James Christopher D'Agostino (born July 7, 1975), professionally known as DJ Green Lantern, is an American hip hop DJ and producer from Rochester, New York. In 2002, D'Agostino was signed by American rapper Eminem, to become the official DJ for Shady Records, after DJ Head stepped down for undisclosed reasons.[1]
DJ Green Lantern came to prominence in the late 1990s–early 2000s with his signature brand of mixtapes. The creativity of these tapes caught the ear of many industry power players, one of which was Eminem. The first set of officially sponsored mixtapes from Eminem's Shady Records. On the series, spanning three mixtapes (later to be spun off into the Armageddon series), the DJ broke several diss records, furthering the issues between Eminem and Benzino/The Source, as well as the entire Shady camp and Ja Rule/Murder Inc.
He is also recognized as a producer, featuring on his own mixtapes several "Green Remixes," including, most notably, a remix of the Nas and Tupac Shakur collaboration, "Thugz Mansion." He also produced D-Block's "2 Guns Up", an acclaimed street single, which originated as a freestyle rap on his Hot 97 radio show, "In the Lab" (the most memorable of which has also appeared as a mixtape, "The Best of In the Lab"). "In the Lab" is formatted as a one-hour (with commercials) mix show, in which DJ Green Lantern blends a cappella and instrumental tracks from various artists, as well as breaking new and underground music (such as the Ghostface Killah and El-Producto collaboration "HideYaFace").
As a member of the Shady Records family, D'Agostino also hosted a show on Eminem's Sirius Satellite Radio channel, Shade 45, along with an accompanying mixtape released in the fall of 2004. As Eminem's DJ, D'Agostino was responsible for touring with him and spinning at shows such as the Shady National Convention and The Game's album release party. D'Agostino's much anticipated album Armageddon was set to be released under Shady Records, but controversy and an eventual parting would put the release in limbo.
D'Agostino recently put together and mixed the highly anticipated Bar Exam 2 mixtape by acclaimed Detroit MC Royce da 5'9". Green took over for DJ Premier and Statik Selektah who hosted and mixed Royce's first Bar Exam Mixtape. The Bar Exam 2 was pushed back several times because of Green Lantern's inability to mix the tape due to his touring. After several stated released dates, Bar Exam 2 was finally released on September 15 as a free download on HipHopDX.com. Due to the high anticipation of the mixtape, Royce gave the mixtape the slogan "Happy Bar Exam 2, It's a Holiday" prior to its release.
Pulse of the Peopleedit
D'Agostino collaborated with Dead Prez on their latest album, Pulse of the People: Turn Off The Radio, Vol. 3, released in June 2009[2]
GTA IVedit
Together with Mister Cee, he is featured as host of the hip-hop radio station "The Beat 102.7" in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV. The station is essentially a parody of Hot 97.[3] Instead of using existing songs, Green Lantern produced the songs exclusively for "The Beat 102.7".[4]
Discographyedit
Mixtapesedit
1998 Superthug - The Jump Off Begins
1999 It's Just Us and The Guns
1999 Rookie of the Year
1999 Blaze
2001 New World Order
2002 New World Order pt. 2 - The Saga Continues
2002 Shady Times: Invasion Part I
2003 Invasion Part II: Conspiracy Theory
2004 Invasion Part Three: Countdown to Armageddon
2005 5 Star General
2005 New World Order
2006 New York State of Mind
2006 Throwback Classics, Vol. 1
2006 You'll See
2006 Team Invasion: Best of DJ Green Lantern and Dipset
2006 Pre-Release Therapy: The Truth Shall Set U Free (with Ludacris)
^"Lighting the way: DJ Green Lantern rocked the Roc before landing with Eminem". Rochester City Newspaper. December 23, 2003. Retrieved December 10, 2007.
^DeadPrez.com – Official Website Archived July 23, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
^Stephen Totilo (May 2, 2008). "'Grand Theft Auto IV' Music Man Explains How Those 214 Songs Made The Soundtrack". MTV. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
^Antony Bruno (April 26, 2008). "Crime pays for music biz with new Grand Theft Auto". Reuters. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
^"Mitchelle'l – IRENE – DJ Green Lantern". LiveMixtapes.com. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
^"Inherited Beef Vol.1 Mixtape by Ronald Hosted by Dj Green Latern [sic]". Datpiff.com. Retrieved December 27, 2018.