BryanDeese: EGON2 (DJ Egon)

Another incredible person I've had the honor to know and call a friend is DJ Egon (longtime VP of Stones Throw Records). I first met him in the fall '95/spring '96 while he was a senior in high school. He had come to Nashville to visit Vanderbilt University. He was thinking of attending. Back then he used to do a lot of graffiti writing too. He was out walking around Nashville and stumbled upon Southern Fried Funk. He was really excited to know that Nashville had a graffiti scene, and he now had a connect.

Egon did decide to attend Vanderbilt (1996-2000). Besides the fact that a Vanderbilt education is top notch, I think two deciding factors were Vandy's radio station WRVU and the graffiti scene. While living Nashville, Egon did a lot. He had two weekly radio shows, a weekly club night, organized the annual WRVU fundraiser (all those posts are coming) and held down a full time class lode. The guy's work ethic is inspiring!

When he first got to Nashville, he was still real hyped on graffiti. I was his painting partner in Nashville. We hit freights together a couple of times. He even pushed TM before he quit painting. I remember when he decided to stop writing and focus solely on DJing. He told me something like, 'I don't think I can ever be as good as a Ces2 at painting, but I do think I could be as good as a Roc Raider at DJing. So I'm just going to be a DJ.' I always respected that.

Here's a few photos Egon traded me back then, and one of the freights he and I hit.