Today we’d like to introduce you to Sabrina Santiago.
Hi Sabrina, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started working in the electronic dance music scene back in 2011 as a raver turned promoter turned DJ/producer. I grew up in Virginia Beach, VA and the dance scene back then was very small. My friends and I would travel to the bigger cities close by like DC and Baltimore for raves and one of the promotion companies throwing parties was called Steez Promo. I reached out to them to help promote back home in VA Beach and it just so happened that they were planning on expanding and throwing events in my area. So I started off as a street promoter and quickly made my way up to becoming the Market Manager of my region. I always thought DJing was so cool and I was so completely in love with electronic music at the time. It surrounded my life for so long already as my dad is also a DJ/turntablist. Like I said previously, the dance scene in my area was very small and it became quite difficult to book fresh new local opening acts to open up for the bigger DJ’s because there weren’t as many people in the area playing electronic music. So I decided to start learning to DJ myself and I ended up booking myself for some gigs, lol! I became completely obsessed with DJing and learning crowd control and also what it takes to become a solid tastemaker. From there, I got really good and started getting noticed in other cities and booked to DJ. I quickly realized I needed to not only become a good DJ but also to start producing my own work. So I ended up taking music production/business management at Full Sail University (which I later dropped out because it was too slow pace for me).
In 2014, I decided to take the leap and move from VA to LA with only three suitcases and a few hundred bucks. I really immersed myself in the dance music culture moving here. Networking, meeting other producers/DJS, collaborating, DJing as much as possible to get my name out there (even if it was for little to no pay). I really hustled for years while working odd jobs on the side. I had another alias at the time called IRIS and for a little while there, I lost sight of the purpose and vision of the brand and what I wanted to do with the music. I wanted to create something different but still the same, still me. I’ve always been a fan of cross-bending genres. In IRIS, I would make tons of edits and mashups of emo vocals and dubstep drops, I love that. I really wanted to make a new statement of crossing genres and not caring what the norm is or what other people think. So that’s where MADGRRL came from, driven by passion of not giving a fuck! When I started releasing tunes with cross genres of Hard Dance and Dubstep people’s heads started turning because at the time only a couple of DJs were doing that – and definitely no other girl DJs were. I started getting show and festival bookings, big labels were releasing my music and I ended up signing with Corson Agency. I launched MADGRRL in end of 2018 and since the project has taken off and I’m super excited with the reaction to the DJ sets and music! I want to keep pushing the project with crossing boundaries and exposing the genres to people who normally wouldn’t listen to them. Hopefully, with the world slowly opening back up I can get back to doing what I love the most, DJing!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think the entertainment industry in general is NEVER a smooth road, lol! I had a lot of people in the beginning of the MADGRRL project really hated on the tunes and the idea of crossing genres. A lot of die-hard hardstyle fans are not about crossing other genres with hardstyle, they like it pure. Which I get, not hard feelings towards that. But that’s just not me and not what I want to do. I want to expose other people to hard dance as the genre isn’t as popular as dubstep and even house music in the states. And it starts with creating tunes and DJ sets that incorporate other genres for others to relate to. I just want as many people to fuck with my music and united!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a DJ/producer and I’m known for making/playing hard dance/dubstep tunes.
I’m most proud of playing EDC Las Vegas in 2019.
What sets me apart from others is playing and making multi-genres as far as the music. I’m also a Hispanic girl DJ and there are only a few of us as dance music is a white male-dominated industry.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Networking has always been a strength of mine. I love meeting and connecting with people so when I moved to LA, it was very easy for me to go out and meet industry people. My advice is always put yourself out there! The worst that can happen is you hear a “no”. And trust me, I heard 100000 no’s before I heard my first yes!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madgrrlmusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MADGRRLmusic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/madgrrlmusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI2cP2dnuMHTNY61oggmciw/about
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/madgrrl
Image Credits
Alex Estrada Jason Vongdara Tony Siberian Pablo (pv.exploring)
