Lecrae wist maar weinig over DJ Promote, maar de manier waarop de DJ het publiek enthousiasmeerde tijdens een conferentie in Tennesee maakte dat hij hem beter wilde leren kennen. “Het publiek ging los door Promote”, zei de Reach Records frontman. “Volgens mij was dat voordat we het popdium betraden. Ik lang geen DJ gezien die zo op een publiek kan inspelen”
Toen Lecrae’s partner DJ Official een voor onbepaalde tijd moest stoppen, vroeg Lecrae aan DJ Promote om in te vallen. “Met Promote op de tour wordt er altijd een extra element van enthousiasme toegevoegd”, zegt Andy Mineo. Muzikaal, omdat hij een beest is, en omdat hij geweldig is in wat hij doet, maar ook omdat hij altijd aan het werk is. Elk moment dat we in de tour bus of op een vrije dag hebben heeft hij zijn koptelefoon op om veranderingen aan de set in te brengen. Hij is een echt werkpaard. Ik wordt door hem geinspireerd wanneer ik dat zie, omdat hij diep in zijn carriere zit, maar nog steeds oefent alsof hij net is begonnen.”
Promote, born Carlos Trevino, loved hip hop in its entirety growing up — the music, break dancing and graffiti art. DJing naturally had intrigued him for years, but it wasn’t until he started traveling and attending clubs after high school that he was exposed to the craft.
Around the same time that he bought his own equipment to learn how to DJ, he began to learn about God in church — where he was introduced to Christian hip hop. His embracement of the music wasn’t instantaneous.
“As I started learning about God, it took a long time,” Promote said. “I wasn’t all in for church. I just was visiting … and kind of around it. I wasn’t sold that it was real. I just thought it was fake, and so I was testing it. Is it really better than this? Because I love going out to the clubs and running around with my friends.”
Promote soon discovered that following God did make for a better life. And at a graduation party in Dallas, he experienced how God could use Christian hip hop in his life.
Unlike the conference crowd that blew Lecrae away, Promote could not get the graduation party attendees to dance. Someone then made a suggestion that changed the direction of his career.
“Do you have any Christian hip hop?” an attendee asked.
Promote did, which pleased the room. The teens left the party having danced, and Promote spent the night discarding his old music.
“It was just a transition from learning to DJ and then learning that God had a plan for me at the same time,” he said.
The Anomaly Tour has been further evidence of this plan for Promote.
“I felt like God was like, ‘This may not be what you want to do right now, but this is where you need to be … This tour is proof of God showing me that.”
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