1984 Introduced to Electronic music by friend with mixtape and boombox. i went home and tossed my electric guitar in closet. Same electric guitar will make its way back on Keep your Head up ( Harry Choo Choo Romero & Dj Lace). 

 

Breakdancing name is JJ Roc, wearing Jean Jacket with graffiti on back, I later change my name to Dj Lace when I begin my DJing career..

 

Beatstreet the movie makes its way to the theaters and I got my first insight into what is a dj with the Vicious Beat scene in the movie.

 

My brother Robert buys me a mixer my mom buys me two Technique SL1 turntables. The needle jumps and bounces everywhere when I try to emulate the scratch movement I saw on the movie, can’t figure it out. So i stop scratching and listen to my DEVO album, sent away for the DEVO hat, never got it.

 

Sitting in front of 163rd Street Mall in North Miami Beach and some girl is playing a mix tape, The songs intertwine into one another and I can figure out how the songs mix together, start doing some research “pre-google era”.

 

Go to a amusement park  at the Hallandale Race track, live performers that night include a DJ/Producer by the name Bob Rosenberg. My passion to figure all this djing stuff out gets me up close to him, I stand next to him and study his movements. My DJ School has initiated, no iphones to video and study later, gotta memorize everything I see on the spot.

 

I get to ask him something real quick in between songs, to my surpise he is super cool, I ask him how come my needle skips like mad when I scratch, he asks me if the turntable has a straight arm, I reply yes, he give me 2 answers, put a nickle on the needle and then save up and buy the Technique 1200‘s. I later find out Bob Rosenberg is the man behind the band Will To Power.

 

The nickel trick works but I can only do slow steady scratch patterns, nothing crazy like I hear on the Booty Music Records  I get influenced by “DJ Man”, 2 Live Crew’s DJ, MC ADE’s DJ and DJ Magic Mike so for me to “compete” with those cats is going to require some equipment upgrade. There is no way my cheap turntable will allow me to get this good. Although I have limitations with my equipment I practice 8 hours a day mixing, scratching and then Transforming, I am rocking a realistic mixer so transforming is done with the “line” button getting turned on and off. 

 

1985/86

I meet Keith Rosenberg (no relation to Bob Rosenberg) at a breakdancing practice in his front yard. We become good friends and I find out he has an SP 1200 Drum Machine. We form a group both breakdancing and Music. One of our performance wins us 1st and 3rd place at our High School’s talent show.

 

I name our music group Vicious Beat from the reference of the Beat Street scene that captivated me, we are therefore known as The Vicious Beat Crew.

 

Most of the practice takes place at my mom’s home. One day after school Keith brings a friend to my home and introduces me to our new Rapper, the guy’s name is Damien Thurston. He goes by the Name of Devine Luv, later shortens it to Dev Luv and later my brother Robert jokingly calls him Madness, Damien likes the name and MC Madness is born. The Vicious Beat Crew is M.C, Wizzy (Keith Rosenberg), MC Madness (Damien Thurston) and DJ Lace (Jorge Jaramillo). 

 

 

1987

We hit the studio and bang out a demo titled “Speaking on VD”, MC Wizzy and Madness do the rapping, Keith (MC WIzzy) does the drum programming, and I do the scratching.

 

Power 96 was the radio station at the time playing Freestyle Music and Booty Music. My friend German Gastelbondo  calls me up and tells me about a music contest he heard about on Power 96. We submit our demo and wait.

 

The call comes in, our track competes against all freestyle artist demos. We are entered into a contest where the audience is the judge, this happens at City Limits just outside of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We win the contest and are offered a recording contract with Joey Boy Records.

 

1988

Keith is not happy with the contract we are offered and he walks out of the Joey Boy office. Madness and I try and talk him into signing but Keith’s freind had tagged along and persuades him to leave for good. We sign the contract. Jose Armada the owner of Joey Boy records changes our name from Vicious Beat to Vicious Bass right there on the spot.

