By: Bryant “B-Boy” Worthing @bboyworthing | Artist: DJ Aliyo @ djaliyo
When Aliyo was a small child one of his favorite toys was a Sesame Street record player that could play real 45’s where he would try to scratch the records like he was playing a club set. Right then and there is parents both knew their kid might have a future in music, well they were absolutely correct.
“I have always been into music,” Aliyo explained. “I remember the first time I saw the movie Juice I knew thats what I wanted to do. It was huge for me and this is way before the internet, now you have all these platforms where you used to have to actually go out and meet these people.”
Growing up Aliyo moved around a lot with his Dad being in the military, giving him a variety of influences in his music background. Having lived in parts of the West Coast, Southwest and East Coast he saw a lot of different styles and sounds as a teen. The list didn’t stop there also being in Germany, Hawaii, Washington State he eventually graduated high school in Edgewood, Maryland in 2001. In 2002 he joined the Navy and was stationed in Japan from 2002-2005, now he has settled down in Miami, FL where he is full time playing music with regular bookings at Rec Room, Purdy Lounge & Sidebar. In addition he is the resident DJ at Hyde AA located inside the arena where plays halftime & post game at the home Miami Heat games.
“I look at my high school days as what has helped me learn a lot about DJing, hearing what was hot in different areas gave me a lot of influence,”Aliyo said. “For example I didn’t really mess with the South music until I moved out to Miami.”
His style is very diverse and he claims he has an ear for music that most people can find something to appreciate within one of his sets.
“I have a pretty wide pallet, my style is a mixture of all the different genre’s I enjoy,” Aliyo said. “It can be tough in Miami as there are a lot of politics, but I love it here. I am a firm believer in learning from experience versus someone telling you what to do.”
Since 2011 DJ Aliyo has developed his own mixtape series titles Open Your Ears and has 13 editions under his belt as of today. To hear more of his crazy mixes visit www.mixcloud.com/djaliyo and he can be followed on Twitter and Instagram @djaliyo and although making the mixtape series can take a lot of time from his already busy schedule Aliyo plans on extending the series in due time.
