James Christopher D'Agostino (born July 7, 1975), professionally known as DJ Green Lantern, is an American hip hop DJ and producer from
Rochester, New York. In 2002, D'Agostino was signed by American rapper
Eminem, to become the official DJ for
Shady Records, after
DJ Head stepped down for undisclosed reasons.[1]
Biography
Rise to fame
DJ Green Lantern came to prominence in the late 1990s–early 2000s with his signature brand of mixtapes. The creativity of these tapes caught the ear of many industry power players, one of which was Eminem. The first set of officially sponsored mixtapes from Eminem's
Shady Records. On the series, spanning three mixtapes (later to be spun off into the Armageddon series), the DJ broke several diss records, furthering the issues between Eminem and
Benzino/The Source, as well as the entire Shady camp and
Ja Rule/
Murder Inc.
He is also recognized as a
producer, featuring on his own mixtapes several "Green Remixes," including, most notably, a remix of the
Nas and
Tupac Shakur collaboration, "Thugz Mansion." He also produced
D-Block's "2 Guns Up", an acclaimed street single, which originated as a
freestyle rap on his
Hot 97 radio show, "In the Lab" (the most memorable of which has also appeared as a mixtape, "The Best of In the Lab"). "In the Lab" is formatted as a one-hour (with commercials) mix show, in which DJ Green Lantern blends
a cappella and instrumental tracks from various artists, as well as breaking new and underground music (such as the
Ghostface Killah and
El-Producto collaboration "HideYaFace").
As a member of the Shady Records family, D'Agostino also hosted a show on Eminem's
Sirius Satellite Radio channel,
Shade 45, along with an accompanying mixtape released in the
fall of 2004. As Eminem's DJ, D'Agostino was responsible for
touring with him and
spinning at shows such as the Shady National Convention and
The Game's album release party. D'Agostino's much anticipated album Armageddon was set to be released under Shady Records, but controversy and an eventual parting would put the release in limbo.
D'Agostino recently put together and mixed the highly anticipated Bar Exam 2 mixtape by acclaimed Detroit MC
Royce da 5'9". Green took over for
DJ Premier and
Statik Selektah who hosted and mixed Royce's first Bar Exam Mixtape. The Bar Exam 2 was pushed back several times because of Green Lantern's inability to mix the tape due to his touring. After several stated released dates, Bar Exam 2 was finally released on September 15 as a free download on
HipHopDX.com. Due to the high anticipation of the mixtape, Royce gave the mixtape the slogan "Happy Bar Exam 2, It's a Holiday" prior to its release.
Pulse of the People
D'Agostino collaborated with
Dead Prez on their latest album, Pulse of the People: Turn Off The Radio, Vol. 3, released in June 2009[2]
GTA IV
Together with
Mister Cee, he is featured as host of the hip-hop radio station "The Beat 102.7" in the video game
Grand Theft Auto IV. The station is essentially a parody of
Hot 97.[3] Instead of using existing songs, Green Lantern produced the songs exclusively for "The Beat 102.7".[4]