The Devil's Tail

SAN ANGELO, TX — Jimmy Cortez said he hit rock bottom eight years ago. A natural leader, the Lake View High School alum’s business back then was selling methamphetamine. “These are my old stomping grounds,” Cortez said, pointing around Neff’s Park and the San Angelo RiverStage. “I was moving a lot of meth through here.”

Saturday was a homecoming for Cortez who today is drug-free and performs as an EDM DJ based out of Grand Prairie in the Metroplex. Cortez tours all over the U.S. and Mexico sharing his music, but it has a twist. It was the twist that Cortez said saved his life: A belief in and commitment to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.

“I was a meth addict for over 14 years. I was suicidal several times; I tried killing myself eight times,” Cortez said. “I was a big meth distributer in west Texas and one time when they were after me, I slit my arms and ate about 10 grams of methamphetamines.”

Cortez described the fight everyone who gets on methamphetamine has as defeating “The Devil’s Tail.” From the first hit of the drug, he said, you are hooked, both psychiatrically and physiologically. “The Devil knows every move you’re going to make. The moment that you try to quit, somehow it becomes more in your head. And the Devil comes and puts more in your hand. You can’t quit because it’s right there,” Cortez said of the power of the drug.

Cortez was fortunate, however. Even through the fog of drug addiction, his wife and kids meant more to him than his drug addiction. When drugs drove him away from his family, he cried out for help. “It took losing them for me to decide I can’t do this anymore,” Cortez said.

Cortez said he was 45 pounds overweight. “I was so deep in it I knew I was either going to die or go to prison,” he said. With his health in jeopardy, his family gone, and facing death or prison, Cortez said he was desperate.

Cortez recalls the day he came to grips with his problem. “I remember I ran into a big field and I screamed to God so loud. I said, ‘God, I have power just like you. I can bless somebody just like you. I can take somebody’s life just like you can. So why am I not happy?’” he asked. By then, his wife already had left him and took his kids. The rest of his family would have nothing to do with him.

“God answered me that day. God said he was going to take all my scars and turn them into stars,” Cortez recalled.

It took two years to kick meth out of his life. During that time, Cortez said he learned he had a love of music. And it was the music that gave him an outlet to not only help save himself, but to minister to others.

His named his act DJ Overcomer. He produces Electronic Dance Music, or EDM. EDM is electronically created music usually generated with mashups of existing songs. For Cortez, his focus is primarily on cumbias. Cumbia music originated in Columbia before crossing the borders north where a sub-genre of the style called cumbia sonidera rose in popularity in northern Mexico. By itself, a sonidera features a very danceable beat and sound. Cortez mixes cumbia into EDM taking it to a higher level of energy.

Cortez focuses his art on bringing positive messages. He offered examples. He mixes a Journey song. “Don’t Stop Believing,” Cortez said. “How much more positive can you get?” He added that Queen’s “We Are the Champions” has a similar positive message.

Into his set, Cortez said he subtly introduces Christian pop songs. The Christian genre of music is important to Cortez because when he was struggling to kick the meth habit, it was in an evangelical church where he finally found salvation. While there, he heard a song by the popular Christian pop music group Hillsong from where the beauty of his relationship with Christ was described in a meaningful way. The song is titled “The Stand.”

“You stood before my failure / And carried the cross for my shame / My sin weighed upon Your shoulders / My soul now to stand.”

And:

“So I'll walk upon salvation / Your Spirit alive in me / This life to declare Your promise / My soul now to stand.”

“It was that song I heard right before I gave my life to the Lord,” Cortez said. “But you know, my life got harder after I gave my life to the Lord.”

WATCH: Hillsong "The Stand"
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Cortez said The Devil’s Tail became more intense. “The temptation for the drugs increased as the Devil tried to claw me back,” he said.

But Cortez didn’t give up on his belief that Jesus had his back.

Many of his former accomplices in the drug trade noticed the change in Cortez’s heart. They wanted to know how he turned his life around. “Tonight, maybe 30 of them will be here,” Cortez said. “When I gave my life to Christ, they were still looking for me. They were coming out for me. We used to do big time drug deals together,” he said.

“But when I gave my life to the Lord, I prayed for them. I asked God to heal them. To protect them. Or do something with them to protect me,” he said.

Over the course of three or four years, Cortez’s old posse called him, one by one, asking for help. “They’d ask me too pray for them. They’d say they’re dealing with stuff. They asked would you lay your hands on me and pray? I’m trying to kick this. How’d you do it?” Cortez said.

“All I did was put God in my heart and I read the Bible every day,” Cortez said.

Cortez lives in Grand Prairie with his wife Stephanie and their children. While Cortez’s DJ Overcomer show tours the nation, Stephanie runs a popular restaurant and shaved ice operation, with very high online reviews, called Steph’s Chillville there.

WATCH: DJ Overcomer:
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Cortez as DJ Overcomer was the headline music act at the House of Faith 25th Anniversary Celebration at the Riverstage Saturday night. House of Faith Ministries Executive Director Kevin Reynolds said the all-day celebration was three events in one. Saturday morning, the non-profit held a reception for donors. The afternoon featured a carnival for children in Neff’s Park. The Riverstage concert was Saturday night. Musicians Adrion Butler and Jonathan Traylor opened.