Words by SamSun

Photography by Nakeya B.

As far as city life goes, New York is characterized as a fast-paced, refreshed and cynical sea of opportunities. Philly, in sharp contrast, could be argued to have quite the polarizing effect, equipped with a laid-back, intimate and a quick-to-hype audience.
Perhaps that’s why Saure Benitez, better known as DJ Ultraviolet, moved from her family’s home in Spanish Harlem to the city of Brotherly Love at age 17. Perhaps that’s why Bee Eater Records, UV’s digital label, finds its home here (for now, at least). And perhaps it’s why success, despite its conception only a few months ago, seems like the label’s destined direction.

With a cigarette grasped in one hand and and a warm invitation given with the other one, Ultraviolet opened the door to her cozy house in South Philly and we were immediately greeted by the swarms of sneakers and records that decorated the rooms. With turntables in the corner, hip-hop memorabilia scattered randomly and Jay-Z as background music to our anticipated chat, we were already gaining insight to the woman who had fully immersed herself in the music industry.
To most of those acquainted with the Dominican CEO, she’s synonymous for her work on the turntables. Ultraviolet established herself as a pioneer when DJing was still an art rather than a trend, evidence of which is found in the thousands of vinyls strewn about the house. She looks at them with a sense of pride and a bit of distaste for its seemingly unavoidable extinction.
“On Saturdays, I used to have a routine– I’d go to Armand’s, then Sound of Market, then head down to South Street to Cue Records. It would be packed,” Ultraviolet reminisces, “But slowly it was less and less people. There was this whole wall of vinyl just collecting dust. Everyone was buying Serato, you know what I mean?”
Although she admits that the digitized system does eliminate the hauling of crates to and from venues, she laments for the stores like Armand’s and Cue Records (where she worked for a while) that had to close with the wave of new technology.
“My friend Skeme who deejays for Rocksteady, he can’t go download a break record–that’s something you have to go buy. I think CDs are going to be out the door in a few years. 8-tracks are going to be RIP. (Editor’s Note: We’re bringing it back) Vinyl made a comeback last year because I it’s becoming trendy. The rest of us who buy are collectors.”

Ultraviolet sees the heavy increase of DJs to mirror that same trend-factor. Although she had humble beginnings as one of the few females to spin in Philly, her growing notoriety gained her a massively popular “Ladies Love Hip Hop”, an event that she hosted monthly with Monie Love for three or four years. But since the event stopped, Ultraviolet found another outlet for success in starting a label.
“My friend Charley (DJ Truth) who runs Good Hand Records (Camp Lo, Reef the Lost Cauze, Chief Kamachi) had a conversation with me one day and was like, ‘You know all these emcees, you network pretty well, you should put them all together and start a label’,” says Ultraviolet, “and I thought that was a pretty good idea. He told me that if I started a digital label, he could get me distribution.”
Ultraviolet’s connections are what keeps the label thriving, a funding tool she aptly names “love”.  Although the costs of having things distributed through the web significantly aid in finances, the jobs she does need to outsource come from people she’s secured relationships with along the way, like longtime friend Mars who serves as her in-house graphic designer. “They just want to be down.” explains Ultraviolet.

She’s actually been friends with the artists signed under her label for a while, making the process of putting out music as a more familial, intimate process. She knows their schedules and their personal lives, takes that into account but still aims to generate music that resounds.
Fel Sweetenberg’s The Sophomore Jinx will be the first album to drop from Bee Eater, having been finished and in the process of being mastered. It’s expected to drop this fall, but goodies off the album have been featured on Okayplayer to rave reviews. Sweetenberg is a producer as well as an emcee.
Ethel Cee would be dubbed as another W.O.E (Women of Excellence), in ATEtrak terms. She just finished touring in the UK, rocking at venues that had the fortune of boasting her as the first female to spit at their stages. She’s working on a project called Texas Instruments, which is expected to drop at the end of this year.
Hu$tle Simmons, a duo made up of veteran Dave Ghetto on rhymes and Tha S Ence on beats, dropped a self-titled album in August of last year as part of Break Bread Projects. But their debut on Bee Eater, No Days Off, is already past the halfway point.
Bee Eater just finished a showcase on June 24th at Silk City, securing reviews that rendered the new label as a potent force. Ultraviolet is proud– rather than prolificness, she wants the name to be synonymous with quality music. Because her choice of artists secures good work, the rest of 2009 will be spent looking for shows for promotion and solid artists to serve as opening acts.
“I have this thing driven into my mind that if you want to start something and nobody loves you at home, it’s hard to get out of it. You have to make a statement here first. I want to take Bee Eater overseas, they’ll love it. They loved Ethel Cee.”
But Ultraviolet has some understandable hesitation in signing on any more artists. “People have been giving me CDs, and if I was five years deep, I’d probably be considering it. But this is a new venture for me, and it isn’t the smart thing to do right now. We’re just a few months old, so if I come across somebody who’s really dope and is mean and I can promote that– if I think it’s worth my time to promote that– then yeah.”
She hasn’t closed all doors yet, though. “I want to find a dope singer,” she says, excitedly. “That’s like my next thing, someone who’s versatile that can play an instrument, that has a good understanding of life. Someone who’s well-versed at life experiences. Basically, someone who could make me cry.”

Ultraviolet has obviously ranked on our W.O.E. list not only because  she’s had the balls (no pun intended) for tasting so much of the industry, but because she’s been a pioneer in her actions. After all, not much else can be expected from a woman whose very essence is “one step ahead”, both personally and career-wise.
“I’ve never been like, ‘Oh, they’re not accepting me.’ It’s like Fuck that, do your own shit! I’ve always thought like that. From parties to basically everything, if they don’t want me to be DJing, then fuck you, I’ll do my own parties. Not even to be hostile, but a lot of DJs that I know are like, ‘They don’t ask me to DJ, aw man’ but at a point it’s like, start your own shit.”
Being a woman has never been factored in as a negative thing, despite the hate ladies receive. “Philly is the mecca for haters, especially if you’re a chick. Old heads hate if new DJs take their spots. Guys definitely hate because in Philly, I think the girls run the hip-hop shit. We have a really good grasp on throwing events and doing parties. Right now I’m at the point where if you try to say something about you being a girl and it’s so tough, it’s like– get the fuck up out of here, I work way too hard to believe in that.”

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