Influential hip hop DJ Angie Martinez

Influential hip hop DJ Angie Martinez to sign book in Ridgewood

By KARA YORIO, STAFF WRITER | The Record

Angie Martinez is known as the “Voice of New York.” The widely popular and influential DJ spent decades at Hot 97 before surprising the hip-hop world and moving to competitor Power 105.1 in June 2014. She has interviewed some of the biggest names in music — including Tupac, Jay Z and Mary J. Blige — and become friends with many of them. She has also had an impact on politics as well, bringing her audience conversations with then presidential candidate Barack Obama, as well as Cory Booker and Hillary Clinton.

Influential hip hop DJ Angie Martinez

Now, Martinez shares many stories that haven’t been heard over the air and documents some of those that have in her new memoir, “My Voice.”

While her fellow media members have been focusing on her two-hour interview with Tupac Shakur — and her decision to air only 12 minutes of it so as not to further incite the East Coast/West Coast hip-hop wars of the time — and her physical altercation with former Hot 97 colleague Wendy Williams in the late ’90s, fans have found the moments that speak to them.

“The people have been amazing, really connecting to the book,” she said. “There’s always going to be those sad moments. Some people — 9/11, they remember listening that day or they remember when Biggie [Smalls] passed. I get a lot of that.

The 45-year-old, who was born in the Bronx and raised by a single mom in Brooklyn, is also an actress, recording artist and cookbook author. While the book focuses on her career and the music world, she shares some of her personal life as well.

“The cool thing,” she said, is hearing how her life and stories resonate differently with different people.

In writing the book, she noticed

Influential hip hop DJ Angie Martinez

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