* Connections (who you know, where you've been, etc)
* Skill/Experience (you can usually tell who's been in the game awhile and who's just starting)

As far as connections go, I'm talkin more of when you're actually on the decks. Personally, I dont really care who a DJ knows or where he's been. Its all about what he's doin when he's in the booth.

Maybe I should be asking... Are you doing the same thing the DJ after you is doing? If not, what makes you different?

(that question isnt directed to you SpinThis, its just a general quesion)

Really, unless you invent some sort of new scratch or something, your not doing anything someone hasn't done already...... IMO.

"IMO"???

I think what sets you apart as a DJ when you are spinning is your music programing and how far you are willing to bend the normal perception of what the masses think you should be doing.

Eveyone plays the same notes, and have been for a long, long time.
It's not the fact that you play a new note no one has ever herd of. It's how you play those notes that set you apart.

For example, the same basic rifts can be herd in Rock N Roll, R&B, Pop and Hiphop yet they are all different genres of music.

Where I'm from, just spinning records and beatmatchin sets me apart. I'm the only DJ I know in a 60 mile radius [outide of their bedroom] that has turntables ... too much of a hassle for most Djs i guess. They all run cds or laptops, and i've yet to hear one of them beatmatch ... mostly just a bunch of rednecks =)

I think there are definately way people can set themself apart. There is one guy I know that has perfected the 3 turntable style spinning (for hip-hop) and seamlessly blends instrumentals and acapellas rathat than the one LP/radio version into another.

Someone else I know mixes some funk into his hip-hop sets at clubs and people dig it.

One thing I'd like to do at clubs is grab an MPC-1000 when I got some dough and program a set onto it where I put maybe 5-10 seconds of some tracks onto it. Then I can flip tracks that have a catchy hook or melody that generally make people flip out. I thought that would be different.

Similarly I want to put short snippets of songs onto the MPC and drop a mixtape intro style set (but more clubbish tracks).

Thats something different.

In my opinion ;)

en.wikipedia.org

What sets me apart?

I dj naked. :)

wow sixxx, how do you scratch?

don't answer that!

wouldn't it be tight to dj in like a superman spandex everytime?

I GOTTA ANSWER...

But do you mean, how do I scratch myself or the vinyl?

lol

Are you an alumni of the Bad Boy Bill scratching school?

Sorry I just had to say it.

what makes me different is that i carry 1000's of international tunes that the majority of djs have no idea about (ethnic music from countries all over the world) :)

What should set you apart is Mixing, crowd pleasing, and music selection. I can't imagine scratching being a part of the uquasion. Of course this is when it come to crowd rockin and turntablist stuff. Turntablist stuff gets to crazy, and that's coming from someone that use to battle.