It's Just Begun: The Epic Journey of Dj Disco Wiz, Hip Hop's First Latino Dj [Kindle Edition]

Ivan Sanchez (Author), Luis Cedeño (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

There are no punches pulled, no shorts taken, no inconvenient truths omitted here. The story of DJ Disco Wiz is a searing, powerful, heartbreakingly real hip-hop story. A must-read. --Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation

If there are words to describe DJ Disco Wiz they would be true survivor. Born in a time when war and injustice was the state of America, This book is a must read for all fathers mothers, sons, daughters, and educators alike, so that one may understand the pain that so many young people, born in harsh conditions have to endure. --Jamel Shabazz -A Time Before Crack / The Last Sunday in June / Back in the Days / Seconds Of My Life

Review

If there are words to describe DJ Disco Wiz they would be true survivor. Born in a time when war and injustice was the state of America, This book is a must read for all fathers mothers, sons, daughters, and educators alike, so that one may understand the pain that so many young people, born in harsh conditions have to endure.

"If there are words to describe DJ Disco Wiz they would be true survivor. Born in a time when war and injustice was the state of America, This book is a must read for all fathers mothers, sons, daughters, and educators alike, so that one may understand the pain that so many young people, born in harsh conditions have to endure."

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 2304 KB
• Publisher: Miss Rosen Editions (April 28, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0029ZBK7G
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #516,073 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

DJ Disco Wiz (born Luis Cedeno), was born in the Bronx, New York, USA, to a Puerto Rican father and a mother from Cuba. He is also credited with being the first Latino DJ in Hip-Hop music.

After being inspired at a Kool Herc jam by the emerging hip hop movement taking place in The Bronx DJ Disco Wiz teamed up with his best friend, Casanova Fly (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 was also responsible for presenting the first Latino rapper to the world, Prince Whipper Whip, who is also of Puerto Rican decent. DJ Disco Wiz is also credited for being the first DJ to create a "mixed plate" in 1977 (hip-hop's first mixed dub recording) when he and Grandmaster Caz, combined sound bites, special effects and paused beats.

The grandson of the late Puerto Rican artist and Santero Norberto Cedeno, Wiz is the creator of The Hip-Hop Meets Spoken Wordz Series, a hip-hop and poetry performance series that gives a voice to up and coming Latino talent in New York City. As a poet and pioneer DJ, DJ Disco Wiz has performed at the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, Trinity Hip-Hop Festival, Powerhouse Arena, Tools of War Turntables Series, the Apollo Theater and the landmark Nuyorican Poets Cafe and his poetry can be seen in Joe Conzo's book Born in the Bronx. Wiz is also featured in a few documentaries on Hip-Hop history including the Emmy Nominated Vh1 Rock Doc, NY77 The Coolest year in hell Developed by Nanette Burstein and Firehouse Films for Vh1, "All Out War" and "1Love," a film about the lives of Joe Conzo, Ernie Paniccioli and Jamel Shabazz; hip-hop's early photographers.

Wiz has openly contributed to the community education of the formative years of Hip-Hop. In the millennium issue of The Source magazine he candidly shared his experience in being the first Latino during the culture's evolution. He was also a major contributor in the opening of the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington in 2000. His contribution and donation of original hip-hop flyers, solely for the preservation of hip-hop can be seen as part of the archives. He was also instrumental in the making of Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn's rendition of the early years of hip-hop entitled Yes, Yes Y'all; sharing numerous original flyers and first hand accounts of the early years of hip-hop including an account of the historical New York City blackout of 1977.

He is also a board member of the Universal Federation for the Preservation of Hip Hop Culture, chaired by Afrika Bambaataa of the Universal Zulu Nation. The Federation also includes on its board; Grandmaster Caz, DJ Tony Tone, Kurtis Blow, GrandMaster Melle Mel, KRS-One, Lovebug Starski, Jorge "PopMaster Fabel" Pabon and photographer Joe Conzo.

