KUOMagazine.com “Karibbean Kulture Matters”

Article Published September/October issue 2015 of KUOMagazine.com

Written by Lyma Dunbar, KUOMagazine Entertainment Editor

Professor GT "co-founder of Natural Mystic Soundz and one of Orlando's own best......

Oliver "Professor GT NMS" Batson!!!! Where GT stands for Georgetown Guyana; yes, most of you residing in the Central Florida area would know the name. He is one of the foremost DJs here in the Orlando area, who continues to represent.  Born in Burmese Guyana, he moved to New York in the early 70’s, where at the age of 12, he began “touching the turntable” under the watchful eye of his older brother also a DJ, he began learning his craft.  Coming from a background of music, with family and close friends in the DJ business that are “heavyweights in the Brooklyn music scene” that interaction over the past 30 years, has helped him understand and “get into the business of dancehall and dub-plates.” Along with Ritchie and Robin aka “Indian, GT is a co-founding member of the group of DJs, called "Natural Mystic Soundz", which was formed in 1996. He eventually left the group for about 2 years from 2011 to 2013, because he stated he needed a hiatus.  

However “the love of the music,” and his huge investment in “the dub-plates” which by definition, is when a popular artist completes a short version of their song and mentions a particular DJ’s name, encouraged him to return to the group that he had founded.  Natural Mystic which is currently a group of nine DJs will be celebrating their 20th Anniversary in 2016. ​​When asked for an opinion on the local party scene, GT stated that over the past twenty years, the respect for DJs and the quality of the art of DJ-ing, has declined somewhat, and now with the entrance of technology which has made the art superior to anything prior, it has emboldened those “with money” to think that they can “flatten de place” because it makes it “easy, and everyone these days thinks they are a DJ." However, for those that have “put in the energy and lifted physical crates of records” these younger guys do not know the craft” He further stated that, “Promoters have taken advantage of such and “hire” within their circle of friends, thereby eliminating the qualified DJs” through this somewhat tribal system. Currently the Road DJ for Mojo Morgan of Morgan Heritage, GT had the experience of being on a trip to Amsterdam with the singer.  

He has also completed interviews on behalf of Jungle Vibes with artists such as T.O.K., Taurus Riley, and Ky-Mani Marley to name a few.  When asked about his list of three wishes, he stated that one would be to “kick up some sound, and becoming fully loaded with 20 years of Dub” in terms of the quality and quantity of the inventory of Natural Mystic, the second would be to travel some more, and the third…..good health.  To add to his list of credited experience, GT recently did a cameo in a video completed by singers Stripes and Marquest, for the song summertime. You can hear Professor GT on Natural Mystic Sound Cloud, as well as every Saturday on Island Beat Radio, through La Primera1220am.com from 12-1pm with repeat shows on Yardlinkradio.com Monday through Friday from 2-3pm and Saturdays from 8-9pm. He can also be contacted on Facebook @Instagram, Twitter @ProfessorGT1, as well as ProfessorGT1@gmail.com.

Written by Lyma Dunbar, KUOMagazine.com Entertainment Editor