DJ Squeeky Sold 10,000 Copies of 'On A Mission' in One Week
Bedroom recording sessions, underground tapes, and the making of a Memphis legend.
DJ Squeeky was a mere 15 or 16 years old when he started constructing beats and mixtapes that would help shape the sound of an entire city.
Inspired by the groundbreaking production of Memphis rapper and producer DJ Spanish Fly, Squeeky crafted his earliest instrumentals in a home studio. Working out of a bedroom with a mixer, 4-track, and SP-1200 sampler, he developed his signature hi-hats and laid down tracks with Memphis rap legends like Al Kapone, Criminal Manne, Kingpin Skinny Pimp, Project Playaz, and Tom Skeemask.
In a learn as you go atmosphere where Squeeky and his collaborators knew little about proper recording techniques and studio setups, they made due. “We were young cats, you know,” Squeeky told Louis Goggans in a 2012 Memphis Flyer interview. “We didn’t know nothing about mic booths and all that stuff. We had the mic booth, all the equipment, and everything all in one room.”
These critical sessions birthed pivotal underground tapes full of dark, ethereal instrumentals and raps that continue to influence countless artists all over the world today.
In addition to showing a proficiency with equipment early on that would make him a local superstar, Squeeky also demonstrated an intuitive business savvy. While many Memphis artists were mainly interested in getting their cassettes in local record shops, he found a way to get his tapes into car stereo businesses like Mr. Z’s and other local shops that weren’t exclusively dedicated to selling music.
Setting aside his growing reputation in Memphis, Squeeky relocated to Houston, Texas for the much of 1994 and 1995 to live with 8Ball & MJG while they recorded their third album On Top of the World. Despite being woefully underrepresented in mainstream music publications and not receiving the same praise and accolades as their east and west coast peers, Ball & MJG’s third LP was a commercial success that peaked at #8 on the Billboard US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Squeeky credited this extended time in Houston surrounded by artistic excellence with helping him grow exponentially as a producer. Along with citing criminally underrated Mannie Fresh favorite and Suave House go-to producer T-Mix as a major influence of his, the Memphis vet also tipped his cap to MJG for helping him evolve by teaching him how to work a keyboard sampler. “I didn’t know anything about the keyboard,” Squeeky told the Memphis Flyer. “I had a drum machine back then. MJG used to come back to Memphis with his Ensoniq keyboard. He used to show me a lot of tricks.”
Inspired by his time and Texas and ready to head home and take things to the next level, Squeeky returned to Memphis to work on his official debut album. After reconnecting with Al Kapone, he also joined forces with Memphis rappers Playa Fly and The Taylor Boyz under the moniker DJ Squeeky & The Family. By 1997 he was ready to release his 16-track debut effort On A Mission.
With another quality release on his hands and the same aforementioned business acumen, Squeeky moved a jaw-dropping number of albums in a mere 7 days. “I sold 10,000 records the first week independently,” he told the Memphis Flyer.
These sale figures are likely unfathomable for a young artist trying to make their way in the modern industry, but it wasn’t uncommon for well-established DJs and rappers with fiercely loyal local fan bases to move insane units in the late 80s and early 90s.
According to Squeeky, in a pre-internet age when underground tapes and independent releases reigned supreme, Memphis residents had little to no interest in checking for artists outside of their city. If you could prove yourself locally, music fans would support you with everything they had. “Memphis people didn’t even know about out of town rappers, period,” he told Lucas Foster in a 2017 Passion of the Weiss interview. “They didn’t even know about outta town rappers that rapped. Only hip-hop that we was influenced by was from there. It was our own thing, our own Memphis music.”
Even if the people of Memphis were satisfied with their own artists and disinterested with DJs, producers, and rappers from elsewhere, the city’s sound was so captivating that many other parts of the country started clamoring for tapes. “Memphis IS the brain,” Squeeky told Passion of the Weiss. “Memphis music always travels around. My music used to get sold in Atlanta, I was sellin’ mixtapes in Atlanta back then.”
Kingpin Skinny Pimp further confirmed the lengths people in other cities and states would go to get their hands on Memphis tapes in Paul Meara’s remarkable 2015 NahRight long-form on the making of Three Six Mafia’s Mystic Stylez. “You could sell a Gangsta Pat tape in Mississippi or in Arkansas for $25 or $30,” he said. “People wanted it so bad. I had a record store and they used to come and buy tapes for us for whatever. They just wanted it because the style was so unique.”
Squeeky’s remarkable numbers on his indy debut helped him secure a deal with Relativity Records and saw the release of Tom Skeemask’s 1998 effort 2 Wild For The World, an album he produced from front to back. Unfortunately, Relativity eventually folded and it wasn’t long before Squeeky went back to the independent route that helped launch his career.
Though Squeeky is perhaps not as prolific today as he was during the ‘90s, he remains active with recent production credits for 2 Chainz, Young Dolph, Gucci Mane, and Young Thug. Despite these recent successes, it feels like he still hasn’t received the recognition he deserves—something he appears to be just fine with. “I kinda look at it like, to me, recognition, it’s cool but it ain’t all that, you know?” he told Passion of the Weiss. “I appreciate people listening to my music.”
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I didn't know that Memphis was a hub for hip-hop talent.
Excellent article. I did not know he was still producing for top rappers.