If you’re lucky enough to have experienced one of DJ Caleeb’s sets, you already know what type of time he’s on. In fact, he deems himself the “LL Cool J of DJs,” which fully comes to fruition when he removes his shirt during his DJ sets.

Born and raised in Chicago, real name Caleb Philogene is a Haitian-American DJ, artist, producer, songwriter, and philanthropist. He first gained global attention as a tour DJ for some of the biggest names in the music industry, like Juice WRLD, Toni Romiti, and Taylor Bennett.

In describing himself, he says, “I call myself a DJ/artist – it’s all-encompassing. I’m an artist when I DJ. I produce and work with a lot of artists. Making music and putting records together.”

After being on the road for five years, Caleb relocated to Miami during the pandemic and eventually rocked the Miami party scene. Now 15 years later, he knows exactly how to turn a crowd up and even created his own genre as a producer, “ALBOET,” which stands for “a little bit of everything.”

We spoke with DJ Caleeb in downtown Los Angeles to discuss his epic birthday functions, the best advice for aspiring DJs, and more.

How’d you get into DJing?

I got into DJing years ago. I was in high school, so I’ve been DJing for almost 15 years now. I’m 30 now. I went to a party. One of my friends was having an all-white party, I’ll never forget. There’s another DJ DJing. (I won’t say who it is because he’s kind of known.) He was poppin’ in Chicago at that time. It was a “sweet 16” party and I just felt like he wasn’t playing the right shit. I’m like bro, they should have had me DJ. Even though I didn’t know how to DJ. 

That day, I think his cousin was telling me how much he got paid. So I went home, and then I downloaded Virtual DJ. I started downloading a bunch of music. From that day, I wanted to DJ. My dad bought me a controller in December, and I practiced for six months, all the way into May. And I DJed my first party in May for $40, a graduation party. And I never looked back after that. 

How did you learn how to DJ? 

I taught myself. YouTube, playing around. When I got to college, there was one person who showed me some extra stuff, but I’m really self-taught. But the person who did show me stuff is Alex Soriano, so shout out to her.

Talk about the LVRN story. How did they get you in the game? 

When I was trying to get in the game, SXSW, remember that was a really big thing for networking years ago. First year I went, I didn’t even make moves. I was with the wrong people, I didn’t make no moves. Second year I went, this guy named J Mo was managing me, and he was best friends with Script. Script was doing SZA’s tour management, so Script gets us into the show. SZA was performing with Pandora or something like that. LVRN had an artist named Raury. Remember Raury? He was XXL, etc. 

So we connected off of that: Raury, SZA, etc.. I’m backstage with them, chopping it up with people. They were asking me what I do, “I said I’m a DJ. I’m trying to…” J Mo made me sound larger than life, even though I wasn’t really doing shit for real. I was working with Toni [Romiti] already, I’ll tell you that story too. But LVRN really got me in the lit shit. [snaps] Because the first event I DJed for them, they had me fly out literally a month later. They did this thing called Worldfest. Post Malone, SZA, and Andre 3000 were there. Big K.R.I.T., Joey Badass, a bunch of people. During that time, all those people were super turnt. Some of them are still turnt now, even still. 

But I was the DJ. I was the DJ for that shit. They had this private dinner, and they had me DJ. I just DJed there for the whole weekend, and I knew nobody. After that weekend, I knew a lot of people. I started networking. That made me start going to Atlanta all the time. I started throwing parties in Atlanta, started building my shit up. 

What was your biggest gig?

Lollapalooza. I was working with Taylor Bennett at that time. They gave me a set before, I did a 15-minute set. It was pretty fire. And I DJed on the DJ stage, in front of 15K, 20K people.

Were you nervous? 

I was nervous, but more so anxious, nervous. I’m excited, I want to do this.

What is your setup?

It depends. Depending on the venue, I’ll go off what the venue has. Sometimes I’ll bring my board, which is DDJ-SX3 or DDJ-1000. But normally I like to use the CDJs if the venue has that. That’s usually what I use, but I know how to use everything. Turntables, all of that. Turntables is just a lot to carry, so CDJs are the go-to.

