DJ Papi Disco

Papi Disco, known to his family as Dorian Lopez, is a Chicano multi-instrumentalist percussionist that is equally adept on the turntables. From time spent producing some of the most memorable events of Northeast Florida and procuring global talent to descend onto his adopted hometown, Lopez has gained the reputation of being a serious musician with an unbound creative focus. His love of salsa and soul, hip hop and hits, disco and dance music have allowed Lopez to evade pigeonholes in an industry quick to place artist in tide, little boxes. Born in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles, California, the young Lopez grew through circumstance into the teenager that spent a number of years as homeless young man, navigating the streets of L.A. with a crew of gutterpunks living in in abandoned buildings. A flippant invite to hop trains towards the East Coast brought Lopez to Northeast Florida, where he was able to channel the angst into percussion classes and, eventually in 2004, landed an internship at a small record label, which allowed his to learn the ropes of the music business. His love for hip hop and neo-soul led him to his first experiments with beat-making, where the natural progression and the innate acumen quickly led to the sale of his first few beats. That led to work a s a percussionist in the Elevated Hip Hop Experience, a large ensemble band that fit his tastes. But there was still a part of Lopez’s identity that lacked development. That all changed with a chance meeting with a Cuban percussionist who formally introduced Lopez to the Afro-Cuban rhythms that permeated his youth. The lesson proved invaluable, as Lopez began to meld the different styles into what for him was a signature sound. His success with the groovy Ancient Deep and the infamous party The Garage, finally gave Lopez the platform to showcase just how well-rounded a musician he had become. He was able to connect with a not-so-distant cousin that had moved to the area before him, Goliath Flores and worked on several different projects that still thrive to this day. The requests to provide beats, percussion and remixes soon followed. Today, Lopez is one of the most in-demand DJs in Northeast Florida primarily because he can and does play it all. Weekly WAX & WHISKEY events and partnership with Modern Music’s Joe D Jax Record Fairs and Pop Up have been the backbone of the North Florida’s vinyl community and keeping strong! The moniker Papi Disco came from uniting his known love for deep cut Disco tunes and a former colleague that referred to him as ‘Papi.’ Papi Disco knows that regardless of the destination the journey is the good part and there is some much room for creativity in the journey.