One of the most important individuals in the interconnected world of southern rap, Jordan Merz aka DJ Dirrty began his career at East Village Radio where he established the long running and highly influential show Ballers Eve. As the lead host & DJ of the show, Dirrty honed a knack for finding southern artists with extraordinary talent and giving them a platform to reach the larger New York market. The legacy of Ballers Eve and Dirrty’s role there cannot be overstated. For more than ten years the show carved a space for southern rap during a time when the region was commonly derided on the East and West coasts. Ballers Eve became a destination for artists moving up out of obscurity and many of them still credit Dirrty for giving them love first. It was at Ballers Eve that he discovered a young Trinidad James. Dirrty orchestrated every step of James’ early career and was responsible for putting the artist together with the team at Motion Family to direct the All Gold Everything video. The visual and the song went viral accumulating almost seven million views securing James a lucrative deal with Def Jam in the process. Dirrty has been quietly putting pieces together for numerous artists this way for a very long time namely Freddie Gibbs, Pill, Yelawolf and G-Side. His assistance has been instrumental in the rise of southern rap as a whole and has earned acclaim from The Fader, Complex and The New York Times. Now, as southern rap’s elder statesman, DJ Dirrty has become the authority on the region and a key influencer behind the scenes.