Area DJs on board with Black Out Tuesday

By TAYLOR BROWN

tbrown@yourmvi.com

Local disc jockeys threw their support behind Black Out Tuesday, a movement started by big names in the music industry.

One of the first Mon Valley DJs on board was North Versailles resident Jessica McKelvey, known as “DJ Jess,” who performs at events in the Pittsburgh area and across the country.

Several top record labels organized Black Out Tuesday as violent protests erupted around the world sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis as well as the killings of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.

MTV and BET went dark for eight minutes and 46 seconds in support of Black Lives Matter and companies such as Live Nation, TikTok and the Recording Academy took to social media offering support.

While top performers got behind the initiative, a disc jockey from New York City decided to put his on spin on the movement.

“DJ Dubz,” who has been in the DJ community for more than 15 years, is a part of “Da Union DJs,” an elite DJ team.

After seeing #TheShowMustBePaused initiative as part of Black Out Tuesday, he started thinking about how to get involved.

“My fiancée and I were discussing the initiative, and I thought I could get Da Union DJs to jump on board with this and not DJ Live on any social media platforms since that has become the norm since COVID-19, in observance of #TheShowMustBePaused,” he said. “I decided to call it #DaUnionDJsGoSilent as I felt it was only right to show our support as DJs along with the music industry.

“I mean, we basically go hand in hand.”

As the movement started to develop, he decided to use the hashtag #DJsGoSilent to gain support.

“Besides being a DJ and supporting the industry I am in, this was personally important to me to show support to a friend of mine, Terrance Floyd, the brother of George Floyd,” he said. “Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to meet George, but his brother Terrance has been a friend of my family for over 15 years.

“So if we can take a day to stop playing and do more posts that shine a light on everything going on from voting to the protests going on all over the U.S., I felt it could be helpful instead of distracting people.”

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