Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Emcee One, or Marcus Anthony Guinn, fell in love with turntables despite not being able to afford them. He never gave up on his dream, and now he is the resident DJ for his favorite NBA team, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Although he grew up in California, his Indigenous roots are in Oklahoma, as he is Osage, Potawatomi, Delaware and Puerto Rican. Hence, his love for the team.
During the Thunder's Native American Heritage Night on Nov. 19, he sat down with KOSU's Sarah Liese to talk about his experience DJing for the team, how he thinks they approach Indigenous representation and how his job isn't just about the music — but paving the way for the next generation. Their conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Sarah Liese, KOSU Indigenous Affairs Reporter: How do you interpret the Oklahoma City Thunder's tribute to the 39 tribes in the state?
Oklahoma City Thunder DJ, Emcee One: One thing about the Thunder is they've been very good at representing all people groups. Oklahoma is widely diverse, with a lot of different kinds of people. They have been very good at making places for that type of representation to happen. Woven throughout that, they've given space and platform for Indigenous representation as well, but not just always in a performative manner.
There's times when I can slot Indigenous artists during pregame, during warmup. Of course, you'd hear it tonight. I feel like my role and responsibility for the platform is to also weave those throughout any given night, any given game, any given time. You're going to hear fabrics of Oklahoma. Throughout the playlist and throughout the mix, if you will.
Also, behind the scenes and small leadership gatherings and basketball camps for Native students. So it's definitely special to get to be a part of something that moves Indigenous frequency in a lot of different areas at once. And it's not like a tokenized, 'Hey, we have a Native guy here.' I'm woven into the fabric of the Thunder identity as their established in-house DJ.
Liese: I would love to talk about your role here with the Thunder. Can you describe what that looks like, what that is?
Emcee One: So, I'm the official DJ for the Oklahoma City Thunder, which means the home games. I'm the resident DJ in the arena.
Back in COVID, they approached me to be. I had done a few other NBA teams just as halftime acts and entertainment. I'd done Miami Heat. I'd done Detroit and the Thunder and had a working relationship with various production elements in the NBA. And that's when the Thunder reached out, which happened to be my team, by the way. They said, 'Hey, COVID is here. The arena is closed down, but we'd like to experiment with a front-facing DJ.'
Liese: I am curious logistically how it all works — the music that we hear at Thunder games and what music you play.
Emcee One: I hope I'm not giving any secret sauce here. So when you're in the arena, and you hear stuff, there are four basic engines. There's me, I'm currently playing from doors open until tip off with a few commercials mixed in. But you have me. You have front of house. His name is Gabe. Gabe does all the possessions — offense, defense. He's very creative, very gifted at his possessions. So once it goes to possessions, I'm setting up the timeout. And between those two engines, you have Thunder Vision, which will come in with video and audio combined, and then you'll have the drummers.
We're very unique in the league in that we have drummers in our live presentation. You know, so they do offense and defense as well. So at any given moment, you could be hearing one or all four of those engines at any time.
Liese: How would you describe the type of music you play?
Emcee One: I'm open format, so I'm mood food. It depends. Like I could go anywhere from country to R&B to old school to new school. I'll get in a house mood and go old school house vibes. I'm real big on reading rooms and real big on like, 'Oh, what's the vibe here call for?' And whatever playlist or whatever ideas I might have had, I'm real quick to scrub them if I see it taking off in another direction. I'll go with that, and we'll run with the people. Always.
Liese: Are there any specific artists lined up for Native American Heritage Night?
Emcee One: Yeah, I mean, like Snotty Nose Rez Kids. I play them a lot. I play Doc Native, Spencer Battiest and Drezus. I play Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas, Pj Vegas and Supaman. Every now and then, I'll sprinkle in a little Nataanii Means and Def-i.
Liese: This can be a tough question to answer because it can be so abstract and nuanced. But what does your Indigeneity mean to you?
Emcee One: It's something that just is. So it's not something that's necessarily thought about that is practiced or performative or transactional. It's something that would have to take a minute to actually think about. I know that there's some ways that I express that in trying to keep a value system that's in line with elders, honesty, trust, forthcoming, patience — those kind of virtues are part of the Indigenous values that my grandma gave me growing up, and some of the cultural references that you learn in practice. But those are expressions of inner quality of Indigeneity.
Liese: I would love for you to tell me what you're wearing right now, because I feel like that is an outward expression of your identity.
Emcee One: Put it in brackets, 'Stopped, licked his thumb and cleaned his kicks.' [Chuckles]
So I'm currently wearing a combination of a few different pieces. The outer coat is from the early edition of the city jerseys. And then this is the city edition from this year. So I'm wearing a layer of the first time we had an Indigenous-inspired uniform — the woven fabrics and cultural elements to it. So I'm wearing both. Both from the first time it was conceived, and also the brand new city edition of this year.
I'm also wearing my Nike N7 dunks in the same turquoise to match. I'm also the official DJ for Nike N7, so the N stands for Native; the seven stands for everything we do and every move we make. We factor our steps for the next seven generations in mind.
Liese: I want to revisit that idea of the next seven generations and like your role here and how you think that might impact Indigenous youth.
Emcee One: I mean, that's really what it's for. This is just a means to an end. I leverage my platform and entertainment to speak into the lives of youth anyway. So on one hand, you're always modeling to lift their capacity for what they believe is possible. But I'm also just believing in finding my replacement.
So I don't necessarily DJ for the Thunder. I DJ for the people and I DJ for who's next. I'm also here to carve a space out, culturally, for who's following, who's next.
Liese: What's the best part about working here?
Emcee One: There's a lot. People I get to work with are, hands down, the most supportive. Getting to play where you want to play in an arena this size. I mean, come on. That's 'Mama, I made it,' you know?
I used to play basketball with my grandma. And the idea that if you'd line me and three of my high school buddies up and said, 'Which one is going to go in the NBA?' It wasn't going to be me. But I do get to say I play in the NBA, even if it is just music.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
