My $0.02... I am getting out of hip hop as much as I can while keeping people dancing. I am using hip hop orinented DJ skills to spice up all kinds of music. I try to keep people guessing about what I'm playing. I also mix songs very quickly. People love that moment when they first hear a song but they don't want to hear the whole thing. ...Because of Ipods and the internet if someone really likes a song they have it, so they don't need us in the way they used to. They just want that initial "OH Yeah" and then move on. I've seen a lot of DJ's doing this. Also, we are all very used to segmented music. We have divided our culture in ways that relate strongly to music genres. What I think a lot of people forget is that many people enjoy a wide variety of music. The reason for the segmenting has a lot to do with how ClearChannel divided the radio market into specific genres that made them most valuable from a marketing persective. I think that made people think about music in very narrow ways. The reality is that everything is mixing up more and more and even clearchannel knows it. It's like the Ipod shuffle feature gets people used to hearing all their favorite tunes in a crazy order. They want to hear that same thing when they go out. They respect it more than someone just bangin straight hip hop all night. That's what I think anyway. I would love to hear other peoples perspective...

I definately feel like we are in a period of transition and I am very interested to hear where people think it's going and what they are doing about it. Or where they are leading things themselves...

yaz, not sure were your from but if you have or have not yet been out to new york. you should check out the cat's that spin at marque, hero, or avalon. a song won't be droped for longer than 45 or 50 sec. depending if its a hit or not.
your on the right path yaz, good dj's in clubs will drop songs very quickly to keep your mind guessing. and i personaly thing that being creative is the only way to get your name out there, it works vice versa you could be the dj that peeps gave you props for droping an out of the ordinary track or you could be dissed on.... depends on your crowd...

Nickel, I have not made it out to New York in years. I am from Chicago though, and I live in Portland now. I get to see other DJ's a lot in Vegas & Seattle and other cities I visit. I'm wondering what people are doin in New York besides quick mixes? Has anyone seen people pushing the envelope with anything cool? Video? Live ableton mixing with more than 3 tracks layered? Something different? I'm bored... I need a new challenge...

Um I dj at Marquee in NY I although I do quick mix I try and do it selectivly, I have designated quick mix and transition records, and I try to keep to a rule that the record coming after the song thats played really quickly is of equil or greater value.... Nothing worse than playing a hot record for like 30 seconds and then, following up with a dud! I dont let much stuff play past 2 and a 1/2 minn.... unless its a must play every vrs for singalong effect. I wont cut off Juicy before the last vs, so I always play it a little later in the night like 3:30 or somthing.

Here is an example of some good/bad quick mixes...

busta, pass the courvoisier pt 2 dont this shit make my people wanna jump jump.... for just that intro in to say Crazy In Love ( i do this and it works and kills it in a good way If I hear you do it ima know you bit)

IF you play like The Franklins and the go real quick in to mos def Mrs Fat Booty you are wack...
Thats a hot record in to a 10:30 i just got to the club record....

Finding your own transition records is key, unfortunatly for me when I worked at Turntable Lab they started carrying all the ones I was using so I've had to go find more....
Here is a short list of classic "Tranny" Records

MAW GET UP
Earth Wind and Fire with the Clap Yor Hands....
Frankilns. and little short parts of any crooklyn clan record...
Jay-z intro to Brooklyns Finest with the gun shots and "fucking with jay" part
Where Brooklyn at party break or any loop of that chant...

basicaly you could use any thing but its best when it makes sense, like using the Luda vs from one Minn man to start a quick set of like 3 luda songs, or the same thing with the jay Vs from it... The possablities are endless...

I like your input roctakon!

Fa sho rockathon, u know ur music...i find that a lot of times to be the diff. between east and west coast dj's is that althought in the east, the style is a lot of drops and not to many mixes as appost to the west but east coast dj's are very much more musicly advanced and educated. there always those exeptions were you will find tight club LA dj's and LA radio dj's are dope too exept for 100.3, but for the most part i "haven't" been to a club in NY that music was not composed well and did not educate along the way..

Thanks man yea Im trying to push mixing as much as I can, I get tired of a night of drops, and dude your right NY can be drop city.......

you need to get out of the OC more often.

prof rockwell.. could you explain to me more one what your trying to say...

