The nonstop party that can accompany DJ life almost robbed Brotha Reese of everything. Twenty years in, with a new outlook, he’s as dedicated as ever to sharing joy through song selection.

The sounds of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Find A Way” escape from under a partially open garage door. The song is playing as part of Brotha Reese’s five o’clock Traffic Mix on Q102 FM. A garage door lifts to reveal a DJ wonderland: walls of 12-inch vinyl records, sorted by style and era, with 45 packed travel crates situated atop the shelving; two DJ set ups—one contemporary and one throwback, the latter featuring an old-school Rane mixer placed inside a wooden console with two turntables resting on top; and PCs and webcams to power Twitch livestreams. Murals by graffiti legend King157 adorn the two long walls. It’s Reese’s self-stylized oasis.

“I look at these [walls], I get that smile, and I put on a record. It takes me back to when I was a kid,” notes Reese. “Music is so powerful. It can take you to another place. I can even remember smells when I hear certain records.” The space is an accurate reflection of Reese—Mauricio Cuellar Jr.—endlessly passionate about music and mindful of the legacy of his craft, yet always open to absorbing the new sounds needed to rock the next crowd he encounters. He speaks with an overflowing reverence for the songs he loves, singing choruses and beatboxing drum patterns while he talks. Over 40 years, he’s played weddings, bar mitzvahs, quinceañeras, and debuts, rocked packed club dance floors, soundtracked intimate dinners, and mixed over the drive-time airwaves. 

“It became so bad with the DJing that I would take the turntables with me everywhere I went. If I went to your house and you didn’t have decks, I would [set up in] a little corner and make tapes for everybody.” 

Reese’s parents arrived in America from El Salvador, and first moved to California’s San Fernando Valley, where he was born, before eventually settling in San Jose. He credits his father, a multi-instrumentalist who played in bands since his teenage years, as a major influence on his own passion for music. “When you grow up in South San Jose, you grow up with everybody,” he explains, noting that the diversity of his community informed his musical taste. “You would hear guys cruising in lowriders, bumping Zapp & Roger. I could hear my next door neighbors playing gospel on Sundays. And then I had my cool white-boy friends that listened to punk music, so I got exposed to Black Flag, Metallica, and Pantera.” He earned the name “Brotha Reese” because of the hip-hop flavor he brought to his sets at Latin clubs.

At 13, he fell in love with DJing after touching a set of turntables owned by his cousin in Queens. After assembling his own setup from gear donated to him by friends, he practiced obsessively. “It became so bad with the DJing that I would take the turntables with me everywhere I went,” he adds. “If I went to your house and you didn’t have decks, I would [set up in] a little corner and make tapes for everybody.” 

The ’80s mix show DJs Michael Erickson and Cameron Paul were major inspirations. Legendary Bay Area DJ Jazzy Jim served as a mentor. In the early 1990s, he joined the Hot 97.7 FM street team, DJing lunchtime gigs and dances at high schools. When the famous Dog House morning show shifted to Wild 107.7, he became the show’s DJ. His first club gig, in 1992, was at Cactus Club. In later years, he ran a modern rock night with his friend DJ Deluxe at Zoe. But as his opportunities piled up, his constant role as the life of the party took its toll, leading Reese to abuse alcohol, marijuana, and crystal meth. “Because I was DJing six nights out of the week, it was a party every day. I’d go on benders,” he shares of this dark time. After having a tough conversation with his wife, he decided to seek help at an outpatient program offered by Kaiser. Now 20 years clean and sober, he’s grateful for how much he’s grown and the chance to return to a calling he once had to step away from.

“I don’t have to run to go use to hide those feelings [anymore],” he says. “If I can change, you can change.”

Currently, Reese holds residencies at Willard Hicks, Sushi Confidential, and Branham Lounge, and regularly streams The Soul Parlour Radio Show bi-weekly on Twitch alongside DJ Tay. Thanks to a longstanding friendship with radio legend Chuy Gomez, he’s been DJing for the San Jose Earthquakes and is back to regularly mixing on the radio. 

At 53, he has no interest in stepping away from the decks. While his lifestyle around the party may look much different than it once did, he’s still locked into the pursuit of spreading joy across any dance floor he presides over. “DJing saved my life,” he shares. “If God will bless me with many more years, and I can still hear and see, I’m still gonna play records, even if it’s just for me and my grandkids.” 

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