DJs, the social media platforms and music companies. You can still hear Alex in the mix on Mixcloud.com with over 420 mixes that ranges from Hip Hop, R & B, House and of course the Mixes dedicated to Prince. |
Born and raised in the Bay Area. Music has always been apart of his life. Mejia was one of the architects of revolutionizing the mix show format in commercial radio in the Bay Area in the 90’s at 106 KMEL. It was at that time the Mejia created The All Star-Djs The members were: Dj Franzen Wong, Dj Latin Prince, DJ Jose Melendez, Prince Ice, Glenn Aure, Dj Dave Meyer, Dj and Producer Fredrick Nassar, DJ Billy Vidal, Dj Greg Lopez, DJ Jerry-O, DJ Davey D & Dj Rick Lee.
Their efforts took the format out of late night programming to a all day part rotation and established a ton of hits through the mix. The mix show format is an integral part of every radio station's programming from Local to Satellite radio music programming. He was also instrumental to bringing Sway and King Tech to KMEL Of The World Famous Wake Up Show, Mejia also created the first West Side Radio shows with all the West Coast Rappers hosted and picked the music every Friday night! And before he left the station and he created the concept and created "KMEL’s House of Soul." Which the station still does today.
After the Bay Area run Mejia then came to Los Angeles and worked as an A & R director of Noo Trybe/Virgin Records for the next 6 years he had the pleasure of working with artist such as: The Luniz, Aaliyah, Lenny Kravitz, OutKast, Janet Jackson, P. Diddy, Missy Elliot, Scritti Polliti, KRS-One, Gang Starr, Rakim, Dj Premier, The Neptunes, Snoop Dogg, Raphael Saadiq, Tank, Ideal, Dj Quik, Diane Warren, Les Nubians, Nate Dogg, The Roots, Rodney Jerkins and Redman.
Their efforts took the format out of late night programming to a all day part rotation and established a ton of hits through the mix. The mix show format is an integral part of every radio station's programming from Local to Satellite radio music programming. He was also instrumental to bringing Sway and King Tech to KMEL Of The World Famous Wake Up Show, Mejia also created the first West Side Radio shows with all the West Coast Rappers hosted and picked the music every Friday night! And before he left the station and he created the concept and created "KMEL’s House of Soul." Which the station still does today.
After the Bay Area run Mejia then came to Los Angeles and worked as an A & R director of Noo Trybe/Virgin Records for the next 6 years he had the pleasure of working with artist such as: The Luniz, Aaliyah, Lenny Kravitz, OutKast, Janet Jackson, P. Diddy, Missy Elliot, Scritti Polliti, KRS-One, Gang Starr, Rakim, Dj Premier, The Neptunes, Snoop Dogg, Raphael Saadiq, Tank, Ideal, Dj Quik, Diane Warren, Les Nubians, Nate Dogg, The Roots, Rodney Jerkins and Redman.
Today, Mejia approaches the art of mixing from a whole different perspective by using his experiences with music and his rebirth as dj for mix shows. Mejia, "It’s like golf or anything for which you have a passion for. You get better as you work on your technique with time. With this in mind, I’ve decided to take full advantage of all my knowledge of music, production and live playing and give it back to the people who have given me so much.
"I truly enjoy mentoring many young artist or try to inspire them to challenge themselves so they can have a decent chance to make it in today's music business."
Alex Mejia
"I truly enjoy mentoring many young artist or try to inspire them to challenge themselves so they can have a decent chance to make it in today's music business."
Alex Mejia
Once upon a time...
Alex Mejia, began his start by deejaying in local clubs in the Bay Area while attending his music major degree. In 1986 he landed coveted internship at KMEL. He was able to mix a variety of music because of his up bringing in the rich Bay Area radio scene of Hip Hop, R & B, and Club Music. He used his experience and knowledge of the Bay Area’s music scene to drive the radio industry as KMEL's Street Music Director for 10 years.
