omar santana

New York City, early 1980’s—Omar Santana, innovator of the ‘Hard Hop’ sound, was inspired to pick up the DJ trade after watching DJ Jellybean Benitez. From that moment on, the Queens, New York native began to make a name for himself DJ’ing as part of the Dynamic Rockers Crew and began working with the likes of Arthur Baker, Tommy Boy, and Sleeping Bag Records. In the mid 80’s, Omar began remixing tracks for several rap artists: UTFO, The Boogie Boys, Stetsasonic and Mantronix. His superb DJ skills and stellar remix credits earned him a place as one of the infamous ‘Edit Kings.’ It is because of that title that Omar has gone on to work with some many noteworthy names in music. Artists like Public Enemy, Janet Jackson, Simply Red, Quincy Jones, The Rolling Stones, New Order, The Shamen and MC Ren of NWA, have all requested the talents of Mr. Santana at one time or another. Unhappy with the current state of Trip Hop, Omar began his own record label, H2OH Recordings and its affiliate, Tricked Out, four years ago. Since then, he has been releasing his own material, specializing in specific genres like the ‘Hard Hop’ sound. Not just known for his ‘Trip Hop’ contributions, Omar has also successfully released completed mix CDs in the genres of ‘Hardcore’ and now with his latest release of Battle for Planet of the Breaks, ‘Breakbeat’. Moonshine has continued to document Omar Santana’s work for the past three years through all of his musical journeys—Tricked Out, HardHop Tricked Out, and Battle for Planet for the Breaks. He is a true star of the American rave circuit. Having just played in front of 12, 000 people for the Together As One event this past New Year’s Eve, Omar is already booked for the two major electronic tour packages this year—Zen Fest and Moonshine Overamerica, respectively. Next on the decks for Omar will be an album of all original material due late summer/early fall on Moonshine.

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