Groove With DJ Soosh! & Friends
DJ Soosh! in action. Photography by Matthew Reyes
DJ Soosh!—who’s known across California’s hip hop scene—will return to Sacramento to headline the evening entertainment at this year’s Bazaar on Saturday, Aug. 8, 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Buddhist Church of Sacramento.
Soosh! started as a Sacramento DJ at Hot 103.5 (KHHM) and later at 102.5 (KSFM). A rapper and club host, he’s a fan favorite in Sacramento, performing at events such as the AAPI Night Market and Concerts in the Park, and clubs like Ace of Spades. (Slideshow below)
Now a Los Angeles-based DJ, artist, producer, and media personality, Soosh! is sure to inspire and energize (fun for all ages) with a 90-minute set filled with surprises. You will hear some of his new music for the first time, with friends and fellow artists from Sacramento, the Bay Area, and Los Angeles joining him onstage.
What’s In a Name?
He was born Brandon Shimabukuro (only his family calls him Brandon). “Even people who know my name rarely use it,” he said. “It’s more fun to call me Soosh!”
His stage name stemmed from a lot of “tongue-in-cheek racial joking” by his non-Asian friends, who called him “Sushi.” At first, he didn’t like it. Then, he decided to own it.
Only he rebranded the nickname to “Soosh*e!”—exclamation point included so you’d have to shout it.
“But my dad was adamant. He thought ‘Sushi’ was a little too corny,” so the name evolved and eventually became “Soosh!”
He grew up loving different genres of music. He sang in his church choir, played drums at Sam Brannan Middle School and John F. Kennedy High School, and performed with the MLK Steppers, a community marching band in Oak Park. He also played snare drum with the Sacramento Kings Drumline.
He started rapping as a teen, even making his first song in a back storage room in his high school history class. His teacher, an aspiring producer, had built a recording booth there.
At Sacramento City College, a creative writing class sharpened his wordplay. “It drove me further as far as being an artist, using my creative abilities to go into writing, because I love to be able to express myself in that way.”
Soosh! has been coming to our Bazaar since middle school. Even as a DJ in Sacramento, he and his friends looked forward to the event every summer.
“The food is great, always has been,” he said. “And while it was a fundraiser for the church, it was also a great community outing and family tradition.”
Making the Big Move
At the start of the pandemic in 2020, Soosh! turned his radio show into a live video production, with a call-in segment and Zoom interviews with his favorite artists. The show took place in the living room of his R Street loft.
Impressed, fellow artists and media insiders told him he was ready. And by the end of 2020, Soosh! made his big move. “If I can do this in my living room in Sacramento, then I can do this from my bedroom in Los Angeles.”
He did just that, moved south, and launched his show from his bedroom in LA. Yet the opportunities he expected came few and far between.
“I think that was where the shift happened,” he said. “When I started to feel down or discouraged, I would always encourage myself by pushing harder. And to utilize some of that anger and angst as fuel for expression.”
Soosh! drew on his real-life experience when he produced “Patience.”
“It’s a song about what it felt like to be put on the back burner once I moved here. There was no sense of urgency from anybody who had those opportunities available. I was patient for so long, but I was starting to lose my patience.”
So instead, Soosh! kept writing and producing his own music, expanded his influence in the hip hop world, and landed a dream job.
Today, he’s an on-air personality on the Weekend Mix Show on LA’s Power 106 (KPWR). He handles regular gigs as a featured DJ in cities across California, New York, and Arizona, and has time to livestream his show from home twice a month.
“Hip hop has always been the perfect outlet for me to be able to express myself through the groove, the sound of the music, and the communities it can bring together.” - by Sharon Ito
Bazaar’s Entertainment Lineup
Catch the Bazaar’s re-energized entertainment lineup on Saturday, Aug. 8: Clean Slate (hits from five decades, 3–5 p.m.), DJ Soosh! & Friends (5:30–7 p.m.), and UC Davis/UC Berkeley taiko groups closing the evening.
