Earl "The Pearl" Little

Earl "The Pearl" Little (born January 31, 1974 in Cheraw, South Carolina), also known as DJ Earl The Pearl, is an American radio personality and promoter. Earl Little is most notable for being the youngest African-American to program a radio program on WYFX at the age of 18. Earl Little graduated from John I. Leonard High School in Lake Worth, Florida where he began his career in radio broadcasting and entertainment.

History

Earl "The Pearl" Little, African-American was born in the racially segregated town of Cheraw, South Carolina where he was inspired by native Cherawian Dizzy Gillespie. Mr. Little moved to South Florida in 1989, where he began his career as an on-air broadcaster. Earl "The Pearl" Little was known as the youngest disc jockey to program his on radio show which consisted of funk, R&B, jazz, blues and contemporary adult music on popular radio station WYFX Foxy 1040 arbitron rated #3 most popular station in the South Florida market at the time. Earl "The Pearl" Little is also known for producing many different music related events including the largest African-American cultural festival in Atlanta entitled the Sweet Auburn Springfest, an event which attracts 500,000 people to the historical Sweet Auburn district of Atlanta, GA, USA. Popular events have also included concerts and festivals with Frankie Beverly & Maze, Confuncsion, Midnight Star, The Isley Brothers, Fresh Kid Ice, Eightball & MJG, Swizz Beats and others. Mr. Little is also head of the PEachtree ADvertisng Agency which is responsible for writing the proposal for the Henry County NAACP which later led to the reduction of jail time for popular American-rap artist T.I.Fact|date=June 2008. Mr. Little also served as first African-American team manager of the first African American owned NASCAR raceteam Bobby Norfleet racing #34 of the Craftsman Truck Series.

Controversy

Mr. Little was founder of the Urban Hip-Hop Music Festival which caught national attention as the first ever Hip-hop Music festival with music mogul Russell Simmons.Fact|date=June 2008 The First Ever Hip Hop Music Festival which featured Russell Simmons, The Hip Hop Summit, Nelly, TI, Eminem, Ludacris was later scaled down to circumstances led by city of Atlanta officials in an effort to keep some of the 100,000 hip hop attendees that where planning on attending outside of the city. The festival later took place at the Henderson Arena in College Park, GA and featured artist Lil Zane, Rico Wade, Slip N Slide Records, and was sponsored by the US Army and several other businesses and vendors from throughout the SE region.

This event stirred much controversy and debate in the City of Atlanta as the event was supported by the Mayor of Atlanta Shirley Franklin yet denied a special event permit by the city government. A permit was ultimately obtained in College Park, Georgia, thus the home of the first ever Hip-hop music festival.

References

* [http://music.ign.com/articles/383/383278p1.html First Ever Hip Hop Fest]
* [http://www.takeoutmusic.com/oscar_poche/oscar_poche29.htm Hip Hop Fest]
* [http://www0.eurweb.com/printable.cfm?id=8263 Hip Hop Festival]