The culture of Dee Jaying, Is It still alive
I hate seeing “DJ’s” disrespect the culture and take it for granted
The DJ culture has changed drastically since the mid 80’s until now. I remember looking at movies such as Breakin, Beat Street and Krushgroove seeing DJ’S mix and scratch with two turntables and a mixer. Taking a song, mixing it with another and totally making the new song sound better than the original was cool to me. That’s what made me want to be a DJ.
I often reminisce going to record stores like Wax In Facts, Bernard Records and Record and Tape World spending countless hours searching for a record that the local record stores didn’t supply, just so when I DJ at the club, I can be the first one to say, “It was heard first from DJ CUT MASTER D.”’
Now when I go to the club, people hear a DJ, if that’s what you want to call him, with a cheap mix deck that he probably paid anywhere from $75-$125 from Best Buy, playing downloaded music from youtube and all the top 20 songs you hear on the radio every day with a host that’s hollering bull shit on the mic all night, severely interrupting the best part of the songs.
I’m not saying you’re not a good DJ if you use a mix deck, however, most DJ’s I know that uses them aren’t. They are just imitators hat will spin for a bottle of Ciroc and some chicken wings! I grew up using Technic 12oo Turntables and I still do today. I use my Pioneer cdj’s when I have to play in clubs that has a tight DJ booth, but other than that, it’s the 1200’s baby!
There’s no creativity put into todays DJ’s set. His or her playlist consist of the most recent music I hear today on the radio. There is no diversity what so ever in todays new age DJs. I won’t hear no Biggie, Prince, Phil Collin’s or Adele, but he or she will play all the top 20 which gets boring after hearing it every weekend in the club.
I remember going to the record store and could not wait to get home to experiment with the albums I purchased to add creativity to my show for the next up coming event. The new age DJs don’t incorporate no mixing or scratching of any sort. DJs like myself, DJ BABY U and DJ JAZZY JEFF just to name a few, are Masters when it comes to being diverse and not indulging into the norm.
Money that’s made from Dee jaying varies. I have some DJ friends like AJ The DJ whom makes over $200,000 a year, and I know a few guys that are DJs that earn a mid 5 figures, which isn’t bad for working 32 hours a month. However, I know some DJs out here that will under cut the hell out of me, and do a gig for $150! Wow, how can a DJ survive off that? I’ve been fortunate to earn a nice salary and remain consistant for the last 10 years.
Although I’ve see a slight decline in being booked on the weekends, my big shows make up for the lost days of not getting booked because another DJ was less expensive than I were.
I get goose bumps when I see people dancing and having an awesome time to a remix I created. I love my job with a passion, and I will continue to represent the culture and art until the day I die.