Whatup ROC!

well, you said that the west coast is not as 'musically advanced' as the east coast. I clicked on your profile, and saw that you've only been DJing 4 years, mostly in Orange County. I lived in Los Angeles, which is a world apart from OC, and there are definitely good parties with taste out there. I mean, you got Cut Chemist, Nu-Mark, Miles Tackett, DJ Dusk, Breakestra and the whole Root Down crew, the Beat Junkies (who do a lot more than radio and battles by the way), the Firecracker party (is that still going on nowadays?). So I just think your opinion is not well informed. Make the hour commute up to LA once in a while and check some of these dudes parties out and you'll see what I mean.

as somebody who grew up listening to almost all hip-hop, i don't see how being a hip-hop DJ or spinning hip-hop could be played out. i think one of the best ways to do it is vary the type of hip-hop you spin.

for instance, i get paid to spin mainstream shit thurs - sat, so i try and do old-school and underground nights the rest of the time...play art openings and shit. it keeps it a little more fresh and i don't feel like i'm playing the same set all the time.

to prof rockwell...
i will try to make this as formal as i can but "ok" yes ive been spinning for 4 years, i might not have the experience as some cats do that have been spinning for like 10 but i practice every day religously and....I practicly "live" in l.a. i check out new Dj's at national, lax, dv8, mood, concord, century club and more an weekly basis not meniton the amount of record shoppin as well. and to be honest, some nights being at some of the high profile clubs were dj's are making over $700+ hourly, don't know wut the f... there doing. It will be like 12:30 prime hours and they'll throw on some corny bullsh... joint and totaly stoping the crowd having people walk off the dance floor..
i would understand if he threw on maybey a much lower tempo track but was a classic... but that wasn't the case.
and a lot of the cats you named off are "very talented" but "very hip hop underground related dj's" i got mad love for J-rocc, mr. choc and more... those were the first cats i listend to when i first started dj'ing cuz i didn't have a crew or a friend to teach me..
but having said that i won't find these cats at the high profile clubs in hollywood... nor do they probably care do spin for that shit...
but your right i should have reworded wut i said... comparing form east and west coast dj's ive listened to in "high profile" clubs, i found the east to be a little more advanced in my experience form living in N.Y. twice now.
my apologizes...

after a few hours of contemplation, i realized that it's not possible to compare N.Y. dj's to L.A. dj's
u rest your case rockwell.

Nickel, I live in OC and practically live in LA too. I feel both sides of this argument. I noticed a lot of DJs wreck the dance floor when it's hottest also so I know what you are talking about. I mean, to a certain extent I do it too. I'll put on what I call "floor breaks" to give everyone a breather before I drop some heat. Floor breaks also sell more drinks which in turn make club owners like you more. Most DJs probably want to keep the dancefloor packed all night, but me personally, I like to break the floor every once in awhile. Make sure everyone is rested to go all out from 12.30 to close.

Nickel and Anewsome:

no worries man, it was nothing personal. And quite frankly, we got the same problem with DJs out here. Top name dudes will get paid beaucoup bucks to play crappy music that is mixed poorly. Don't even get me started on some of the rock clubs out here. And you're right, a lot of the DJs I listed do come from an underground hip hop background, but they all know their stuff musically as well. Just seek out some of the more low profile nights and you'll find some good parties with good DJs. Root Down is a good place to start:

www.rootdownclub.com

peace!

Funny thing about high end places there are no dance floors so its all about bottles. You got to keep it poppin straight through so the hyper it gets the more likely some jerkoff is gonna buy a 800 dollar bottle of cryastal, Nowadays with the new clubs opening in all the same districts, (IN NY) its very easy to lose your croud and have them go around the corner, so you got to keep it hype.


NY/LA some Ideas?

As far as LA I dont follow that backpack shit so all I know about are cats like Vice and AM etc etc... But I thought NY was the home of djs? Why does it seem like every DJ getting the major jobs and Vegas paper is from LA. (NOT DISSING U GUYS HUSTLE AND I RESPECT) Dudes are getting G'd off out there and some of the best djs in the world are fighting for table scraps in NY. Also LA has a lot more dudes that can really cut and scratch and still dj a party, most, not all but most of the time on the east coast if you can scratch you can't DJ a party for shit. Myself, Riz, Spinbadd, and a few others being exceptions to the rule. Also out west the radio market is open to new talent, here we have an old guard that keeps watch over the gates of the radio game and dont let no one past, Another thing is people like Funk Flex not really trying to see white cats in that game.... Look at his attacks on spinbadd and before that he was a total dick to Mark Ronson. Also the radio market here on some serious hip hop industry shit..... It seems like out west its a littl more mellow cause all the hip hop shit is not as prevelent. I mean in ny a dj that was on the radio would NEVER NEVER be djing a sexy spot like LAX in LA, but out there radio jocks also hold down some sexy joints. Could u imagin, Funk Flex djing at Marquee? He would clear the room in an Hr.

