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Artist strives to break all barriers in a business that lacks Asians

By Carolann Calizar, On-Line Forty-Niner

Wednesday, October 7, 1998

Twenty-six-year-old Isaiah Dacio, better known as Icy Ice, is one of the few Asian disc jockeys to make it to radio.

Hip hop fans might be familiar with his "12 o'clock Lunch Mix" on KKBT-FM, or maybe have heard him perform at a number of clubs in the greater Los Angeles, Long Beach area. His unique hip hop style of mixing comes from years of being a deejay at nightclubs across the country.

Ice is connected with Legend Entertainment, a promotional group consisting of several Asian deejays and promoters that started in 1988.

Legend Entertainment orginally started promoting nightclubs, but is now one of the biggest fund-raisers for the Asian community.

Recently, they did a fund-raiser at Wild Rivers in Irvine for Kappa Psi Epsilon, a Filipino sorority affilliated with Cal State Long Beach.

The young artist has also been with The Beat Junkies, a collaboration of deejays that come from many different regions of California.

Each deejay represents his or her own unqiue style. Ice represents a hip hop style from the South Bay area.

Through his affiliations with Legend Entertainment and The Beat Junkies, Ice has had the opportunity to deejay in San Diego, San Fransisco, Chicago, Seattle and New York.

"There's a different atmosphere in every place," Ice said. "What is most rewarding for me is to see a crowd go wild when I am mixing."

Although he has a good reputation, Ice feels he has a long way to go.

"I'm still a baby in this industry," Ice said. "I'm still making my way up."

From small parties to high schools to big clubs, Ice, like many other deejays, has had his struggles. Coming from a Filipino heritage, Ice has had to face discrimination when performing at multicultural clubs.

"I've heard people saying, 'Are you sure he knows what he's doing?'" he said.

Getting on the radio has its struggles. The artist has learned to play radio friendly music rather than the hard core hip hop groups he is used to.

"Deejay music on the radio differs from the kind they play at clubs," Ice said.

Ice is not only concerned with being a deejay, he realizes the importance of a good education. He is a public relations major currently enrolled with 18 units at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

His goal is to help excel the Asian communtiy in the entertainment industry.

Currently he is working with other members in a nonprofit organization called Asian American Culture and Entertainment. The organization is a network guild for young aspinring Asian entertainers.

Ice feels strongly toward Asian cultural awareness.

He said Asians have not been represented properly in the entertainment industry, and it disturbs him to see that the only Asian actors in movies are kung fu fighters.

Ice continues to volunteer his time doing fund-raisers for the Asian community despite his busy schedule working at the radio station and school.

His philosophy is, "If you really want something, you'll try everything to get it. I believe that no one has boundaries," Ice said.