Archive for the ‘DJing’ Category

Top 10 Things You Shouldn’t Say To a DJ

Tuesday, March 14th, 2006

This is something that I found circulating around Myspace and it hit the nail on the head for me. Enjoy.

Furious Styles

ATTENTION DJs: REPOST

Before requesting songs, making comments, or asking questions to the DJ please…CHECK BELOW FOR YOUR REQUEST:

1. PLAY SOMETHING GOOD…SOMETHING WE CAN DANCE TO!
The D.J. has to play for more than one person…so, what you may hate may be another’s favorite song and EVERYTHING played here can be danced to one way or another.

2. WOULD YOU PLAY SOMETHING WITH A BEAT?
BE SERIOUS! We know of NO songs played in a club that don’t have some sort of a beat!

3. I DON’T KNOW WHO SINGS IT AND I DON’T KNOW THE NAME OF THE SONG, BUT IT GOES LIKE THIS…
Please don’t sing for the D.J.! They have to put up with smoke-filled rooms and dangerous decibel levels all night. Do them a favor and DON’T give them a rendition of your favorite song!

4. EVERYBODY WANTS TO HEAR IT!
Oh sure, you polled EVERYONE in the club and, as their spokesperson, you are requesting the song.

5. I CAN GET LAID IF YOU PLAY IT!
If you are GOOD ENOUGH, you can get laid to anything!! (also been known as “buy the album and get laid for a month!”). If you need ME to play you a song so that YOU can get laid, you’ve got problems. Besides, point your girl out to the DJ and I will play it for her after you get wasted and pass out. ;)

6. I WANT TO HEAR IT NEXT!
The only people who can get away with that statement write the DJ’s paycheck! Plus more often than not, the DJ has the next song already cued up and ready to go, and does not have time to find your song, get it on the decks, and get it cued up in time to be next.

7. I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WANNA HEAR…WHAT DO YOU HAVE?
It’s a lot easier for you to go have another beer and figure out what you want to hear than it is for the D.J. to recite the name of EVERY record in the booth! Also don’t ask for a songlist! I don’t know of any club DJ’s that actually keep a printed list with them! We keep it in our heads or sometimes in a database!

8. HEY YO, NOBODY CAN DANCE TO THIS!
It is not advisable to say this when the dance floor is packed (but, some people do anyway)! However, even if there is only ONE person on the floor, it STILL contradicts the statement. You’re just being rude. Have an open mind about music

9. EVERYBODY WILL DANCE TO IT IF YOU PLAY IT!
Half the time I hear this, no-one goes to the dancefloor except for the person that asked for it, and when they realize they’re the only one that wanted to dance to it, they bail. If you ask the DJ for a dance song and don’t dance to it, expect the DJ to ignore your requests the rest of the night. However, if we play your song and you dance and have a good time, even if no-one else does, we’ll still take your next request seriously. We like to please, even if it’s one person at a time.

10. MOST IMPORTANTLY!!!! If you’re at a club or event that doesn’t play any Hiphop, don’t ask if “you got any hiphop”? Just go outside to your car and turn on the radio or go home and watch MTV!!

(more…)

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Confessions of a DJ Whore

Saturday, February 25th, 2006

Snoopy Da PimpHip Hop has become my pimp and I’m its whore. It first enticed me with sounds of RUN DMC and Public Enemy, ‘Ladi-Dadi, We Like To Party!’ I heard these sounds that were new, FRESH, and exciting and I was inspired by them. So much so, that I decided to follow Hip Hop’s Peter Pied Piper trail as I eased on down the yellow brick road to become a DJ. Like most hoes, I didn’t know Hip Hop was a pimp at first. I thought surely something this great should be spread around the world and I wanted to be part of Hip Hop’s team to do it.

