Ontoneyo and DJ John Blaze dropped the The South West Takeover 3 mixtape, hosted by Table Mannerz DJs and Dojah Da Don, now available to stream at TableMannerzDJs.com. Featuring prominent artists from the region and priority artists from Table Mannerz DJs, it’s the third installment of the series that brought Colorado and Arizona together under Respect the Underground.
In an effort to expand his music marketing business outside of Colorado, Ontoneyo traveled to Arizona in the blazing heat of July 2013 to pass out 10,000 CDs of Colorado music at the very first Arizona Hip Hop Festival. “I was just trying to make relationships. In the process, I met Justus and DJ John Blaze and really got to witness the strength of their local events,” he said. Due to the previous work he’d done as a writer for The Source Magazine and for the Village Voice’s Colorado newspaper, the Westword, Ontoneyo had already built a reputation as a tastemaker in the Colorado music sphere.
“I wanted to expose their artists to Colorado using write-ups, shows, and vice versa,” he shared. “Together we came up with this series to cross promote each other’s scenes. Since the first AZHHF, I’ve attended each one and brought CO artists with me to perform. Most notably, last year, we took several DJs and artists and really showed out in Phoenix.”
“Back when I focused on executive music production, my two main artists were Don Blas and Wriky Knotz,” he said. “We featured their music on SWT 1 & 2 but they both ended up with trouble with the police which stifled our plans to bring Wriky to Phoenix. We had multiple shows booked and couldn’t go because he went to jail.” Wriky Knotz was named the 2013 Rookie of the Year at the 5280 Awards and the momentum he built with 3 separate mixtapes in 2 years came to an abrupt halt.
“After that, I really stepped back,” Ontoneyo recalled. “I’d invested so much of my time into my artists and their strategies. When they got locked up, I realized that I hadn’t really taken any time to focus and develop myself and really take a look at the impact I wanted to make.”
SWT 1 & 2 were originally mixed by DJ John Blaze, but after presenting the first two volumes as Executive Producer, Ontoneyo joined the nationwide Table Mannerz DJs crew led by Zaytoven, DJ Rootsqueen, and DJ Showtime. Over two short years, he developed an extensive repertoire as a radio DJ for Digital Dope Radio (Zaytoven & DJ Digital Dope) and IKON Radio (DJ John Blaze), bringing the best of Colorado music to the forefront of his platforms.
“The transition to DJ was an organic route because people were already checking for Colorado music from me and I’m a natural at talk radio,” he shared. “When I first started in radio, I always had a guest DJ to mix the music but when my DJs were too busy, I would end up having to mix the show myself. Fortunately, I’d already been practicing for about 6 years because when I worked as a booking agent, I would get looped into DJ’ing events whenever a DJ wouldn’t show up. By that time, I had already executive produced about a dozen projects, so I knew the process pretty well.”
Since then, the CO and AZ scenes have both blossomed, resulting in some dope music. Adding the title, Radio DJ to his already lengthy resume, Ontoneyo’s devotion to the culture continues to push Denver music forward. SWT 3 features a greater range of artists than the first two, exposing some new talent while also featuring mainstays from each region. The fourth installment is already in the works and will be released later this year.
Download the IKON Radio app to tune in to The Ontoneyo Mixshow every Thursday at 3pm and download the Digital Dope Radio app to tune into Dabbin’ Dope with Ontoneyo every Tuesday at 4pm. Click below to stream South West Takeover 3 on TablemannerzDJs.com and listen to Ontoneyo’s interview on the award-winning Life Is Dope podcast.