Favorite song to drop in a set?

You can never go wrong with Sexyy Red. It’s gonna turn up everybody right now, she’s hot. She got it right now. But honestly, hottest song to drop is probably that “Kehlani” shit. That’s a good song. “I like the way your body is…” That’s the hottest shit right now. That song is fire.

Biggest pet peeve as a DJ?

Biggest pet peeve is people coming up to you drunk as shit, asking you to play a record. And half the time you always gonna play this shit. It’s an entitlement that people have. Another pet peeve is people trying to be all in the DJ booth with you, to look cool. I hate that shit. People trying to come in the DJ booth, look cool. Doing nothing.

Do you have residencies back home?

I’m a resident at this spot called HVAC, which is in Wrigleyville. It’s super lit, super turnt. Everybody comes and they just want to have fun. I love that spot. I’m actually doing my birthday party there, Club Caleeb.

Let’s talk about Club Caleeb! 

Club Caleeb is a traveling party. I’m starting the first one on my birthday in a week. This year’s on a Sunday. I plan on taking it to Seattle, New York, Miami. Then hopefully LA too.

And you’re producing as well?

Yeah, I’m producing a project. I’m working on some stuff with Toni [Romiti]. I met with Kosine, coming together to figure out how to make a collab project. It’s mostly produced by me or executive produced by me, that’s what I’m working on now. But I’m also working on music, just in general. I work with a lot of artists. 

What’s your genre?

My genre is “ALBOET.” It’s something I created: a little bit of everything. [laughs]

How did you tap in with Toni Romiti? 

This was 10 years ago. Toni was popular on Vine, and I was the DJ on Vine. You know how people do whatever it is that they do online? Mostly, Vine was on some funny shit. I was DJing on Vine. This guy named Mike, I’ll never forget Mike. He was working with her managers, or they were trying to get him to do stuff for him. She was looking for a DJ. He’s like, “Yo, I got a DJ for Toni.” So I came to the studio and I auditioned. Was DJing in front of her, she’s like, “Yeah you’re dope.” We’ve been locked ever since.

She’s one of the dopest people I know. 

She’s fucking amazing, and one of my best friends. Beyond music shit, literally one of my best friends. We know each other’s families. She knows my parents, my sister. My sister came to the show that we had in Bloomington.

You used to DJ for Juice WRLD?

I used to do Juice WRLD’s shit, I was the back-up DJ. Mike P was the main DJ. He’d do Coachella, all that shit. They’ll have me do random ones like South Dakota. But the thing about working with Juice that was fire, because those shows were still so big. We still was doing 3K capacity venues. A lot of people don’t know, but I also don’t be trying to make it a big deal because he’s not here.

Best memory with Juice WRLD? 

Getting on the jet.

What advice do you have for upcoming DJs?

Just work at it every day. Perfect your craft. It takes a lot of learning and experience. The only way you really learn is going out there and DJing. You’ll learn what moves the crowd, but perfect your craft. Do the work, meaning find the music and hone your skills. You do that, you’ll be able to do it.

Also, don’t be afraid to get on the mic. People feel different ways about it, but I always tell people, just be good at everything. You learn how to be on the mic, you learn how to mix the records, you learn how to pick the songs. 

Do the work, grind at it. The obvious things: network. What I always tell DJs too… I’m mentoring this kid who’s 17. He said, “Yo, I want to DJ.” He bought all this equipment. I said, “Look bro, find the owners of these places. Seriously. If you want to get in and start DJing, go to the owners. Don’t go to the promoters.” Shout out to the promoters, I ain’t shitting on them, but find the owners and build relationships. Everything is relationships.

About the Writer

Shirley Ju is a Los Angeles-based journalist and on-camera host with her own show called Shirley’s Temple (with a focus on mental health). She lives, breathes, and sleeps music, and if there’s a show in LA, you can find her there. Born in the Bay Area, the Hyphy movement is in her blood. Shirley contributes to several publications and also books for B-Real’s podcast. Follow her at @shirju on both Instagram and Twitter.