Meet Conner Floyd

Today we’d like to introduce you to Conner Floyd.

Conner, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Slick Floyd started when I was around the age of 16 and rekindled a past interest in music production. I was heavily inspired by hip/hop and rap at the time and in particular, Kanye West’s production style, so I was sampling old jazz and lo-fi songs and adding drums to make get my footing in the production game. Around the age of 18, I was brought to my first underground rave and I never looked back. Started DJ’ing March of 2017 and since then it’s been nothing but a rollercoaster of a journey.

House music has taken over control of my soul and has been the center focus of my project since I started DJ’ing. Fast forward to today, I’ve released my first single on Soundcloud and have a remix for Tryb and Matalo on Spotify, with a lot more songs on the way. My roots started in the underground since in the rap scene, that’s how respect is earned in your hometown. I’ve progressed to playing venues like Aura Nightclub, Shady Park, and rocked my first festival performance with my buddy Kody Black at Gem & Jam 2020! Most recently, I played the Phoenix Lights DJ Competition with some good friends of mine which were an awesome experience and ideal exposure.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has definitely not been a smooth road, but a rewarding one. I came into the scene wide-eyed and optimistic, which I believe is the correct way to come into any situation. While I’ve remained optimistic, I’ve experienced unprofessionalism that’ll make your jaw drop and has allowed me to shift my focus onto people and events that better align who I am as a person and as an artist, thus creating a more narrow-focus. One of the messages that have stuck with me forever is that life doesn’t always come easy, but you can do whatever you put your mind to. It can create some amazing experiences along the way and that’s how I’d describe my journey; as an amazing experience!

We’d love to hear more about your work.
I have been involved in putting together underground shows in the past, but a lot of my work recently and been strictly focusing on my production and playing shows all around Arizona. A consensus I receive is that I’m known to set a vibe that people that can really groove with. What I focus on personally is to be able to play the light-hearted sounds while also dropping down into deep, dark and dirty tones that tickle the eardrums. Being able to bring people in and out of emotions while playing something as repetitive as house music can be, is definitely something I am proud of. I have also taken a good amount of time and effort into teaching some good friends of mine that go by the names of Devin West and AsYouWere the tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way and I’m proud of their progress in such a short amount of time. Speaking of a group of people, I consider close friends in our scene and I have a project called the Tastemakers Union which will focus on showcasing some of the best underground talent outsides and inside AZ has to offer. Very excited about this.

What were you like growing up?
I’m not sure of the exact reason why, but I’ve always had a desire to entertain on a big-scale level. Throughout my younger years, I was always intrigued by music, movies, video games, basically anything with entertainment value. I believe this helped me connect with people of all ages and demographics throughout my life on a seamless level. By 5th grade or so, I was determined to be the next Peyton Manning. I became obsessed with football up until I stopped growing at around 5’9 and realized I probably wasn’t going to be the next Peyton Manning. It wasn’t long before my interest in music production spiked and I started focusing on being the next Kanye West or something. I even sold my damn PS4 to keep me from getting distracted at one point. Not long after I got into “EDM”, I enrolled in DJ classes at Scottsdale Community College with DJ Ruthless Ramsey and DJ Ascension, a couple of great mentors and great friends of mine. They really helped assure me that I could be great one day with the proper discipline and making the right moves business-wise. From there, I knew I had to tap into my inner-child personality and allow myself to make friends and connections that have helped me pave the path. Forever grateful for my mentors and friends that have believed in me and continue to do so.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @djslickfloyd
• Facebook: Slick Floyd
• Twitter: @djslickfloyd

Image Credit:
Sydney Alexis
Joshua Andrews
Carly Cotitta
Samantha Crosner

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