‘The most important DJ in the UK’? Live streamer takes music to streets

DJ AG knew he was on to something after Daddy Freddy’s performance.

The DJ, real name Ashley Gordon, has garnered more than 385,000 followers by doing something incredibly simple: playing music outside and allowing people to perform alongside him while he livestreams the results.

When Daddy Freddy approached him in Brixton, he did not know the man who picked up the mic was the holder of the Guinness Book of World Records title of world’s fastest rapper and a popular dancehall performer in the 1990s.

“That was the gamechanger,” says Gordon. “He came on and started doing his thing, and when I posted it things went mad. That was the spark.”

His setup is simple: decks, mixer and a rig that holds his gear. There are a couple of cameras, one fixed on him and his guest, the other facing the assembled crowd, who might only number a handful, but his online following is vast.

The Daddy Freddy clip has amassed more than 1m views.

Gordon decided to “go outside” in 2023. He has pitched up on a traffic island in the middle of Wood Green in north London, outside Brixton tube station and on a busy corner in King’s Cross. He has also gone abroad, performing in Miami, since quitting his job as a sales manager for a FTSE 250 company.

Elijah, a DJ, lecturer and author of a forthcoming book on the state of the music industry and creativity in the UK, has said DJ AG is “the most important DJ in the UK”.

“Important DJs have an interesting distribution mechanism, they have magnetism and they showcase things you wouldn’t see elsewhere,” says Elijah. “I can’t think of that many examples of people who are doing that right now.”