DJ Pope, born and raised in Chicago, started DJ-ing in 1979.

From doing the mobile scene, house parties, school and local functions. He got his first big break in the middle 80's at a now Defunk nightclub that was once called "C.O.D." There he started DJ-ing for teen night parties, and would later open for Frankie Knuckles at "C.O.D." a couple of times.

 

In 1987 he packed up and moved to Baltimore to attend Morgan State University and later received a degree Radio Broadcasting with a minor in Speech.

 

While there he created a mix show called "Back On The Block" featuring mixes of House, Hip Hop and Reggae music on Friday nights from 12 midnight until 5 a.m.

 

The show was later named "The Underground Experience." Later in 1991 with his partner, DJ Oji, they produced their first record under the name "Brothers In The Struggle" entitled "Come Together." In 1995 the duo formed "Poji Records" as an outlet for putting their own productions and local producers material out, without any exterior influences. This way the Brothers would be in charge of their own destiny.