 

My first time in front of an SSL console and in a real recording booth, Vision Studios in North Miami. Producer Clay D is the guy that will make us famous via the 808 Drum Machine and clever Hook construction, (although years later I will find out that Magic Mike had been working on the same 808 Machine Clay D used on our song and according to Mike, Clay D used the beats he had stored on that 808 Machine on our session that day). 

 

2 girls never show up to the session, they are supposed to record the vocals “shake that thang, give it to me, baby”. Clay D reluctantly asks me to record the vocals for the hook, I give it my best and the rest is history as the hook became the strongest part of the track. Mc Madness bangs out 2 verses for the song and we are one verse short, we both sit in the Vision Studio’s kitchen and write the last verse. Magic Mike later does the scratch parts on the song as my djing wasn’t up to par yet. Shake That Thang is released 1988 on Joey Boy Records by the music group Vicious Bass. We get robbed of our publishing due to our ignorance.

 

 

1989

I tour and hit all the South Florida night clubs, my djing gets much better now that I have acces to the proper equipment, Dj Scratch from EPMD becomes one of my biggest influences. Our song is heard  constantly on Power 96, DJ Laz is our biggest supporter as he is the main DJ on that radio station.

 

“Shake That Thang” becomes a huge “crossover/pop” hit and sets the stage for many Booty Songs that would have gone unnoticed by the mainstream audience. Our pockets are empty, Madness works at a factory and I do odd jobs with my uncle. Bitterness sets in.

 

We leave Joey Boy Records after some nasty confrontations, and find ourselves totally lost in the music world. Depression hits hard but Madness and I keep writing and practicing.

 

1991

Dj Magic Mike performs at a club in Hallandale Florida. Re-united with Keith Rosenberg we go to meet Mike backstage just to hang out. We are offered a recording deal right there on the spot when Mike and his Manager Tom Reich find out who were are. T

 

Cheetah Records owned by Tom Reich and Magic Mike has us drive up to Orlando and we begin production with Magic Mike. He is working on a Various Artists album and Vicious Bass lands 2 songs on the album, “Coming On Strong” and “It’s House Y’all”. The album is titled Dj Magic Mike and The Royal Posse. The album is groundbreaking for its time and reaches Gold (500,000 in legitimate sales). Cassette, Vinyl and CDs of the album are released.

 

 

1991

Cheetah records needs a follow up to the Royal Posse Album, Vicious Bass will be the first rap group apart from label owner Magic Mike to record a full length album. Magic produces the album and is very reluctant to allow anyone else  produce a song on the album. after a couple of months of debate I produce All Wild DJ’s along with the help of Keith Rosenberg. Madness writes the lyrics and I do all the scratching on that track. My Djing skills were now up to par and was reflected on that track. Magic accepts the track and begins to produce a “dj battle” track for the Vicious Bass album, “Magic Meets Lace” is added to the album and become a huge undergound track studied by djs for its scratches, transforming patterns and performance. The album is Titled Vicious Bass - Back To Haunt You. The album reaches Gold Status.

 

 

 

1991

We tour the Southeastern states in the United States, we are headlining large concert halls, Ghetto Boys, X-Clan, Kwame, Poor Righteous Teachers are our opening acts, I find out they are disgusted by the Booty Music. At that time all the New York rappers and DJ’s looked down at the Southern “Hip Hop” artists, although our record sales far exceeded theirs. So there was some drama at times because we were the headliners, “we” referring to DJ Magic Mike and Vicious Bass.

 

After the tour we set out to a Music Conference in New York City, I remember the ride in the elevator and the owner of Tommy Boy records jokingly asks Tom Reich (our manager and owner of Cheetah Records) how his artists were outselling his artist Queen Latifah at the time. Later that night Madness and I get locked out of our hotel room (for showing up late) and we sit in the hallway for a while, I fall asleep and suddenly I am awoken by a guy asking if we were ok and if we need a place to crash, I am “star struck” and words don’t leave my mouth... Rick Ruben thanks for looking out.

