Joseph Rizzo a.k.a. “DJ Riz” was born and raised in Brooklyn. His father bought him his first turntable at the age of 14. The other turntable came from summer job money that he had saved. Riz’s parents thought this was just a hobby for him. They were used to watching their son excel as a “3 sport athlete.” He started playing organized sports at the age of 8. In High School, Riz played Baseball, Basketball & Football. He was a “1st Team All-City Football Player” who later went on to star at Hofstra University. While his athletic talent was evident, his love for DJing & Music was rapidly growing. It was in college when Riz first started doing radio. He was DJ on the famous- 5” Hip Hop show at Hofstra with Jeff Foss. Furthermore, he did “The Hip Hop Spot” with Wildman Steve at Adelphi University. These 2 stations were instrumental in the late 80’s & early 90’s for numerous talents in Hip-Hop (Ed Lover, Dr. Dre, Public Enemy, De La Soul, Leaders Of The New School etc…) In 1995, Riz brought his DJing talents to WNYU Radio, Where he teamed with Mayhem and DJ Eclipse on a show called “N.Y. Live” & “The Halftime Show” in which they won “Best College Hip Hop Radio Show” at the Gavin Seminar in 1995 & 1997.
Riz was the tour DJ for MC Search (3rd Bass) appearing on the Arsenio Hall show. He was an original member of Funkmaster Flex’s “Flip Squad” DJ’s and appeared on different commercial radio stations as a guest DJ. Riz also won a 2 man DJ Battle in Chicago with DJ Skribble.