But on the other side of the coin the "HOT" clubs in NY meaning the ones that get celeb clients really discriminate against djs too. They are not so much racist as ghettoest. It dont matter if your white or black or latino if you show up to dj looking like a "Hip Hopper" you are gonna be assed out. If you bring a bunch of thugged out looking dudes with you or have them roll up to see you will be assed out. Its not that they dont want black or latino djs its just that no matter what color you are you better be in some jeans that fit, trendy clothes, and NO NO NO like Sean John or Rocawear...

One last thing cause this is to long, is that LA djs have Vegas. Where are we gonna go play Atlantic City? thats a giant shit hole nobody wants to go to, AC not sexy at all unless toothless hookers are you ga.... So with that short flight from LA to vegas and the rise of nightlife in the casinos, The Media Machine That Is hollywood, Etc Etc NY is really gonna have to step up its game, I dont wanna have to move to LA to become a really successful DJ I thought NY was the only place in the world u could do that... .

Good post roctakon.

roctakon i need your advice..i just went to marshalls and got that new hot sean john sweat suit its baby blue.. i thought if i wore that with my baby blue yankee fitted and air force 1's with the baby blue swoosh i could hold down a gig on 27th street ny ny..do u think i should return it?? if yes whats a better look for me???

roctakon the turntable lab has informed me you are writing a novel about djin in a globalized society.. i was wondering when this was comin out and if it was goin to have a bio or any pictures of you winning dmc championships....

T. Mallis........


I think that maby you should check your girlfriends closet cause I left a pair of jeans there last time I stayed over....

Combine those jeans with a plain white-T and some shoes, not AF-1's and your good to go.....

Also if you want pictures there should be some of me and her, and maby some video we shot while you were on vacation, as far as dj battles I never won many cause when I finnaly figured out the secret to dj battles they were kinda over and not a good look, you know like Pointy Gucci Loafers....

that is tight. Ive never thought of that. intentionally breaking the floor. that is pretty smart. thanks for the insight man.

DJLorrence, be very careful with this approach ... you could have a crowd of very pissed off people staring your way for breaking their mood.

I know this tactic is quoted a lot for "keeping the owner happy", but I've rarely seen it work in practice. Think about when YOU go clubbing ... do you want radical changes in style, or do you want a night that lets you flow like syrup as the beats change?

I'm all in favour of changing the mood of the floor, but I'd rather do it more subtly than clearing the floor, with everyone shaking their head about stupid DJs who can't mix.

Perhaps it works best in bar-type venues, with an early crowd, but I haven't played enough of those to be able to comment on that type of place.

ah, good input HSL. hey, could you reply to my new post? on the speaker/light rental issue when i upload the photos?

thanks mate.

to anewsome,
thats a pritty good idea that you work with, as far as floor breaks go... i never thought of it in that way, but i will have to agree with djHSL $ 0.02

I'm not talking about putting on WHACK shit for a floor break, I'm still talking about keeping the vibe going, but a little less heat on it.

Example, I saw a DJ in an LA club a few weeks ago put on a floor break track at about 11.30pm, it was Rod Stewart - If You Want My Body, and You think I'm Sexy. This was a mostly BLACK club fellas. Everyone just starred up at the DJ booth while that whack shit played. But it did the job. The dance floor cleared, and midway through the song the bar was three deep.

You'll never hear me drop some Rod Stewart in a black club. He dropped his heat after that and the floor was packed through the night, but most of his records were pre-mixed (if you know what I mean) - but that's another thread.

roctakon i think u did leave the jeans there although she has been wearing them.. they are size extra extra tight... anyway will u let me in on the secret of winning battles.. and blowing the judges is no secret you already told me about your reach around technique ..i want to be the dmc champ and need your assitance..maybe we can set up a private lesson once a week...peace to the roc

I think Evil 1 has a point. Hip hop isn't played out as much as people are tired of radio/MTV hip hop. I think if you have the talent and depth to take people on a journey through some non-commercial hip hop while still keeping them dancing you will survive any swings in popular opinion. Sometimes it's hard to find people cultured enough to appreciate that though... Especially Thur-Sat in big clubs. It's all about what Roctakon said... you have to just keep it hyped. There is no captive audience that you can educate a little. You gotta just keep them drinkin and being stupid sometimes.