2 months ago
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From walking the streets to share his soca mixes to rocking big stages across Jamaica, DJ Matt Camps has his eyes set on bigger dreams—and he’s not slowing down anytime soon.
“I just love soca music and love music in general. I started deejaying out of curiosity. I downloaded virtual dj back in high school, so I always use to make my own likkle playlists and mixes for when I used to play [video] games and then eventually it was something I was more curious about when I dropped out of UTech, and it’s something I just stuck with ever since,” said the deejay, whose given name is Mathew Campbell.
“After the pandemic, I went into it full-time and I’ve been doing it ever since,” added the Portmore resident.
Known for his high-energy sets and deep love for soca, DJ Matt Camps, who has been in the game for 10 years, continues to be sought after by promoters and brands, cultivating a merry band of supporters.
His entrepreneurial drive has led him to launch his own merch, much to the delight of his supporters. He’s also stepped out from behind the console to promote his own event — Soca Camps — which returns for its third staging tonight. Calling it one of the highlights of his career, he was proud of last year’s execution and is aiming to go even bigger this time around. We caught up with the deejay and promoter in this week's 5 Questions With ...
1. How do you keep abreast of new soca music?
Well, keeping up can be a bit difficult because a lot of different islands release music throughout the year—especially during summer and leading up to Trinidad Carnival. It’s really tough, but I do my best to stay on top of the biggest songs from each island [by paying attention to the space].
2. What’s the response been like to the new 2025 soca music in Jamaica?
The reception locally is pretty good so far. The smaller fêtes have the people who really love the music, and it’s been really good to get reception to some songs that might not be getting played as much. We still have to warm up the people who don’t go out that much or don’t really research much of the music. But, [overall] the reception has been good.
3. There is a perception that deejays always play the same 10 soca songs. How do you distinguish yourself?
It is pretty easy to distinguish yourself when you know music. I try to mix it up, I play the songs people know and the songs that they might not know but still fits the theme of what’s going on. I try to mix in the older stuff as well, to keep people’s attention and their interest. That is me, I try to tell a story with the music that I play.
4. What has your journey as a deejay been like so far?
The journey has been a hill-and-gully ride, pretty much. There’ve been some difficulties, but at the same time, you can’t really take anything that happens personally—you just have to keep working, keep focused on your vision and what you’re doing. There’ve been rough patches, but, at the same time, if I look back 10 years [ago], when I just started fooling around with deejaying, I would say I have accomplished everything that I wanted to do. So I can say that it’s been great.
5. What’s it been like stepping out from behind the turntables and into the role of promoter?
What made it come about is that I started putting out my mixtapes called Soca Camp, back in 2017. And eventually, I had the vision that maybe it can be like a party one day, kinda inspired by Private Ryan (popular Trinidadian soca deejay and promoter) with Soca Brainwash. And, eventually, after the pandemic, I said let me take this risk, keep a likkle pop-up, and then eventually 2023 was the first staging. It came to life, and it was great. To move from being a deejay to being a promoter gives you a different perspective. A lot of the things you think about as a deejay, you start to understand [more] when you become a promoter; you start to kinda get the perspective of a promoter and think about things in a way [that isn’t] just one-dimensional. You start to understand perspectives better, and I feel like that has taught me a lot.
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