Keoki

Keoki ranks among the most prominent DJs operating in the mainstream American dance music circuit. Across roughly six mix albums, and beginning with the 1997 set Ego Trip, he also issued original productions that fused breakbeat rhythms with trance textures. Born in Panama and raised in Hawaii, he reached the continental United States in the mid-1980s and took an airline position in New York. While working evenings at the Danceteria nightclub he resolved to convert his enthusiasm for music into a DJ career, soon emerging as one of the city’s most colorful turntablists—he had already adopted the name “Superstar DJ Keoki” well before attaining wider notice.

After issuing several mixtapes in the early 1990s, he obtained a licensing arrangement with Moonshine Music and made his first appearance on the label’s Journeys by DJ series in 1994. Further mix albums followed over the next two years, among them the 1995 release All Mixed Up, which emphasized his preference for deep trance, and the 1996 album Disco Death Race 2000, which reflected a lighter, humorous outlook. Although he delivered a fourth mix LP in 1996, Keoki had already chosen a new course by issuing his first self-produced single, “Caterpillar.” The track climbed to number three on the dance charts and earned him a place on that summer’s Lollapalooza tour. After relocating from New York to Southern California he began work on his debut album of original material, which appeared as Ego-Trip in July 1997.

Remaining several steps ahead of expectations, he returned in 1998 with an additional mix album together with a set of Ego-Trip remixes by the Crystal Method, Rabbit in the Moon, Omar Santana, and Cirrus, among others. Djmixed.com arrived in 2000 and was followed a year later by the full-length album Jealousy. The limited edition of the album contains both remixes and previously unreleased tracks.