Today we’d like to introduce you to DJ Meel.
Hi DJ Meel, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Jameel, but all my life people have called me Meel. Born and raised in Cleveland, OH. I started Djing about ten years ago and it was never something I saw myself doing. Even though I have always had a passion for music, I didn’t see this as the route. I knew I wanted to be behind the scenes and I saw myself being a A&R (something I still want to do) or producing. It took Heisman winner and NFL Quarterback Troy Smith to hit me up one day and say “Meel you wanna get into DJing?” He then took me to Best Buy, bought me a MacBook and my guy Rodney gave me some turntables and a mixer. I’ve just been consistently at it ever since. I then moved to LA in December, 2018 for a greater opportunity in DJing and to pursue my dream of being a Music Supervisor.
Recently, I completed a program at UCLA for Musical Supervision. That led me to an opportunity being a contractor at The Springhill Company, helping out with music on some of their projects. In addition to that, about five years ago I started Selective Hearing which is a Music Club that turned into a monthly party. That has since transformed to a show on Taste Radio that can be found on the Dash Radio app every Thursday night 7-9pm PT. Recently, I was given the opportunity to host a music and sports interview series “The Sport of Music” on Uninterrupted’s IG platform every Saturday 4-5pm PT.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When starting something new you’re always going to face challenges and it becomes sort of a learning on the job type of thing. Starting off, you want to have an idea of where you want to go in the future, so that you can make decisions like “Will this align with my brand or what I want my brand to be”. You just have to be patient with everything and trust yourself. As far as my move to LA, in the beginning, it was frustrating. I was used to DJing 3-5 nights a week and at first that wasn’t the case here. But things started to pick up about three months after the move. It’s tough being the new guy in town. This whole pandemic though has really shut down normal DJing for a lot of us. It’s been great to see so many DJ’s doing other things and being creative. You just have to find the silver lining in things. Couldn’t imagine if this would have happened last year when I first moved to LA.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’ve been able to spend much of my time traveling as a DJ, as well as DJing at some of the best venues in LA. This past season, I had the opportunity to DJ outside The Staples Center in LA Live for select Lakers’ games. I have worked with brands such as Nike, Sprite, Remy Martin, Beats By Dre, YouTube, Timberland, Boys & Girls Club of America, Cleveland Browns, Amazon Music, BET, LeBron James and more.
What’s next?
Really to keep DJing and progressing at that, as well as really locking in and doing more Music Supervision. My dream is to do movies, television shows, video games and whatever else I can get my hands on. One day I would like to start my own company doing all of this and putting together a team that can handle all music sync needs.
Contact Info:
- Email: Booking@djmeel.com
- Instagram: www.Instagram.com/djmeel
- Twitter: www.Twitter.com/djmeel