 

The next morning I hand Ice-T a cassette copy of our new single and he thanks me, shakes my hand and he and Darlene (his wife of the time and the model on the Ice-T “Power Album”) hop in a limo.

 

I later announced I wanted to leave Cheetah Records although Tom Reich and Madness asked me not too. I thought I could make it on my own so I left.

 

MC Madness was given a large sum of money to stay and production began on Dj Magic Mike and MC Madness album. A video for the song It’s Automatic” was filmed I was devestated and knew I had made a mistake by leaving. My passion for music would be tested during the next few years.

 

 

1992

Keith and I finally get back together as a music group, we record a demo and use our background as Vicious Bass to get in the doors of Pandisc Records. Our 1st single “Push Push in The Bush” 2BMF gets released on Pandisc Records, followed by the “Caucasion Bass Invasion Album” 2BMF released on Pandisc Records 3 years later in 1995, the album was recorded at Studio Center Recording Studios, Hialeah Miami Lakes.

 

At around that time I get a call from Madness, he asks Keith and I to join a class action lawsuit against Cheetah Records, we win, Madness earning most of the money. Madness with his large sum of money disappears for a while.

 

The “Caucasion Bass Invasion Album” 2BMF released on Pandisc Records never broke any ground, it was concidered too “White” by our peers. We did the occassional night club presentation and signed some autographs and had a mini tour in the Southern States but that was about it.  A year later Bass Music became a necessity for the Car Audio Competition enthusiast in which they utilized the heavy bass kick to “test” their massive sound systems. With this in mind the Album Bassman & DJ Lace was released on Pandisc Records.

 

1996

I hit the studio and produced solo projects on my own, I also started a record label and called it Bass Core Records. My first release was a full length Bass Music CD made for Car Audio competitions which was a big thing at that time. This would be the first time I would make money with my music. The album sold out quickly with the distibuters and I recieved a nice paycheck.

 

1996/97

One night sitting in my bedroom and thinking of how horrible my music career was and how much effort I had put forth and gotten so little in return I figured I would go behind the scenes as an audio engineer. My friend at the time Jamie Graf worked at very respectable recording studio in Hialeah Miami Lakes, Studio Center, the same studio we recoded Caucasion Bass Invasion and I saw how much income he was making, I realized the artist was always the last and least paid, so I wanted to create a new career as a music engineer. Wanting to follow in Jamie’s footsteps I called Full Sail School in Orlando to register for their Audio Engineering program.

 

The registration material arrived at my home and as luck would have it, I recieved a phone call out of the blue from my cousin Harry Romero. I told him I was filling out paper work to attend The Full Sail School, he told me he knew of a an Audio school in New York and that he would help me being that The Audio School he had in mind was a train ride away from his house in New Jersey.

 

New York was a big move for me, Full Sail was a 3 hour drive from my home in Miami, This other School was a 24 Hour drive from my home. My mom said she would feel safer knowing that I would be with family and so I packed my car and left to New York.

 

I attend the Intstitute of Audio Research in New York City. A massive dose of culture shock, the people were unfriendly, it was a fast paced environment, cold ass heck and no real beaches like I had back in Miami. And the school was not what I expected. 

 

New York was an incredible learning ground for everyhting art, that including music. I heard music and lived a life-style so far beyond anything I could have lived in Miami. Something about the cold wheather and fast pace was exhilirating. The bars and clubs played some incredible music. I remember one spot in particular called Konkrete Jungle. It was the first time I heard rela Jungle (Drum-n-Bass) music. I was hooked.

 

Breaks and Jungle music became my passion and I released a full length album titled Dj Lace “Electric Kingdom” on my new label Alienverb Records. It hit the stores as a CD and did pretty well along with some awesome reviews. Unfortunelty Breaks and Jungle Genre were both coming to a stop and House Music was still on top and rising.