🇸🇳 Fallou, from Senegal & Harlem

Fallou was featured as the first guest in the New Neighbors podcast.

What brought you to New York?

My parents did. My dad was here, and then my mom joined my dad here, and then I joined them. A year later, I joined my mom, a year after.

I am from Senegal. So that's where my family is from. And I'm the oldest of five children. But even though I have stepbrothers and sisters, I don't consider them stepbrothers and sisters. And so, all three, it's like my brother and me and my sister, we all have the same mom and dad, and then I'm the oldest, and they were all born here. So, even though there are certain things that they could do that I can't do because I am an immigrant. They would be able to travel back home and come back freely. And in my 28 years here, I've only been back home once, in 2015.

Did you create an alternative family in the city?

Most definitely. It's like your friends are most likely the family that you choose. And for the most part, my friends are my family, but those are the family I chose that are not necessarily blood-related. I could still rely on them and still be dependable on them and vice versa.

What do you do for a living?

I work at Nike. That's my day job. But in my spare time, not even spare time, whenever I get the opportunity, I do schedule shoots. So yeah, eventually, I would like to get to a point where it's more consistent, and I could be able to quit my job and focus on my crafts. Not necessarily focusing, but just being able to lean on them more.

I would consider myself to be a DJ. I like hip hop and RNB, which are my go-to; those are the easiest genres I can play because those are the genres that I love the most. And even house music. So when I became a DJ, I fell in love with house music, which opened my ears. So yeah, that's one of the great things that happened through my DJ journey.

Is there any music from Senegal that inspires you?

Most definitely. I have musical discussions with my friends, and they say I have the weirdest taste, and I feel like a lot of that has to do with me just being from Senegal and being exposed to different kinds of music. Like Youssou N'Dour is, if not the country's biggest singer or artist, honestly, I think he's won a European MTV award, a Grammy, or multiple Grammys, if I'm not mistaken. And another group that's very influential to me is called Africando. I believe they're a salsa band, but they're from Senegal. And it's crazy. And so for me, I always loved Spanish music growing up, and it's like, it makes sense because I grew up on that, I would be in a backseat of my parents, especially my dad, he would be playing some Africando. And one of the bandmates was his friend back in the day. So yeah, he told me that story growing up.

So even growing up in my neighborhood, I grew up around many Dominican people, so I would hear what they would play. It would be like the soundtrack of my childhood because I would hear a lot of reggaeton and a lot of salsa and Merengue, even going to the bodega, even waking up Saturday mornings and they're blasting it from their speakers, and I can hear it. If they're on the first floor, I'm on the second floor, but I can hear everything they play on Saturday mornings.

Is there anyone that motivates you now? Like a person that keeps you motivated, so yourself maybe, you keep yourself motivated?

I would say, I try to keep myself motivated, but most importantly, the people that I surround myself with. The majority of my friends and my best friends are creatives. I have a couple of friends who are like DJs and photographers. I have photographer friends, I have people who make clothes, and I know people that just create content for the world and try to make this world a better place and with their expressions. So like for me, I look at that like, so I see my friends working, and it's like, "All right, I got to get off my shit too." I got to produce also, I got to show the world what I'm doing.

Not necessarily show the world what I'm doing, but just express my creativity. And I feel like that's been the most beautiful thing about DJing and photography is like, just me being able to express my creativity through those two aspects of creativity. And even right now, I feel like I'm just hitting my stride. I will say it started last year like, "All right, cool. I'm becoming a really good DJ. I'm becoming a really good photographer." And I feel like I just have to continue to build on the momentum.

“I would say New York made me who I am. My love for music and hip hop specifically derived from growing up in New York and hearing that being played. ”

What is something you’re thankful for about your time in New York?

I would say New York made me who I am. My love for music and hip hop specifically derived from growing up in New York and hearing that being played. We didn't play hip hop in my house. I didn't grow up on that. I didn't grow up on any American music other than the music I heard on the radio. And even as a child listening to the radio, what I would listen to was Z 100. Honestly, I didn't listen to Hot 97 or Power 105 until maybe when I was late middle school going into high school. I would say not even late middle school, like early middle school.

But yeah, it's just like New York made me who I am, and I always tell people I get the best of both worlds because I'm Senegalese, but at the same time, I'm also an American or a New Yorker. I'm a New Yorker more than anything, honestly. I love my Yankees. I love the fix. I'm a New Yorker. So, it's where I grew up and made me who I am today.