DJ Vlad

Vladimir Lyubovny (born June 28, 1973 in Kiev, Soviet Union now Ukraine)[1] better known as DJ Vlad, is a disc-jockey and executive vice president at Loud.com, part of the SRC/Universal family. Vlad has produced and directed films. He is also CEO of VladTV.com - a video website that many refer to as 'The TMZ of Hip-Hop'.[2]

A computer science graduate of UC Berkeley, Vlad began his career as a computer programmer. He eventually started his own dot-com staffing company, GigaStaff.[2]

In 2000, Vlad closed down Gigastaff and turned his attention to music. He moved to New York and helped create one of the best known mixtapes of all time - Rap Phenomenon along with DJ Dirty Harry. The Rap Phenomenon mixtapes won awards from Rolling Stone, MTV and XXL magazine.

Vlad then turned his attention towards film. He directed on the American Gangster TV Series, as well as the internationally distributed documentary film 'Ghostride the Whip'.[3][4] DJ Vlad also produced and hosted Russell Simmons' & Stan Lathan's 'Hip-Hop on Demand' - a nationally syndicated, on-demand Hip-Hop lifestyle channel on Comcast.

In 2008, DJ Vlad started VladTV.com, a hip hop video news site becoming the number 10 news channel on all of YouTube and that includes ABC News, Associated Press and similar channels.[2]

Shortly after launching the channel, DJ Vlad was allegedly assaulted by rapper Rick Ross' entourage after VladTV covered a story on the rapper's former career as a corrections officer. Vlad filed a $4 million lawsuit that is currently in NY Federal Court. On April 15, 2010, a New York Federal Jury awarded DJ Vlad $300,000 in his civil suit, finding Ross liable for his crew breaking Vlad's eye socket at the Ozone Awards in Houston, Texas, in 2008.[5]

In April 2009, the massively popular Star & Buc Wild show joined the VladTV family to do a daily feature.[6]

In May 2010, DJ Vlad appeared on Adult Swim's cartoon the Boondocks.[7]

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ DJ Vlad: I‘ll Start To Worry When They Stop Talking About Me. hiphoplt.com
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Benoit, Kevin. "DJ Vlad - 60-Hour A Week Work Ethic Pays Off". Parle Magazine.
  3. ↑ "Ghostride the Whip". Debate.
  4. ↑ DJ Vlad at the Internet Movie Database
  5. ↑ Gendar, Alison (April 16, 2010). "Jury orders gangsta rapper Rick Ross to pay $300k to DJ Vlad for entourage attack". NY Daily News.
  6. ↑ Hinckley, David (April 28, 2009). "Star and Buc Wild get online with Vlad". NY Daily News.
  7. ↑ "DJ Vlad Talks "Boondocks" Season 3 Cameo". Complex. April 9, 2010.

External links