Luis Cedeno, hip hop's first Latino DJ

It's a tale of a time and a temper in the Bronx from three decades ago, yet some of its lines are as current as today.

It's a story of a kid who endures an abusive father, agonizes over his chronically ill mother, drops out of school and finds his place in crime - robbing, stabbing, beating and shooting to gain a warped respect on the streets.

There's a stretch in Rikers Island and being sentenced to a state prison term for attempted murder.
Remarkably, the most dramatic downward spirals in this saga take place BEFORE Luis Cedeno turned 17 years of age, and AFTER he had made a mark in pop culture history as the first Latino hip hop deejay.

And just when you think Cedeno can't change, just when you get angry with him for sliding back to the worst of street life, there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
The love of a good woman.

A life turned around, despite more tragedies - not of his doing - that befall him.
"The message is inspiration and hope," Cedeno, 48, said in an interview last week.
"My story is not unique, it's generational."

It's Cedeno's just-published book, "It's Just Begun: The Epic Journey of DJ Disco Wiz, Hip Hop's First Latino DJ."

He will be signing it at the Bronx Museum of the Arts on Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Cedeno is recognized as a pioneer of hip hop, in its formative days in the Bronx. He became enthralled with the pulsing sounds at 13.

Soon he was known as DJ Disco Wiz, and with Grandmaster Caz they rocked parties, spinning records and combining sound bites, special effects, and blending two records to sound like one in a groundbreaking style.
But while Cedeno says his love of the music is a big part of his life, it's not the reason for the book.

"I never tried to market this as a hip-hop book," he said. "It's really about the journey of a young man who never thought he could see beyond his reach.

"I always wanted to do a book; I just didn't know what kind."

He sat down with author Ivan Sanchez a couple of years ago and did a series of interviews.
"I told my story to a virtual stranger, and it opened up layers, it was a therapeutic process," he said. "A lot of stuff I had put away.

"I wanted to keep it matter-of-fact, not glorify anything."

The book is an easy read, with a conversational tone, and all the grit, violence and sadness come through.
You can't get any more hardscrabble than Cedeno's Ryer Ave. block, near 183rd St., off the Grand Concourse, in the 1960s and '70s, and he chronicles the flavor.

The book also bluntly describes prison life, the even more violent streets in the 1980s and '90s, and then his turnaround, getting an education and pursuing a career as a chef at tony places in Manhattan.

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