Talent: Disc Jokey
DJ Crew: World Famous Superfriends
Contact: www.myspace.com/djmarsthepresident

AS THE PRESIDENT AND FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE WORLD FAMOUS SUPERFRIENDS CREW,DJ MARS SINGLE HANDEDLY CHANGED THE DJ SCENE IN ATLANTA. UPON HIS ARRIVAL TO THE ATL IN AUGUST OF 1991 DJ MARS HAS HAD ONE WISH AND THAT WAS TO BE A HOUSE HOLD NAME IN THE NATIONAL DJ SCENE.WHILE ATTENDING CLARK ATLANTA UNIVERSITY DJ MARS STARTED HIS CAREER DJ'ING IN THE CAFETERIA DURING DINNER FOR $75.00"ME,TRAUMA,AND MY MAN DOC USED TO SPLIT THAT 3 WAYS...ACTUALLY THAT WAS PROBABLY THE START OF THE SUPERFRIENDS MOVEMENT".FROM THAT POINT ON DJ MARS' CAREER SKY ROCKETED.HE WENT FROM BEING OUTKAST'S ORIGINAL DJ TO TOURING WITH USHER ON HIS FIRST ALBUM.DIRECTLY AFTER RETURNING FROM THE USHER TOUR DJ MARS' CLUB CAREER WENT IN THE BEST OF DIRECTIONS."THERE WAS THIS CLUB CALLED SOHO THAT WAS POPPIN ON THURSDAY NIGHTS AND ME,DJ DOC,AND SOL MESSIAH USED TO TEAR IT DOWN.BEING THAT I WAS THE YOUNGEST I HAD TO OPEN UP,IT DIDNT BOTHER ME BECAUSE I LEARNED ALOT FROM WATCHING DOC AND MESSIAH.THEY TAUGHT ME CROWD CONTROL AND SWAGGER.FROM THAT POINT DJ MARS HAS PLAYED IN EVERY CLUB IN ATL ,BIG OR SMALL.HE'S DJ'D ALMOST EVERY PLATINUM PARTY THAT WAS EVER PROMOTED IN ATLANTA.DJ MARS' CAREER NOW HAS HIM IN NEW DIRECTIONS,CURRENTLY HE IS TOURING WITH CIARA AS SHE OPENS UP FOR GWEN STEFANI ON HER HARAJUKU LOVERS TOUR 2005.HAVING TOURED WITH EVERYONE FROM USHER,MONICA,KELIS,AND NOW CIARA DJ MARS IS NO STRANGER TO ROCKING IN FRONT OF CROWDS."I WOULD SAY THAT MY ILLEST SHOW WAS IN THE UK AT THE V FESTIVAL.THERE WERE OVER 300,000 PEOPLE THERE,THAT SHIT WAS STUPID.I WAS SHOOK TO BE HONEST BUT I LOVED IT.AS YOU CAN SEE THE PRESIDENT IS BUSY DOING WHAT HE DOES BEST,AND THAT KEEPING THE FLOORS PACKED AND KEEPING THE PEOPLE DANCING.

What was your intentions when you came up with the idea to form the World Famous Super friends?

Well basically at that time like 97, 98 DJs in Atlanta didn’t have a ledge to stand on. The radio stations were frontin on us, the promoters was frontin on us. There wasn’t a DJ culture in Atlanta, there was DJs but there wasn’t a culture. Obviously DJs had to play in the club but I always looked at it like internally I’m hot and if I’m hot I want to be treated like other hot dudes are and being that I’m from the north, other hot DJs I was referring to was kid Capri, Clue, Flex, S&S. I just looked at it like if I’m hot in my market I want to be treated like other hot niggas are. In Atlanta because hip hop culture was and still is kind of different then it is up north the DJ was really that important and I was like yall buggin. Like the DJ is everything and especially because me being a DJ, I was like because none of us have the radio to support us, in order for us to move we gotta stick together so the whole thing was to do he whole Voltron type movement. Everyone ban together and become this one super DJ and that would be the crew the super friends

As president of the World Famous Superfriends, what are some of your responsibilities?

Just making sure at the end of the day people know who we are.  Making sure we got a presence in the club, the streets and even a presence at the award shows. Attempting to make sure our DJs are A-list DJs that get paid the rate they supposed to get and everybody else gets paid the rate they’re supposed to get. So really my job is to make sure that we stay relevant within our market. That is really what its all about.

What do you think separates the World Famous Superfriends from other DJ crews?

First of all we taught everybody. The mere fact that every DJ crew in Atlanta in existence is based off our existence in a sense that there wouldn’t be anybody else. I don’t care about what crew you talking about, there wouldn’t be them without us because all of them came from us. So when it comes to influence I can personally say I’ve influence every popular DJ in Atlanta whether he is popular nationally or locally. You can name a DJ that was either down with my crew or wanted to be down with my crew at some time in their career and never vice versa and I never went to none of them.

How did you go about to picking the members of your crew?

At the beginning we were all club DJs and the club DJs in the clubs I played in were dudes out of town like me, Fahrenheit, K Rock, Doc and Sha Kim but we had been living in Atlanta for quite some time. I got here in 91 but we were all the dudes who were basically transplant. At that time we weren’t getting on the radio like that. We were friends so I picked the dudes that I was rocking with. Me, Fahrenheit, and Special P we were doing clubs together real heavy. Doc and I were doing clubs real heavy. Trauma and I were doing business together real heavy. So basically it was my circle of friends. They were already DJs. They were just my close circle of friends. It made it kind of easier. These are people that I was rocking with anyhow so it wasn’t like I had to go and find somebody I had never met before. This was a group of people I was rocking with anyway. Just imagine you and your five friends are all journalists it only makes since for you all to do business together anyhow.

What do you think makes a DJ a DJ?

It depends. For me to answer that you would have to ask me a more direct question. Are you speaking about a club DJ or a mixtape DJ?

Both. Actually either one.

A good club DJ is someone that in my eyes can read the crowd. When I say read the crowd, when you walk into a situation where its 200 women in the club you aint gonna start with no Wu-Tang, Method Man type shit. You gotta get the women into the party. And a lot of times niggas don’t do that. They are just like, yo im gonna go this or that direction and you not reading the crowd. Its like a quarterback, if the defense is blitzing you know to throw a quick pass to the left or a quick pass to the right you can't stay in the pocket and I feel like a good club DJ is 1, talented 2, can read the crowd 3, he/she just has to be able to rock. When I say rock I mean he/she has to be able to get busy outside of playing just the hits. To me that’s what makes a good club DJ