DJ King Assassin

Craig Venegas Alvarado (born January 15, 1971), known by his stage name DJ King Assassin, is an American disc jockey, record producer, music engineer and director from Los Angeles, California. Originally known as "DJ Raleem", Venegas became influential in the west coast hip-hop music scene after having helped pioneer numerous commercially successful records for 1990s era rap moguls such as 2Pac, Outlawz, Ice-T and Eazy-E.^[1][2]

Throughout his career, Venegas engineered over 300 titles for recording artists signed to Universal Records, EMI, Def Jam, including several of which reached the US Billboard charts, respectively. In 2014, he reached #7 on the US Billboard charts following the release of a mixtape with fellow industry partner and rapper Kokane.^[3] For several consecutive years, Venegas was awarded 'DJ of the Year' for his lengthy music contribution in the West Coast Hip Hop Awards.^[4]

Early life

Venegas spent most of his early life in California traveling from San Jose, Vallejo, East Palo Alto and Sacramento, where he then relocated back to his native California lifestyle in the city of Los Angeles. As a kid, he won his school's spelling bee at Hillsdale elementary and later went on to the district of Franklin Mckinley’s spelling bee. He also learned to play drums in elementary school, and in eighth grade, how to make music. From that time, he became interested in music and breakdancing, in which he won trophies at local fairs and contests throughout the state of California.

Musical career

1990s-2000s: Career beginnings

Venegas moved where originally his parents are from, in Southern California, and began his career as a record disc jockey, in which he later produced for recording artists signed to Russell Simmons record label Def Jam. In the early part of his career, Venegas produced for several projects from Eazy-E at Kitchen Sync and Echo Sound studios. It was there where, Venegas, a rising producer, teamed up with Tupac Shakur in which he later established a close relationship with the West Coast rapper.

While Tupac Shakur worked on "Me Against The World", Venegas began producing music with Shakur, later witnessing the creation of "Dear Mama", one of Shakur's most successful hip-hop records. Venegas, thereafter, produced, mixed and mastered an inordinate amount of records for hip-hop recording artists in the west coast of the US, influencing the unique funk sound established by rappers like Eazy-E and 2Pac.

2010-2015: The King Assassin Show & Mixtapes

Venegas started his own internet syndicated radio show, The King Assassin Show, which featured appearances from recording artists and other notable figures like Freeway Rick Ross, for example.^[5] Throughout the first half of the 2010s, Venegas released numerous mixtapes, some of which featured unreleased music from Tupac Shakur, and others in collaboration with west coast rappers.

2016—present: Original Dear Mama Recording & Makaveli Film

In May 2016, following the passing of Afeni Shakur, Tupac Shakur's birth mother, Venegas was featured on TMZ and Billboard magazine where he spoke on his affiliation and relationship with the Shakur estate and the release of the original version of Tupac Shakur's classic record "Dear Mama".^[6] In 2016, Venegas announced he will be producing and directing a film loosely based on Tupac Shakur's personal life and music career. The film is expected to be shot in California, and acting cast has not been released yet.^[7]

Discography

List of entire singles and albums

Filmography

Television

Radio

See also

• List of former Def Jam Recordings artists
• List of songs recorded by Tupac Shakur
• List of Universal Records artists

References

External links

• Official Website
• Official Twitter
• DJ King Assassin at the Internet Movie Database