As a Music Major Mejia realized he wanted to be in the music business and it was going to be a long road ahead. Mejia states "As long as you are striving everyday to get where you want to go, you will eventually get there. The Harder you work the quicker you dream will become reality." As an intern at KMEL in 1986, he put in the time and effort to understand programming music as well as breaking new music. He grew within the system and became a part of an amazing team at KMEL that is still unmatched in radio today. During his time there he wanted to learn every facet of making music because it was his dream to be Record Company President. He started working at Star Records and further is knowledge of the music industry including the consumer side of music. He proceeded to work at City Hall Music Distribution to learn the core fundamentals and the importance of selling records, all while working at KMEL. All of this knowledge gave Mejia a unique and true perspective on what music to play or suggest at KMEL. He knew what to do with a song or a project to have a chance to compete in the market place. This landed him an opportunity to develop and manage Sway and King Tech as well as become KMEL's Street Music Director. As he loved music and grew in the the production world, he eventually became a strong Dj Re-mixer from the Bay and Major Labels began to hire him to add his twist or provide additional ideas to a song. Mejia, "I was very lucky the stations platform opened doors for me to have amazing conversations with many Record Company Presidents. I was able to share experiences with making music with so many legendary artist. I think some of the presidents at the labels were priming me for the next level. They would try to trade it for favors for a potential spin here or there for airplay. KMEL was known to have Powermixes by it's DJ's to land air play in other markets across the country... Yes, we were that good! But it didn't happen over night. It started with the famous one of them all was 'Push i' by Cameron Paul with a string of many of them back to back, Cameron Paul was so good we would play his mixes in every club in the Bay.
We have to give the Famous shout to "Brass Monkey" (Cameron Paul Mix-It).Then there was Michael Erickson - Oh My GOD!! He could rock any party but when he went to wax, his party style was played at our party style. Michael was so damn funky as a Dj and as mentor. He always took the time to talk music or strategy regarding music and radio. Fom time-to-time he would share crazy stories about a meeting or something the music scene. So many of us have to give props to both those guys for doing it right on the airwaves and inspiring so many Djs
But then came the next generation of KMEL Power Mixers (a clever name created by PD Keith Naftely) Theo, Dave Moss and myself. But let me tell you Theo and Dave were a super ingredient of musical grit. They made good songs even better by using their unique style of production. We were so lucky we had late Saturday nights and in our world that's when the radio waves got a little sweeter.The new beats were rocking hard!!! It was commonplace to hear a new cut from NYC or something underground from The Bay. We broke every rule in radio and production was off the HOOK! I was inspired by those men and I was so honor to hear those mixes. These guys had 'OH MY GOD' creativity beyond belief. It's because of them I woke up excited about music every day. (I will add their sound via YouTube at a later date) I felt my first attempts in the Mixshow world and remix world fell flat but I was fortunate to be given the opportunity by Keith Naftely. Keith could of had any Dj in The Bay, who could mix better than me, but he kept me around and I am forever thankful. Grateful for the opportunity to have that journey in my life. I wasn't the best but at some point all that effort and them not giving up on me and me not giving up on myself made all of the efforts at KMEL worth it.
With my experience and knowledge of songs plus my relationships with artists, my career started to turn around. I had more credibility and people in the industry wanted to know my opinion in music, The remixes became national. In 1996 my efforts lead me to become Director of A & R for Noo Trybe/Virgin Records andanother step closer to becoming a record company president. I had the pleasure of working with artists such as The Luniz, Aaliyah, Lenny Kravitz, OutKast, Janet Jackson, P. Diddy, Missy Elliot, Scritti Polliti, KRS-One, Gang Starr, Rakim, Dj Premier, The Neptunes, Snoop Dogg, Raphael Saadiq, Tank, Ideal, Dj Quik, Diane Warren, Les Nubians, Nate Dogg, The Roots, Rodney Jerkins and Redman."
Once I got into the record company business, I soon discovered it was not the place for me. It was 'Shark City' and everybody in it for themselves. The strong political nature, professional backstabbing and lack of teamwork was not the ideal culture. I road it out for six-plus years and learned so much. I truly tried to make the best of it but at the end of the day, it wasn't about the music. Perhaps it could have been because I have seen other labels do it well.
So now I am an independent where I can work long and hard on projects that mean something and make a difference.
Once I got into the record company business, I soon discovered it was not the place for me. It was 'Shark City' and everybody in it for themselves. The strong political nature, professional backstabbing and lack of teamwork was not the ideal culture. I road it out for six-plus years and learned so much. I truly tried to make the best of it but at the end of the day, it wasn't about the music. Perhaps it could have been because I have seen other labels do it well.
So now I am an independent where I can work long and hard on projects that mean something and make a difference.
Believing that his work as a DJ was not finished, he decided to pick up his headphones, dust off his turntables and give back as a philanthropist. Mejia says, “I’ve done so much with music and have all this knowledge. I want to share it, celebrate and give back.
Website by Alex Mejia Production