In the early days, Hip Hop used to wear gigantic, gold rope chains that we used to call Donkey Ropes. Hip Hop was flossing back then, but didn’t have much money. Yet, I didn’t think I could afford to hang with Hip Hop’s crowd. Hip Hop must have sensed it was losing some potential customers, so it started rocking African Medallions, which could be copped at the local Flea Market or Swap Meet for $5-$10. For another 10 bills, it sold us ‘X‘ hats or a Raiders hat if you wanted to keep it gangsta. I hope you didn’t forget the $5 locs. Hip Hop started hustling and was trying to get paid. There was a time before Roc-A-Wear, Sean John, Karl Kani, or even Cross Colors when we all used to rock Lee, Levi’s, Wrangler, and for the bold and adventurous, the ‘Jordache Look.’ Hip Hop style varied, was unique and personal, but Hip Hop sensed it could get paid if it sold us all the same uniforms. It began selling us everything it could. RUN DMC, after selling us Adiddas, began selling us New Coke although we still wanted the Old Coke.

I loved Hip Hop so much; I’d do anything to be down. Hip Hop knew I was a music freak and that I would do anything to play some good tunes for a receptive crowd, so it enticed me by telling me I could spread my musical orgy worldwide with just 2 turntables and a mixer. My early DJ days were filled with mad lovemaking, passionate embraces, and tender moments. There was lots of aural sex between me and my crowds. (more…)

Posted in DJing, Hip Hop | 1 Comment »

People don’t dance no more, all they do is dis!

Tuesday, February 21st, 2006

Where have all the dancers gone? Back in the day all the parties were filled with circles of dancers doing their thing. I don’t see that anymore when I’m out DJing. You gotta understand that I came up in the Hammer, Kid and Play Kick Step era, when folks came out to cut a rug in the floor. Now kids just simulate sex group sex acts and act like they gonna get picked for a BET Uncut video.

Most appalingly, folks have lost the art and the intricacies of the slow dance. The slow dance used to be the point where a player put his real mack down and wowed a woman with his smooth moves and whispered the words that needed to get it done in her earlobe. I still remember in high school when the DJ hooked me up with a phat mix of Guy “A Piece of My Love” followed by Keith Sweat “How Deep Is Your Love?” I was defintely in the building and feeling myself at that moment with the honey I was grooving with.

Today, I make it a point to end most of my sets with a slow jam. It defuses the energy and makes people ready to leave in an orderly manner. A little over a year ago, I was ending a set with Usher “Lover’s and Friends.” A young lady in her early 20’s told me that was her song, so I asked her to dance with me. She replied that she didn’t know how to dance to a slow song. I was shocked and didn’t quite know how to respond. So I grabbed her hand and LED her in the slow dance. And hence, that is my job, to lead the masses in the dance.

Posted in DJing, Hip Hop | 1 Comment »

Is that your vinyl answer?

Tuesday, February 21st, 2006

Smashed VinylI’m a Vinyl DJ and I feel like my days are numbered working my craft in this manner. I have been spinning vinyl records for 15 years and buying them for 20 years. First CDs and now mp3s have threatened the very nature of how my craft is plied.

For many years, all the Vinyl DJs were able to ignore CDs, because there were no CDs players that approximated the feel and touch of 2 turntables. Within the past 5 to 6 years, there have been mad advances in CDJ technology that has them rivalling the best of the turntables out there.

Many of the newer DJs are starting out on these and the oldschoolers are switching in droves. Major label rappers even feature CD DJs in their live sets. That no doubt has to have the late, great Jam Master Jay turning over in his grave. Whatever happened to “The Baddest DJ On 2 Turnatbles,” or “Break 2 Needles?” Those used to be the DJ battlecries when I came up watching all the oldschool DJs, trying to be like them.

But the game has changed and is continuing to evolve. Personally, I’ve been intrigued by this new Serato software, where you can plug your laptop hard-drive up to your tables and play all your mp3s. Although there is no vinyl involved, at least the DJ is still using the turntables. Within the next 10 years, they’ll be hollering “The Baddest DJ On 2 Ipods,” and “Freeze 2 Hard-drives.”

Posted in DJing | 2 Comments »