When DJ Oreo turns 26 on Sunday, he’ll celebrate by facing off informally against Elz the DJ, another young Chicago talent on the ones and twos. “There’s been ongoing talk about who’s better between me and Elz the DJ,” Oreo says. “This is Tyson versus Holyfield.”
Oreo says he also curated War Zone dance battles, which have been integral to Wala Williams’s CAN TV show, Wala Cam. And Oreo’s involvement in footwork colored his early DJing and production. “I was producing juke music for a year and a half,” he says. “I realized you’re a lot cooler when you can do more than one style of music.” When Oreo DJ’d his own 16th birthday, he rented a space above an underground strip club, and its adult clientele would wander through the party and respond better than Oreo’s pals—an eye-opening moment for him.