Dj Disco Wiz is the co-author of his memoirs with Simon & Schuster author Ivan Sanchez. The book is titled, It's Just Begun the Epic Journey of DJ Disco Wiz, Hip-Hop's First Latino DJ. Miss Rosen Editions/Powerhouse Books Release Date June 2009. He is also the host of the Hip Hop Chronicles on Urban Latino Radio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An emotional rollercoaster!, April 30, 2009

By 

dj/mc oxygen - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's Just Begun: The Epic Journey of Dj Disco Wiz, Hip Hop's First Latino Dj (Hardcover)

Let me begin by saying Disco Wiz has been a close personal friend and mentor of mine for a few years now. When he was at the alpha of formulating this book, he and I had a conversation about what he was in the process of creating. He would never get into the details about any of it, but the recurring theme of the talk we had was I would be "shocked and amazed". I have to tell you... THAT was a complete understatement!

I finally received my copy yesterday, started reading late last night, fell asleep with it, woke up this morning with the book lying on my chest, to which I continued reading it until I completed it earlier this afternoon. It was definitely one of the most compelling and intense literary journeys I have EVER experienced! Hands down. I laughed, I cried, pondered, laughed some more, thought out loud, read certain sentences over and over, cried again... the ride was incredible.

Hats off to powerHouse Books, and to Ivan Sanchez for his role in making sure the visual aspect of every scenario remained consistant throughout as well. I have developed a whole brand new level of love and respect for my friend Disco Wiz. He is beautifully human, and I'm elated that the world will now be able to share what he has so eloquently taken time to deliver to us. I highly recommend this piece of art for ALL walks of life. Peace.

-John (DJ/MC Oxygen)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "It's Just Begun" is simply outstanding!, July 23, 2009

By 

Jonathan R. Santana (Miami, FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It's Just Begun: The Epic Journey of Dj Disco Wiz, Hip Hop's First Latino Dj (Hardcover)

DJ Disco Wiz, the first Latino DJ, the creator of the "mix plate", etc....I've known about DJ Disco Wiz for years now and have communicated with him via Myspace but never heard or read anything in popular media where the man had expressed himself on his contributions to Hip-Hop and his life story, other than what his "brother from another" Grandmaster Caz had stated in books and interviews and also in the classic book "Yes Yes Y'all" by Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn, the director of "Wild Style". That was until one day a few months ago where I saw an update on Twitter from Wiz where he said a book was coming out...I waited for the book as if it were an unreleased Big Pun album, to be honest. Once I got in touch with Wiz, we kept a line of communication open and I got a copy of the book. The book is everything that I expected and more...

The life of this man should be made into a movie! He speaks about his rough upbringing, physical abuse, violence in the streets, living in poverty in the war zone that was the South Bronx in the 1970s, falling in love, his introduction to Hip-Hop and how it changed his life and his friendship with Grandmaster Caz, which has endured over 30 years of their lives. He also speaks on his experiences in prison and how a brother named "Peace" helped him understand his Latino background and the struggles endured by our ancestors and the proud achievements as well. There are many other stories and like one of the other comments stated, the book is like a roller-coaster and there's no other way to describe this man other than as a survivor, plain and simple. Bouts with cancer, losing his child only to reunite with her as an adult and re-establish a beautiful relationship, finding the woman of his life and that helped him follow the right path in life, and I can't forget the cooking. The man had a long and distinguished career in the culinary arts, which stands out in his book as well. Oh yeah, there's spoken word as well!

In the end, I recommend "It's Just Begun: The Epic Journey of DJ Disco Wiz, Hip-Hop's First Latino DJ" to anyone interested, from those who want to know what it is like to be a true survivor, anyone who wants to know about the early days of Hip-Hop from a "soldier" on the front lines of Hip-Hop, and anyone like me, who appreciates the effort, blood, sweat and tears that people like Wiz put into the culture, because to me he represents the essence of Hip-Hop just as much as DJ Kool Herc and Bambataa and Flash and DJ AJ and Busy Bee and whoever you can name. He was just as much an integral part of the early scene in the Bronx as any of those other cats. Much respect to you, Wiz, your life should become a movie, hopefully Hollywood realizes it soon and that they won't need to embellish anything in a script, their screenwriters just need to read your book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating ... unputdownable, July 5, 2009

By 

Sarah Spencer (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It's Just Begun: The Epic Journey of Dj Disco Wiz, Hip Hop's First Latino Dj (Hardcover)

Couldn't put the book down. I'm not very knowledgeable about the era or the music in particular (I'm a musician in a different genre) but Louis' story was totally enthralling. Thanks for sharing the pain and the good times.