DJ Mickey Breeze isn\u2019t your average DJ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For starters, McKinley Maxwell West (aka Mickey Breeze) is also a producer. And sure, a lot of DJs are producers (though probably few produced their first song at age 8), but how many can say they play five instruments? And if they can say they play five instruments; while piano, drums and trumpet (which Breeze plays) may be in the conversation, certainly the cello and violin wouldn\u2019t be in their repertoire. But they\u2019re in Breeze\u2019s. And not many DJs are rooted in the old school music of Marvin Gaye and Bootsy Collins but have a passion for spinning hip-hop and EDM (electronic dance music, or \u201cfestival trap\u201d). And how many DJs can say they were area spelling bee champions? And how many can say they are all this and just entering their sophomore year in high school?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mickey Breeze can lay claim to all of the above \u2026 and he\u2019s just 15-years-old<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While not even old enough to be in many of the venues where he performs, Breeze is earning a reputation as one of the hottest young DJs in the Twin Cities. His skills and ear for music have earned him a radio slot on 104.7 FM, WEQY and DJ gigs at Pride Festival, Bedlam Lowertown, on the set of \u201cCandy Fresh;\u201d and when Ebony Fashion Fair came to St. Paul to celebrate its 50th year, Mickey Breeze was the one in the DJ booth. Not bad for a person who got into DJing because of a video game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m that weird kid that never liked video games, but my older brother brought me this game, \u2018DJ Hero\u2019 when I was 8-years-old and I learned about technique and DJ culture and started liking it a lot,\u201d said Breeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\u2019s been spinning ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An area children\u2019s talent show proved to be Breeze\u2019s first \u201cbig break.\u201d Breeze did a three-minute set dedicated to his late godfather, Thomas Spiegel (known as DJ Man-X) that earned the attention of one of the judges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI did the set and I didn\u2019t place (in the competition), but Richard Moody was one of the judges and he was impressed and he booked me to DJ a boutique opening in Uptown and ever since then I\u2019ve been getting more recognized,\u201d said Breeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The talented DJ\u2019s second big break came during the 2014 White Out Affair. While New York\u2019s Cipha Sounds was the marquee name (former \u201cChappelle\u2019s Show\u201d and MTV DJ), it was then 13-year-old Breeze who wowed the crowd. Since then he\u2019s incorporated keyboard playing and live beat making with his MPD 226 drum machine into his routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Breeze may have acquired his musical talents naturally, as he is the grandson to Grant West, Sr., co-founder of the Walker West Music Academy in St. Paul, but in a bit of irony, the multitalented DJ doesn\u2019t read music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have what they call perfect pitch, so I can just hear something and play it,\u201d said the kid DJ with grown man skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That \u201cperfect pitch\u201d is what Breeze used when he produced \u201cBlock Chronicles\u201d for Chadwick \u201cNiles\u201d Phillips and Lewiee Blaze. The song\u2019s production was the result of some old records lying around in a house. Breeze uses samples from the vinyl records that were recently discovered in a home being rehabbed by his grandfather, West, Sr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Surprisingly the young DJ\/producer, who DJs festivals and \u201cfestival trap\u201d isn\u2019t much into attending festivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m not a festival type kid,\u201d explained Breeze. \u201cIf I\u2019m going to be at a festival I wanna be onstage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the things that makes Breeze\u2019s talents even more amazing is that fact that he also suffers from the painful blood disease, sickle cell anemia. Breeze said at times the disease causes him severe fatigue and hand cramping, sometimes making it difficult to perform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut I have never missed a show and I have never been late to a show,\u201d proudly said Breeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n