DJ Sneak
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DJ Sneak (real name Carlos Sosa) is a Puerto Rican house music DJ and producer raised in Chicago, Illinois. He is noted as being one of the second wave of influential Chicago house producers, (alongside the likes of Derrick Carter, Cajmere/Green Velvet, Gemini, and Paul Johnson) as well as a member of the vanguard of late-1990s American house producers.
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[edit] Biography
DJ Sneak began listening to House soon after he and his family arrived from Puerto Rico in the early 1980s. Because he could speak no English, Sneak gravitated to instrumental music (as well as graffiti art), and became inspired by Chicago legends such as Marshall Jefferson and DJ Pierre.
Many of those early innovators had left Chicago for the East Coast by the late 80s, when Sneak was ready to start in the business; by 1992, however, Cajmere had begun a resurgence in the city's classic sound by starting up Cajual Records. Sneak aided in the revolution with a series of singles on Cajual's sister label, the harder-oriented Relief Records, as well as putting out singles on the renowned Cajual imprint, setting the stage for a filtered disco house movement to come in the latter half of the 90s with singles such as “The Moondoggy Ep” and “Sneak Essentials.”
Besides other productions for Strictly Rhythm, Henry St., ZYX, 83 West and Feverpitch (several of which feature Armand Van Helden on co-production, building on the Latin vibes of their heritage), DJ Sneak has also released mix compilations including 1996's Kinky Trax Collection and the following year's Buggin' Da Beats. He continued to release tracks through the 90s and into the 2000s, scoring a worldwide smash with the single “Fix My Sink” produced with DJ Bear Who.
He eventually started his own label, Magnetic Recordings, and moved to Toronto, Canada, where he operated a DJ booking agency called All World Entertainment. He continues to travel all over the planet as an in demand DJ and is considered one of the top producers and remixers in dance music today.
