Lazaro Mendez, better known by his stage name DJ Laz (born December 2, 1971, in Hollywood, Florida) is a Cuban-American rapper and DJ. He hosted his weekday radio show in Miami on WPOW 96.5 FM, branded as “Power 96“, for 22 years until he left the company in April 2012. Beginning July 4, 2012, the new DJ Laz Morning Show began after arbitration on the newly reformatted WRMA DJ 106.7, a Bilingual Dance/Rhythmic formatted station.
He is best known for his limp which came from his battle with polio as a child. Doctors told his parents that he would never walk again and to Laz, he knew he would and make history by proving the doctors wrong. He not only was able to walk again, (but, with a limp), he turned what most people would call, “disabled” to “abled” and was dubbed by his nephew Pitbull, “The Pimp with the Limp”.
My success was not handed to me. It has taken a lot of hard work and dedication to create what it is that I have today and I hope that in today’s generation, they FULLY understand that method of thinking.
He is known for albums DJ Laz and Category 6, which charted on U.S. Billboard album charts. He is also notable for the singles “Journey Into Bass” (1994) and “Move, Shake, Drop” (2008), which peaked at #56 on Billboard’s Top 100.
DJ Laz is also known for his show’s prominent appearance on Fox’s television show, Dish Nation.
DJ Laz hosted the Morning Show for HITS 97.3 in Miami from August 2014 until November 2019. He left in advance of an acquisition, and can currently be found on Sirius XM on Pitbull’s Globalization Channel 13.
In 2021, DJ Laz joined the iHeartRadio Miami family of their new 90’s station, Totally 93.9 FM, hosting weekday afternoons. He stated that he was really happy with that choice, especially during the afternoon time slot rather than the morning time slot. He stated that “I’ve done morning’s for so long, that there comes a point in time where waking up around 4 am, after working events till 3 am, can start affecting your body, mind and spirit. There are a ton of sacrifices that go into this business that is far beyond what people see and hear when I crack the mic.” He continued to say, “My success was not handed to me. It has taken a lot of hard work and dedication to create what it is that I have today and I hope that in today’s generation, they FULLY understand that method of thinking”.
Find out more about DJ Laz through his Social Media:
IG: @djlaz