From the age of 10, DJ Neizer knew exactly what he wanted to do with his career
Moziak Africa had the opportunity to catch up with Adrian Emmanuel Neizer Aboagye who is also known as Dj Neizer. Dj Neizer (26) is an award winning Ghanaian DJ. He was awarded the Ghana DJ Awards’ Best Campus DJ in May 2017 for his growing popularity and fandom at various university campuses across Ghana. He describes himself as someone who is very passionate about his work and family. He was born on September 24, 1993, in Kumasi, Ashanti Region. However, his family originates from Elmina, Central Region in Ghana.
DJ Neizer attributes much of his love for music by the support of his mother from a young age. He learned how to play the drums, the flute, and the keyboard. He performed often at his church. At the age of 8, his interest in mixing as a disk jockey was piqued by observing his uncle, Frankie Taylor, who is a successful DJ and presenter at FOX FM in Kumasi, Ghana. As he grew older, he went to his uncle’s studio often and by the age of 10 began performing at school functions. His love for music is due to having the urge of making people around him happy.
DJ Neizer attended Good Shepherd Roman Catholic Junior High School in Kumasi, Ghana where he first experimented his developing talent as a DJ. He was first elected as an entertainment prefect there. At the age of 17, he enrolled in the historical Adisadel College, a senior secondary school in the Central Region where he was again elected as the entertainment prefect in his last year in the school. He attended the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), where he studied computational physics.
Not only is he passionate about music but he has a burning passion for technology. He juggles Djing and Engineering. He works as a wireless engineer for a telecommunications firm in Ghana. His responsibilities and duties include building systems that support the nation’s wireless infrastructure. While in university, DJ Neizer served as the Deputy Entertainment Chairman of the Student Representative Council. In this role, DJ Neizer often performed at many major events and opened for artists such as Sarkodie, EL, and Kojo Cue. In addition, he was a producer for the student organization and created large-scaled programs which gained him popularity on campus.
He describes the feeling of Djing for a crowd as feeling like you are in a different world. He says that he forgets there are people and it is just him, turntables and the sound. He feels free and boundless.
What advice would you give to an upcoming DJ?
“Always work on your craft, be open to learning new things, and experiment with different genres. I think what makes my sets different is I learnt different sounds from other countries. Whenever friends or family would play a tune from the UK or South Africa, Kenya etc. I would immediately want to see how I can blend it into a Ghanaian sound.”
What advice would you give to someone who wants to score gigs?
“Talk to people! Don’t be shy! The entertainment business is all about who you know and building relationships is vital to have people who will think of you when an opportunity arises. Many of the great gigs I had come from people speaking my name in rooms I was not even in.”
Money, status and power? Put these in order of importance and give a reason why?
“Money, power, and status in that order. I wouldn’t necessarily use it all for myself but to support the ones that I love and care about. I would rather use the money to take care of my people who need it most. But the power and status would help a lot with Djing though… haha!”
Dj Neizer’s top 5 favourite Instagram accounts include:
@Ghana.Made
@acetantragh
@theimullar
@thisisecho
@krewconnect
What is the one quote you stand by?
“Justice could just be clearing a path for people to dream properly.” by Kanye West.
I think we all find our passions not only to express ourselves but to make a new path for someone who is aspiring to take on the next phase can also build off of our shoulders.
Social media handles?
Instagram: @djneizer
Snapchat: adrianeizer
Twitter: @djneizer
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/Dj_neizer
