British DJ and host of Sunday afternoon grime show on the digital UK radio station BBC 1Xtra
DJ Cameo is a British DJ and host of Pirate Sessions, a Sunday afternoon grime show on the digital UK radio station BBC 1Xtra. The music Cameo produces varies from 2 step vocals, to 4×4, to grime, and sublow. In 2004, Cameo was voted winner of the “Best Newcomer” Award for the garage scene’s 2004 Peoples Choice Awards held in LondonCameo also received two back to back awards on behalf of Uptown Records, winner of best record shop.
DJ Cameo began his DJing career back in 1997 playing in local bars and clubs in West London. His main influences at that time were Tuff Jam, EZ and the Dreem Teem. Cameo landed on the set on London’s Taste FM. This allowed him to be heard on the UK underground music scene and to gain experience in working on a radio station. With success on Taste FM Cameo also featured on other pirate stations such as Delight FM, Ice FM and Lush Fm.
In 2001 he secured a job at Uptown records, a European underground music store and has since been promoted to head buyer for the UK garage department. That same year Cameo teamed up with Danny C and MC Viper to produce Addicted. Cameo then got involved with producer J-Sweet to produce the underground track “Hi Grade” that was then signed to the MOBO 2002 compilation, and more recently the 2003 Garage anthem “original bad girl style” featuring Gemma Fox for ministry of sounds street beats compilation.
In October 2005, the start of Cameos label, On A Level, and Kamikaze Recordings working with artists such as Jon E Cash, DaVinChe, Terror Danger, P-Jam, Dexplicit, Vital, Delinquent, TnT, J-Sweet, IMP, Jiggalo, Black Jack and Scandalous. Also in 2005, the Garage Anthems CD compilation, mixed by DJ Cameo was released on Virgin Records. Cameo went on to become head A&R of Def Jam mobile, a ring tone company offering UK and US tracks for download.[2] That same year Cameos very own promotion “Hot Off The Block” Grime Allstars alongside Rebecka Prochnik (elastic artists). It’s a fresh concept which showcases established and new UKG talent in a live concert format enabling fans around the world to truly experience the UKG phenomena on their doorstep. A world tour was set up with dates in New York, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Paris. The UK was covered too with dates at Glastonbury Festival, V Festival, Cargo and Various universities. The tour included mind blowing acts such as Crazy Titch & J2K, Lethal B, Roll Deep, JME, Skepta, Bruza, No Lay, L Man, Purple and Tinchy Stryda to name a few. This promotion is the benchmark in an ever changing industry. It aims to take the UKG scene to another level providing artists and producers with unlimited global exposure.
In early 2006, on behalf of 1xtra and BBC Radio 3, Cameo hosted Urban Classic, a music event which brought urban street stars such as Bruza Purple Pace Tor, Faith Sfx, and Da vin che together with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for a performance at the Hackney Empire. Cameo also appeared on the TV drama series Dubplate Drama. DJ Cameo is also known for playing tracks which ever genre is popular at the given time, the term bandwagon is often used to describe.
