VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Audacy’s Oceanfront Concerts will make its first debut in Virginia Beach this weekend. The three-day event runs from April 26 – 28.
On Friday, free events run from midday to 5 p.m. at the 17th and & 24th Street Parks.
The main event is located between 29th St. and Neptune Park. That’s where big names in hip-hop will perform, such as rappers NLE Choppa, Tee Grizzley, and Juicy J.
However, two local men, Adrian Shaw, or DJ Mista Cham, and DJ Julian Rivera, a.k.a Do your thing, are also hitting the big stage.
“It’s a great opportunity. And I love to just, you know, be on a big stage with such really cool artists and other DJs as well. You know, and we’ve got local DJs and we’ve got national DJs that we’re sharing the stage with. And we’re just ready to get out there and have some fun,” said Shaw.
Rivera agrees, saying it’s a chance for them to shine on a huge platform.
“The opportunity is amazing. But it’s even better to do it in our own backyard. You know, that’s the cool part. We don’t even have to leave town to do something like this. You know, we’re bringing some pretty good artists here. It’s going to be really good weather down there. Not too hot, not too cold. And we get to do what we like for the masses. So it can’t really get any better than that. For a deejay perspective,” said Rivera.
The duo are both the official DJ and hosts for Old Dominion University.
Rivera previously DJ’d at the Something In The Water music festival. He said the Audacy Oceanfront Concerts is the first fully hip-hop event at the oceanfront.
Rivera said he serves on the City of Virginia Beach’s Resort Advisory Commission.
While in that role, Rivera’s heard negative concerns regarding the rappers performing at the concert and their lyrics.
“Of course the lyrics are going to be crazy, but majority artist are. I don’t care what genre it is. The one thing that we’ve never had is a hip-hop show on the sand before. We’ve had Something in the Water, but you got to think that’s an open-format show that has a lot of everything. That includes hip hop, but not just primarily hip hop,” Rivera said.
He said the new concert could be the start of something great in the Resort City
“We’re opening another door that Virginia Beach has never seen before, especially on the beach in the sand, in the public eye. So we can always focus on the negative, but let’s try to focus on what positives potentially can come out of this. This is uncharted territory that we’ve never done before,” Rivera said. “We need to start from at least a positive perspective to be optimistic, regardless who the artist and everything are, because we’ve been granted this opportunity to have some awesome artists that we would never usually have here on the beach.”
As Djs, Rivera and Shaw have to be prepared to keep the crows pumped, no matter the circumstance.
“Doing shows is a fluid kind of thing. So you always have to be ready to hit play on a song. You always have a song on deck, you always have something ready,” Shaw said.
Both men said they’ve been DJs for more than a decade. Shaw shared advice for anyone who wants to become one.
“Be consistent and learn your music,” said Shaw. “You know, and in order to play to those different crowds, You have to you have to be able to play maybe a little country here and mix it with a little rock. Maybe see if you can get like a hip hop beat going on under it, and maybe even throw in a little reggae or afro beats or something like that and, you know, mix everything together.”
Rivera believes versatility goes far.
“We evolved into open format DJing where you can go from a 21 savage to a Katy Perry, to a Calvin Harris, to Guns N’ Roses, to a Jay Z and make it sound like a soundtrack,” he said.
You can catch DJ Mista Cham and DJ Julian Rivera on Saturday as soon as the gates open.
Gates open at 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
To purchase tickets, visit Audacy’s website here.