Dance Floor Dominator: DJ Dredd

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WHEN DOMINIC RED hits the decks, folks start crowding the dance floor.

The hip-hop DJ better known as DJ Dredd has been spinning old-school and cutting-edge tunes at an exhausting rate for the past almost-eight years. He's cut back his party schedule to open the 9th Street restaurant Vegetate and to choose his projects with care, which is why Dredd will be spinning an early set along with New York's bhangra mash-up queen, DJ Rekha, at the Black Cat on Saturday.

» EXPRESS: Are there songs you get sick of?
» DREDD: It depends. When I was DJing every week, of course you get sick of hearing some songs, but that's part of being a DJ.

» EXPRESS: How is Vegetate going?
» DREDD: It's going really well. We just finished a New Year's Eve event, which was nice. We had dinner and a small gathering for an after-party. I DJ'd for a couple of hours and ... Uncle Q did an early set.

» EXPRESS: Are you moving into mogulhood?
» DREDD: I don't know what 2008's going to bring. ... We'll see. I'm optimistic; I'm hoping to do more music stuff this year. ... The restaurant has been a lot of work, but when it works, it's really gratifying.

» EXPRESS: How did you become one of D.C.'s best-loved DJs?
» DREDD: I don't know about that. ... There are a lot of great DJs here, and I'm just fortunate that I've been doing it so long and that people still come out and support me and have a good time.

» Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW; Sat., 9 p.m., $13; 800-551-7328. (U St.-Cardozo)

Photos by Bryan Whitson (top) and Michael Temchine/The Washington Post