For over a decade, soca DJ Taj Graham, popularly known as King Taj, has been breathing life into soca music in Jamaica.

Born and raised in Kingston, Taj has always been an unorthodox student of music. He developed his first connection with music as a young boy in wonder, fiddling with his dad’s CDs and listening along with his mom to tracks from the late Byron Lee or tunes from her favourite radio station, Fame95 FM.

Speaking with Our Today, Taj explained: “I was a kid that always loved music, so downloading music onto my computer and burning CDs in high school, that was my thing, and I always had that love when listening to the radio stations.”

After encouragement from his sister to pursue DJing, he first found inspiration from Arif Cooper and Kurt Riley and began to study the craft seriously. While still a teenager, he began playing at small gigs such as community centre parties and school events until he was fortuitous and made contact with a member from the Rennaissance Sound System.

He later joined the popular sound system and continued to hone his skills under the mentorship of Stephen Gayle, better known as DJ Foodie and DJ Smoke, who helped him find his bearings as a DJ and put him on the path to his eventual success.

He would eventually transition from a dancehall DJ to a soca DJ but found that even with his love and understanding of music, entering the genre posed its own set of challenges.

Taj explained: “I had to learn the space and learn the different ways fans of soca react to their music. Soca fans appreciate the music a little more and almost in a different way than dancehall. It’s not fast mixing, so at the time I found it a little more intricate. In soca, people want to hear specific parts of their favourite songs and feel the energy behind them more. Dancehall uses more fast mixing and utilises nostalgia and punch lines a lot more.”

As his career as a soca DJ grew, Taj chose to adopt the name King Taj. He explains that people often misconstrue the meaning behind his name change.

“After reasoning with a friend of mine, an artiste named Kid Kurrupt, he told me how I needed to understand the power in my name. The name Taj in Hindi means crowned, and who wears a crown? A king. Along with the meaning, I wanted a way to pay my respects to old Jamaican DJs and sound systems and what they called themselves back in the day like King Tubby,” he explained.

King Taj eventually became affiliated with the Jamaica Carnival staple Bacchanal, which became the first step to his eventual regional gigs in Trinidad Carnival and internationally in New York City.

Following his newfound success, Taj decided to pay homage to his mother’s love and influence and became one of the in-house DJs at FAME 95 FM.

Unfortunately, a lot of his momentum was slowed during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced everyone indoors and put an end to outdoor activities, including all soca events.

He explained that he found success again, thanks to a weekly streaming broadcast by FAME that took place throughout the pandemic.

“2020 showed and taught me the importance of having good branding and I’m incredibly grateful for the people that continue to support me. One of the things that helped me push my brand was the FAME Frequency streaming broadcast at RJR that gave me the opportunity to show my face and showcase everything I can do, from old ’90s dancehall, hip hop, Afrobeats, to a bunch of other things,” said Taj.

“Coming out of the pandemic, GenXS has been the first band that I felt like I could feel the right energy with since Bacchanal. Right now, I plan to keep working and keep getting better and take things to another high with GenXS,” he continued.

When asked what he would be bringing to the GenXS carnival experience, Taj said: “For those who have a genuine love for soca, I can promise you consistent high throughout all of my sets.”