Nostalgic Bump

Lizzie Wright

Java Chatman, known to many as DJ Hova, fuses several genres of music to create hip mixes.

by Neola Young
April 8, 2009

The downstairs lounge at Elixir is packed with people dressed to impress, and the upper restaurant has its fair share of mingling. The bar is surrounded by bodies swaying to Java Chatman’s beats and dancing around each other. Nothing is off limits for his set list, which ranges from breakbeat jazz to Kanye West.

Chatman, also called DJ Hova, is effortless behind his tables and welcomes friends and strangers who casually walk up to say hello or approvingly nod in his direction. He watches the crowd like a supervisor, ensuring that everyone has a good time.

Chatman says Elixir hosts a mostly older crowd for the Friday event and likes that he can “take it back to ’93 and it’d be OK.” Truly, he does take the set back at least a decade by spinning Blackstreet and Next’s “Too Close” for a crowd that seems to dig the nostalgic bump.

The 25-year-old Jackson native has been deejaying in Jackson for nearly seven years and is beginning to find his stride. Between spinning parties and functions at Jackson State University, where he is a student, Chatman is making a name for himself by setting a groove that Jackson’s nightlife denizens dig.

While his evenings are committed to spinning for Jackson’s hip 20-somethings, Chatman spends his days attending classes at JSU, although that will end in May when he graduates with a degree in interdisciplinary studies. Chatman is also the deejay for WJSU’s Jazzmatic Afternoons. Every afternoon between 1 and 3 p.m., Chatman plays jazz, one of his many favorite music genres. “It comes down to that I just really love music—all kinds,” Chatman says.

He is candid about the artists currently in rotation for the show, ranging from Mississippi native Cassandra Wilson, to Jeff Bradshaw and Jackson native Michael Burton—who recently performed together at the Mississippi Museum of Art—to Blue Note 7’s “Mosaic,” a compilation of the best of Blue Note’s artists.

Chatman began his career as a deejay after his senior prom in high school.

“The deejay was awful, and I realized, you know, if he can do that, so can I, and I can do it better,” he says.

The experience led him to Pro-DJ Services, the company that provided the prom deejay. Chatman started talking to the company and figuring out what he would need to learn and start working. He also began looking through music equipment catalogues with friends and noting what he’d need for this venture. Soon afterward, the service started sending him out to parties with his book of discs. It is through his deejay connections that Chatman gets and maintains his gigs, including Trendsetter Fridays at Elixir.

Chatman is also fiercely loyal to local artists like Skipp Coon and often plugs their releases by playing them at his gigs. He has fun with his mixes and employs old and new tracks from various artists. Even with his attention to the local scene, though, Chatman is most influenced by Kanye West. He completed his mixtape “Kanye West on Acid” last year and has posted it on his Web site, anythingis1984.blogspot.com.

West’s influence on Chatman began with the release of “Through The Wire.” Chatman tried earnestly to turn Jackson on to the track when it was just appearing on a mixtape. He was part of a crew of promoters who even hosted a release party for the mix at Seven*Studioz five years ago. Today, he counts West as the “biggest man on the planet.”

“You have to first make good music, but you also have to be accessible to your audience,” Chatman says, offering advice to Jackson musicians looking to gain a solid support base.

Chatman now works only for himself, but is planning to form a company, DJs on Deck, with friends after he graduates in May. They are laying the groundwork now, he says, to “really go legit.”

For more info on DJ Hova or to book a gig, call 601-665-6910. Visit http://anythingis1984.blogspot.com.