DJ Thump – Radio personality finds success despite tragedies

Many Nevadans rise in the early morning hours, and whether you’re at the kitchen table or already riding down the highway on a daily commute, there is a good chance the radio is tuned to KCEP-FM, 88.1 for “The Morning Mayhem Show” with DJ Thump and Jade.
Originally from South Los Angeles, Thump — or as his mother calls him, Marlon J. Rice — is more than a voice on the radio. The baby brother of football legend Jerry Rice, the one-time University of California, Davis football standout earned his nickname by delivering hard hits on the gridiron. The moniker stuck even after his football career was cut short.
“I got hurt while playing football and then put more of my concentration on my second love — which was music,” he said. “I graduated with a degree in business administration and a minor in music.”
Triumphant in many areas of his life, a sudden and tragic turn of events forever altered his path. “While going to visit my mother one day in South Central with my then-fiancée and her child, I was … shot eight times by a gang member who was being initiated into a gang,” he said. “My fiancée was shot once in the back of her head and a bullet (grazed) her son. She died instantly, and I watched her take her last breath. These circumstances (led) me to … reclaim my life and start over.”
Urged by one of his brothers to recuperate in Las Vegas, Thump found himself living with boxing champion Mike Tyson, who at the time also was his brother’s employer. “Mike is a great person and I will be forever grateful, because he paid for me to have a physical therapist for eight months,” he said. “That got me back on my feet.”
Thump says that his life story is a testimony to the power of endurance, and he gives much of the credit to his mother, who always instilled a sense of balance in her nine children. Today, Thump is a statewide radio personality who is engaged to be married and speaks at local schools to inspire and encourage young people.
“One of the things I tell our youth is that you don’t have to be in a gang to have a bad situation happen to you,” he said. “Bad things happen to good people, too. You must keep pushing and stay focused, because you have a chance. I have a second chance, and I want our young people to use their chance to be the best they can be. I use the acronym PUSH — which stands for Pray Until Something Happens.”
Aside from the fame he has earned on the radio, Thump also is an actor who appeared in an early version of a movie called “Blended” that later was recast and renamed “Our Family Wedding.” The movie starred Oscar-winning actor Forest Whitaker and was distributed nationally.
“This happens in show business, when they take a pilot and change the name of the movie and also change the actors for more mass public appeal,” Thump said. “Nevertheless, I was honored to say that Forest Whitaker played me — instead of me saying I played Forest Whitaker. It was a great thrill to see the movie on the big screen.”
In his mind, Thump still has much more to accomplish. He plans to one day open a community center where local youth can come and have a great time, but also receive educational assistance.
“My community center will have an emphasis on academics and assisting our youth with bringing up their grades and passing the high school proficiency test,” he said. “It will be a great place to have recreational fun as well, but academics will be the first priority. My motto for life is, ‘What God has for you, no man or woman can take from you.’ ’’