Latino News: Luis "DJ Wiz" Cedeño Has His Memoirs Complete

By Alicia Cruz

Senior writer

TheblackUrbanTimes

In Latino News:
If you're like me, you fondly remember those summer nights with jams in the park in the South Bronx projects; dancing to the scratching and mixing of DJ's like Grandmaster Flash, Kool Herc and then, there was Luis “DJ Disco Wiz” Cedeño. Yes, that's right, talk about a blast from the past, huh?

DJ Wiz is credited for being the first Latino hip hop DJ and the first to make a “mixed plate” in 1977 along with Grandmaster Caz and the legendary group the Cold Crush Brothers. He was also featured in the Emmy-nominated VH1 Rock Doc NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell, and creator/founder of the Hip-Hop Meets Spoken Wordz series.

DJ Wiz has been educating the world about the early years of hip-hop to include the days of summer jams in the South Bronx. Wiz was a major contributor in the opening of the Experience Music Project in Seattle in 2000, and was instrumental in the making of Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn’s "Yes Yes Y’all."

Latino DJ's like Kid Capri have Wiz to thank for paving the way. As the first Latino hip-hop deejay, the now 48-year-old Bronxnite is finally getting the props he is due with the release of his memoir, "It's Just Begun" {Simon & Schuster}. This Boricua/Cubano sensation had his DJ career sidewsiped when at the age of 17 he was charged with attempted murder and sentenced to nine years in prison. His battles included two bouts with Cancer, alcohol, drugs, women and violence. "A lot of people don't survive the things that I did. My goal is to save lives and to touch young kids," says Cedeño. Carlito Rodriguez, former editor of "The Source" is currently working to put Cedeño's story on the silver screen.

DJ Wiz (Left), born Luis Cedeño, was born in the Bronx, New York, to a Puerto Rican father and a Cubana mother is also the grandson of late Puerto Rican artist Santero Norberto Cedeño.

DJ Wiz appears in a few documentaries on Hip-Hop history including “1 LOVE”, a film Produced by noted Hip-Hop Historian James "Koe" Rodriguez about the lives of Joe Conzo, Ernie Paniccioliand Jamel Shabazz; Hip-Hop’s first photographers.
As a poet, DJ Disco Wiz performed at the Apollo Theater and the landmark Nuyorican Poets Cafe and his poetry can be seen in the upcoming book “Born in the Bronx.”

His career in Hip Hop came after attending a jam in the South Bronx featuring Kool Herc. Afterwards, DJ Wiz teamed up with his best friend, Casanova Fly aka Grandmaster Caz, to form a group called the Mighty Force crew. Mighty Force is credited as being one of the first Hip-Hop DJ crews in the mid-to-late 1970s. Legendary for their DJ battles in the streets of the South Bronx, the Mighty Force crew. DJ Wiz is a board member of the Universal Federation for the Preservation of Hip Hop Culture, chaired by Hip Hop alumni, Afrika Bambaataa of the Universal Zulu Nation. Fellow board members include Grandmaster Caz, Kurtis Blow, DJ Tony Tone, KRS-One (Fellow Bronxnite)Jorge Pabon, Joe Conzo and Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

Buy his book here

Check out his myspace blog and follow him on Twitter. Click here