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Richmond Is for DJs
Hip Hop Henry and DJ Mentos
Interviewed by: Nia Simone McLeod
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on the wave. DJs are what lie in the core of
Richmond’s hip-hop scene and are the first to break
the glass ceiling between being locally grown artists
and gaining national recognition.
Performance
DJs are the unsung heroes of music. They
meticulously curate mashups and melodies to
manifest an emotion in a moment. With a flick of
the wrist, their minds churn and flourish to cut
and paste yesterday and today’s greatest hits into
tomorrow’s bangers. Music helps most major
cities thrive artistically, and Richmond is no
different.
Richmond is on fire, and the national music scene
is just noticing its warmth. With artists like rapper
Michael Millions getting shout outs from XXL
and local DJs like Cam Cooper getting played all
across the nation, now is the perfect time to hop
Hip Hop Henry, a dedicated curator of WRIR’s
Nighttime Maneuvers and DJ extraordinaire, has
always been in love with music ever since he was a
child. Henry says, “As a kid, my parents only
allowed me and my sister an hour of television time.
But, I was allowed to have a radio. So, I always had
a radio in the room and I was always listening to
music.” Mixtapes from legendary mix masters like
DJ SNS inspired him at the beginning of his DJing
journey. While exploring the art of sampling, he
began to buy records of his favorite tunes and make
blend tapes for his friends.
Early on, he was inspired by the classic serenade of
Kool & The Gang’s “Summer Madness.” The
interlude became the instrumental to many of his
mixes early on. While attending Virginia State
University, he secured his first pair of turntables and
began seriously pursuing DJing. He fell into radio by
taking a couple of communications classes in college
during his senior year and ran into an opportunity of
doing an internet radio show after graduation. It
wasn’t exactly the smoothest start, Henry explained,
“My first radio show was terrible. Nobody talked;
everyone was trying to sound too cool for school.
But now, no matter where I’m at, once I’m there and
the music’s playing those hours fly by.”
Hip Hop Henry
24
After many opportunities within the radio industry,
Hip Hop Henry was introduced to an opening at
WRIR through connections within the station. Then,
Nighttime Maneuvers was born. WRIR’s Nighttime
Maneuvers has become a celebration of hip-hop
culture that only the most loyal night owls are able to
witness since the show starts at 3 AM Sunday
morning.