DJ (RBI) Ron Brown - Director of Projects and Events

Ron Brown pka “DJ RBI” is an artist /entrepreneur working in arts and entertainment, particularly DJing, radio programming / production, stage performance, music production and  visual art. He engages audiences behind the turntables as DJ RBI, a principal member of the DMV-based DJ collective, Diamond Cutterz. A longtime professional working in youth development, he has taught and mentored students with organizations including the D.C Commission of the Arts and Humanities, Words, Beats, & Life and Guerilla Arts INK.

Recording artists such as Kev Brown, yU, Priest Da Nomad, Maimouna Yousseff, Uptown XO, Substantial, Surock, Empuls and DJ 2Tone Jones are among those who have collaborated with, and released work featuring, DJ RBI. He has toured and performed with acts including Dumi Right & Zimbabwe Legit, Opus Akoben, Mumu Fresh, Asheru and The Unspoken Heard, The Infinite Loop, Ethan Spalding, The TrapRock Family, RNL, and 90's hip-hop legend YZ. RBI is a creative partner and performer in seminal Hip-Hop theatre act, “Hueman Prophets” and has been a regular associate of The Hip Hop Theatre Festival/ Hi-Arts (NYC), including a stint as a foundational participant in the groundbreaking “A Rhyme Deferred,” alongside Kamilah Forbes, Jabari Exum, Chadwick Boseman and others. 

On radio, RBI is a producer/DJ/host and programmer of 89.3 FM WPFW's “ILL Street Grooves” and “Capitol ILL,” and has created artwork for many independent companies over the decades, notably co-creating the character, “Da Great Deity Dah” with Damola Idowu, which has been featured on various products and merchandise globally since 1995.

RBI founded DC Hip Hop Archive in 2014, institutionalizing the historic journeys, stories and figures of the Greater Washington DC area's Hip Hop community. He also started a vending business, The Crate Adventure, selling vintage vinyl records, comics, magazines, books, and related media, both as an online business and a pop-up shop. In addition, he's planning the launches of AKARBI.com (his online headquarters) as well as BOOMandPOW.com, which curates and chronicles Comics/Geek Culture along with its influence on Hip Hop Culture.