duce martinez
Invigorating, fiery, relentless amply describes the super charged, hi octane set of powerhouse DJ Duce Martinez. This producer, remixer, musician, engineer and former break dancer in the world renowned Dynamic Breakers is among the A-list group of sought-after DJ’s of the post millennium. Able to “rock” a crowd with not only soulful grooves, he takes no prisoners with his corpulent tech house sets. Transplanted from NYC’s Spanish Harlem to Newark, New Jersey, it wasn’t long before he dove into the city’s music scene. While still a member of the Dynamic Breakers, Duce began DJing at popular party rental spaces, local clubs, and church halls. Duce, a tireless dynamo had his hand in everything from hip-hop, freestyle, reggae, House, DJing and break dancing still found time for studio engineering and music production. He produced two rap records with the Dynamic Breakers on Sunnyview Records, as well as, producing beats for a slew of noteworthy rap artists like T La Rock, Fearless Four, The Treacherous Three, Just Ice, and King Sun.
After meeting Jose Burgos at a DJ Battle contest, they joined forces and launched their production company, Soul Creation. With his independent engineering and production efforts and as Soul Creation, Duce’s discography reads like a who’s who in music entertainment: Christopher Williams, Lauren Hill, Aaron Hall, gospel great Dorothy Norwood, Fat Joe, Mary J. Blige, Stesasonic, Redman, and The Artifacts. Duce produced an R&B group, Raw Stilo signed to A&M Records and produced a hit single for Charrise Arrington for MCA Records. By the early 90’s, Duce and Jose started BassClef Records and received house music acclaim with releases by Dawn Tallman,
Sandy Rivera, Michelle Weeks and the 3rd member of Soul Creation, Duron Tarik.
The demand for his brand of House Music increased churning out productions and remixes for such labels as Defected, Nervous, Fruit Tree, One, Minimal, Real Time, DV8, Strictly Rhythm, Soundman On Wax, MN2S with artists like Kenny Bobien, Stephanie Cooke, Dee Holloway, Eddie Stockley, Gerideau to name a few. In 2004, Soul Creation disbanded, Duce, concentrating on DJing and music production, he launched the now three year old, production company, Duce Is Wild and record label, D. Wild Music. He stacked up major hits for Ms. Cooke, Joi Caldwell (“People Make The World Go Round” was nominated for IDHA 2009 “Song Of The Year” award), Krystine Walker, Su Su Bobien and skyrocketed to the top of the club/dance charts with two R&B Disco reworks, “Just As Long” and “Freeman 2010” with Lou Gorbea both released on Vega Records, and a MN2S release of Kenny Bobien’s “Don’t Be Afraid”. He has remixed projects for Wayne Williams, Ian Friday, Jellybean, Jihad Muhammad, Roland Clark, Benji Candelario with forthcoming projects from La India, Barbara Tucker and Michael Watford. Duce has completed a remix project for Tony Records, a reworking of the Stevie Wonder R&B classic, “Golden Lady”.
Duce has DJed in some of Europe’s hottest nightclubs such as Club Divina, Poco Loco, Biarriztclub, Ciclope, and Club Cromie (with Louie Vega) all in Italy, and Switzerland’s, The Mansion. He also was invited to play at the legendary UK soul festival, Southport Weekender in 2008 and in 2009. Stateside, he graced the decks at NYC’s Water Taxi Beach, FunkBox, Club Axiom, Sapphire Lounge, Aqua Booty, Club King King in Los Angeles, California and Philadelphia, PA’s, The Arts Garage’s “Come Together” event. Other outdoor US festivals include, Newark, NJ’s Lincoln Park Festival and NJPAC (New Jersey Performing Arts Center) “Summer In The City” weekly Thursday music extravangza, Fort Greene Park “Afficted In The Park”, the
Coney Island boardwalk House Music events both in Brooklyn, New York and Manhattan’s Central Park Rollerskaters Circle.
Never tiring, this animated, lively, high-spirited entertainer continues to push the envelope forward with a might that is unstoppable. The consummate professional, Duce takes his diverse talents and business seriously whether it be behind the decks rocking a crowd, producing music, studio engineering, or hosting his weekly Friday night live radio show, D-Wild Music Radio on Handz On Radio.com/fm he is sure to bring the thunder and a lifetime’s portion of humility.
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