DAMION “DAMIZZA” YOUNG Biography: Damion "Damizza" Young is more than just a producer who has been heard by over a billion people and spent over 500 weeks on the Billboard charts: He is one of the most influential radio programmers of our time, widely credited for changing the landscape of West Coast music and also ensuring its future by mentoring many young up-and-coming artists. His story illustrates how hard work can turn dream into reality. Starting in radio at the age of 12 as a studio assistant, Damizza was an on-air personality less than a year later. During his meteoric rise at his native Santa Barbara’s popular alternative station KHTY, he introduced the world to many artists, most notably Fiona Apple, Garbage and Hootie & The Blowfish. Within five years he was at the helm of one of the most influential radio stations in the world, L.A.’s Power 106. His determined vision for the evolution of West Coast rap and R&B lead him to become one of "the Top 5 most powerful people in Hip-Hop," as rated by Source magazine. Pulitzer Prize-winning L.A. Times reporter Chuck Phillips described Damizza as the country’s "most powerful radio executive" during the height of Power 106’s unmatched success. While senior director of programming at the landmark station, Damizza helped break such artists as Jay Z and Eminem and rejuvenated the troubled careers of established stars like Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson. As his influenced grew beyond the airwaves, Damizza began making beats for an A-list of the Hip-Hop and R&B world, including Mariah Carey, Snoop Dogg, Korn, Fat Joe, Ice Cube, Ja Rule, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Ludacris, Nate Dogg, Bishop Lamont, Butch Cassidy, Warren G., EA Sports (Madden & NBA Live), Aly & A.J., Jennifer Love-Hewitt, & Young De — to name a few. He reunited Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, which led to the recording of the Chronic 2001 album and tour, and introduced Mariah to Busta Rhymes, Snoop and Puffy, sowing the seeds for their Hot 97 Summer Jam performance. He was key in the teaming of Snoop with Doug E. Fresh to perform "Lodi Dodi" that same year. Since retiring from radio, Damizza has focused his efforts on running his own Baby Ree Entertainment. Though his label, he teamed up with Emmy and Grammy Award-winning television composer Mike Post (Law & Order) to release the "L.A. Blues Alliance," which featured a supergroup of music legends such Keb Mo', Snuffy Walden, Amy Keys, Sonny Landreth, Bob Glaub and others. Over the past couple of years, Damizza has also been heavily involved in his hometown, doing lectures at Santa Barbara City College's esteemed music department and performing at local high school events. He has also donated his time and efforts to such charities as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Amer-I-Can Foundation, Unity One, and the Santa Barbara Woman's Club. He stormed the California airwaves in 2007 with the enormously popular single “Cruizin’” from a duet CD with Butch Cassidy and kicked off 2008 with Young De's highly successful mixtape "Audio Hustlaz Vol. 1," which he co-executive produced with B-Real of Cypress Hill. Damizza has continued to shepherd the burgeoning careers of prodigies Becca Solodon, Carlos 'Los' Ramirez (Omar Cruz, Hot Dolla & MC Magic) and "Jedi" Jared Moore (Hi-Tek, Butch Cassidy & Young De) and plans to feature some of this new talent on the highly anticipated follow-up to "Damizza Presents .” If that's not enough, Damizza recently embraced yet another media — working with noted author and film director J. Marshall Craig (Rolling Stones, Eric Burdon) on his memoirs, "Guilty By Association," which promises a candid, no-holds-barred look at an already unprecedented career and life — a life so amazingly and totally influenced by the grandmother who raised him, and in whose honor Baby Ree is named.
