Source: Brandon Caldwell / Radio One Digital
DJ Megan Ryte has put it all into chasing her dreams. The Virginia-born DJ has gone all over the country, including a stop here in Houston at 97.9 The Box before landing at Hot 97 and eventually putting out her debut album, DJ Megan Ryte. However, the talented multi-hyphenate will tell you, even as she had her name in lights and on party flyers across the city and behind, she still had to hustle and piece it all together.
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“it’s one of those things were people look at the end, right? But they don’t look at what it took to get there,” Ryte told Keisha Nicole of Good Morning H-Town during an exclusive 1-on-1 chat. “I have – again, whenever somebody hits me up, and I try to have conversation, for some reason they can’t visualize that. They think that, OK, I’m living in New York City on Hot 97 and I got this album and I got all these amazing artists on this project and I’m putting it out. You see that! But you don’t realize how many years – I’ve literally been doing this for 15 years.
“It’s like when you start doing something for that long, you start asking, ‘How long did it take until you started being financially decent?’ I’d say it was about 10, 11 years in! Even before I got to Houston, I spent time being homeless, I was working here and that didn’t work out, I was trying to do this and it’s always the perception of what people see is one thing but what happens behind closed doors is another thing cause something about being in the music industry, you have to look like you already made it. If you don’t look like you already made it, nobody wants to take you seriously or support you.”
She continued, “I would remember I was DJing at clubs, and have my name on the radio and they would be like, Megan or BRyte as I was back then, she’s gon’ be at this spot tonight. And I would leave the spot and I would be sleeping in a cash-only motel! And nobody would see that or know that or I couldn’t tell people that because then, who’d book me for their spot? This girl? Now I think with social media and people being able to live in their authenticity, I think it gets better on some sides and worse on others because back then you couldn’t do that. So it’s been quite the time … quite the journey. But I wouldn’t change it.”
DJ Megan Ryte is a colossal coming out party for Ryte as it features some of her old Houston friends such as Bun B but also gets guest appearances from legends such as DJ Premier and Wyclef Jean, faves such as Guapdad 4000, upstarts like Yung Bleu and heavy hitters such as the Griselda faction of Westside Gunn and Conway the Machine.
Watch her full interview below and stream DJ Megan Ryte as well.
