Bushwick DJ Wins Bed-Stuy Beethoven Remix Contest

DJ Eddie Marz, a hip-hop producer from Bushwick, has been named the winner of The Brooklyn Philharmonic’s Beethoven Remix Project, and his track, “Ill Harmonic,” will be performed at the Brooklyn Phil’s Bed-Stuy Orchestra Concert on June 9.

Marz was selected from five finalists who were asked to remix the finale of Beethoven’s “Third Symphony” (the “Eroica”), and his remix will be adapted by composer Andrew Norman and performed live by the Brooklyn Phil as part of its season finale concert in Bed-Stuy. The event also features hip-hop legend Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) and a tribute to Bed-Stuy native Lena Horne.

"It's a brilliant remix,” said Brooklyn Phil Artistic Director Alan Pierson. “I love DJ Eddie Marz's obsessive fixation on two Beethoven riffs, which he juxtaposes in ways Beethoven never would have imagined. It's exactly the sort of thing I was hoping this Remix Project would lead to: a fantastically original use for Beethoven's musical ideas. And his remix has already totally changed the way I hear the Beethoven—I can't listen to that movement without hearing in those riffs the potential for what Eddie Marz has created."

DJ Eddie Marz, whose real name is Darryl Small, started his career at age 16, beat-boxing at local talent showsin New Jersey, before fronting the group 4 or 5 Dopes in Los Angeles.

“This has been a life-changing event as far as my musical career is concerned,” said Marz.

Listen to Marz’s winning remix, “Ill Harmonic,” (as well as other contest entries) on the Brooklyn Phil’s web site.

The concert will take place on June 9 at 8 p.m., at Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton Street. Admission is free.