http://youtu.be/V3v2_5O_oX8
For as long as he can remember, Eugene Pedraza always had an ear for music.
"Music is the biggest influence in my life," he said.
And it's something Eugene can't live without.
"Somebody asked me, if I would rather go blind or go deaf, which would I choose and I'd definitely go blind then go deaf because I love music so much," he said.
He played trumpet at the age of 9 and later became heavily involved in playing Mariachi music. His interest in the genre was so strong Eugene even signed with a professional group out of El Paso, but it wasn't until recently that his calling came to him by mere accident.
"It was September 2010, I actually just went to El Paso to buy a few things for school and my friend Alonzo was looking for a car audio system and he decided that we would go shopping in El Paso so, I decided to tag along with him because I needed to buy a few things myself," said Pedraza.
What he stumbled upon was some DJ equipment that would forever change his path in life.
"I just fell in love with it and then I splurged a little bit and decided I would just buy it, not knowing anything about it what-so-ever," he said.
And through hard owrk and lots and lots of practice Eugene Pedraza turned into DJ GenEous.
"My dad, he's always called me genius since I was a little kid just because my name is Eugene. He always said Gene is short for genius. So, I just came up with the way I spell it, its just different. I didn't want it to be the regular genius. I wanted to do something with actual name so, I spelled it a little differently and it just stuck," he said.
And DJ GenEous is becoming a household name around town.
"It's really nice to know that people have gained respect for me," he said.
And it shows, DJ GenEous helps bring in the crowd at local sports bars, mixing songs for hundreds of people. Often, he'll play his own self-produced tracks something he wouldn't mind doing as a career. "I'd say djing in a nutshell comes down to you have one track and one to four tracks. It just depends what type of control you have, you're trying your best to blend one track with another track without the audience noticing you mix them in," he adds.
DJ GenEous admits mixing is a skill that takes time to develop,which is why he spends most of his days listening to his favorite tunes, getting ideas for when he takes to the stage.
"I try to read the crowd as best as I can. You know, if they're not feeling a track or if I can tell they're not feeling something that I'm going to switch the genre or switching to something different," he said.
GenEous is on the road to even more success. He gets invited to spin at various locations and even private events, but wherever his path takes him GenEous plans to give back.
"If you make it, you have to go back to the roots and understand you have it good, but there's probably 45 other people who don't have it good at all. Anyone can make it, it just takes a lot of work and I feel with the right work ethic that they have they've made it so I hope to strive to have similar excellence," said Pedraza.
