Meldon Berry has the city locked has the city locked

Meldon Berry credits his uncle, Freddy, better known as Doctor Sud, with leading him in the direction of playing music.

“My uncle had a sound and every chance I’d get, I used to teef out and go listen when it set up -- from primary school days, every chance I get, I would find a crate to stand on to reach the turntable so I could play,” the disc jockey told to THE STAR.

He continued: “Over a period of time, I was given the name Lock D City because they used to say I have it [the music] locked. Up until high school when other youths were interested in playing football after school, my thing was music, more than anything else…that is what I loved.”

These days, though, he goes by the name City Lock, and travels across the island as a mobile disc jockey who favours melodic souls and high-energy dancehall. The Nuts River, St Thomas native is known for show-stealing sets and believes that the disc jockey makes the music.

City Lock has come a long way from sneaking out of the house to watch his uncle’s sound and running back inside to avoid getting caught. He worked with the likes of Portland’s Lion Force Sound System up to 2002, and transitioned to St Thomas’ Music Soul and Warrior Sound. He said that throughout the period of his learning, people used to tell him that the time would come that he would become a big selector. He had one major issue.

“I was afraid of crowd, nobody could get me to say anything over microphone.”

City Lock eventually overcame his fear, so much that in the middle of Marketplace in Luidas Vale, St Catherine, recently, his voice could be heard echoing down the streets into the square during a drink-up at Judine’s Bar.

“I was told I had to learn to do everything on my own so that I would not need a mic man, so I followed my instinct, got over my fears and stepped up to a microphone. There I branched out and would host small events on a Friday or Saturday night.”

From then on, he says, he gained the confidence he needed to start up a team, called Team City Lock, which included dancers. In the summer of 2016, City Lock received the opportunity of a lifetime to play in Bahamas alongside top sounds like Black Chiney.

By the following year, he became a mobile DJ with Campari.

“It has groomed me in the right path; to know my limit and respect the music. Working for corporate means that there are certain rules to abide, yes, but it has transformed me into a more powerful DJ unit,” he said.