Serato & 15,000 Songs Doesn't Make You A DJ! (Comment on Radio Facts blog post-click this headline to read original post)

The problem with the statement "anybody can DJ a party now" is that assumes spinning is no more than slapping songs on any ole kind of way. Yes, playing the right music for your crowd is the most important thing. But matching beats, smooth transitions, scratching to accentuate the song, not just for show because "you're a Hip-Hop DJ," bringing in the right song at the right moment to hype up the crowd, knowing more than one genre of music… it's becoming a lost art.

Unfortunately, the standards for DJing has dropped, not only in the minds of promoters and club managers, but in the minds of club goers. Train wrecks don't make people snap their necks looking at the DJ booth. Cutting songs off in the middle of a verse doesn't prompt a collective groan from the dance floor. Galloping beats don't make the crowd walk off the floor in disgust.

I'm not some old school DJ that is still slepping around crates of records. I am a very proud Serato and Macintosh user who teaches other DJs how to use Serato properly. But spinning is more than "I have 15,000 of my favorite songs in my computer. I'm a DJ." What happens when your carefully premade playlists and mixes bomb completely, and you're left with hundreds of people waiting for you to make them dance? If you haven't mastered "transitions and matching beats from song to song on the fly," memorizing the songs so you can get the party jumping again, the crowd is going to leave thinking you are wack.

DJing is reading and reacting to your crowd, playing that perfect song to take the mood higher, reaching back for those classics (or dusties as my hometown of Chicago would say) that make the crowd throw their hands in the air, taking them on a musical ride that leaves them breathless and sweaty at the end. I don't want my crowd to say, "the music was good. Who was the DJ?" I want my crowd to say, "damn! Big Chicago put it down tonight! Where is he going to be next?"

Ban Wack DJs: Hiring "DJ WTF" For Cheap Loses You Money And Wrecks Your Reputation

Listen up: you can not have a great club night without paying a great DJ. Okay… that's not exactly true. You can have a great club night if you consistently attract A & B-List celebrities, athletes, models and 10s to your events. Other than that? You need a great DJ to create a great club night.

Chubby Chub made Tuesdays at Aria hot for 2 years. DJ Buck made Fridays at Jovans hot for 7 years. Ron Steele made Saturdays at Vertigo hot for 5 years. I made the DancePlex on Saturdays hot for 3 years. Back in the day, Jammin' Gee-Clef made Fridays at the Officers Club hot for 3 years. Kevin Lawyer made Thursdays at the Harbor Club hot for 2 years. Ron Boston made The Gallery hot for 2 years.

The common denominator? Each DJ was the only DJ for that night (no rotating DJs… what I call DJ Roulette). Each DJ consistently played the hottest music, kept the dance floor packed, and created anticipation for the next week. And each DJ was the highest paid DJ at the club (or in the city, in Chub, Buck and Gee-Clef's cases).

Why do top DJs charge so much? Because they know their value to a promoter or club. Their name on a promoter's flyer legitimizes the night. They have a track record of success in many different clubs, with many different promoters, with many different crowds. They can make 10 people or 1000 people have a great time. And they never, ever have a bad night.

Unfortunately, most promoters don't understand the power of a great DJ. DJ A charges twice as much as DJ B. Promoter says "hey, I can save some money by going with DJ B," failing to realize DJ B has never had a steady DJ gig. DJ B has only worked at small clubs. DJ B can't play to different crowds. DJ B doesn't know what to do if people are not dancing. DJ B can't keep people dancing, even when he has them on the dance floor. DJ B can't make the night so hot that the crowd can't wait for the next event DJ B is going to be at. DJ A can do all that, knows it, and charges for it.

You see it all the time: XYZ Promotions presents Ties & Timbs Night at Rodeo Bill's. XYZ did their job… hyped up the night… got a good crowd into the building. Rodeo Bill's is actually a nice spot. Parking wasn't bad; the bouncers were courteous; the line was long, but went quick. Get in, get a drink, walk around the club, give dap, pounds and hugs to your friends… find that right spot to see everyone… now we're ready to party!

But…

Everyone is standing around the dance floor like it's quicksand they can't step in. "It's midnight. The party should be jumping by now." "Who's the DJ?" "DJ WTF." "DJ who?" "DJ WTF." "Who is DJ WTF?" "I don't know, but if XYZ has him here, then he must be good.

12:30 am…

"What is this DJ doing? Cutting songs off in the middle, scratching over everything, and talking like he's getting paid by the word!" "What song is this?" "I don't know, I've never heard it before." "Oh, wait, that's my song right there!" (starts dancing and singing the lyrics) "NO! He cut the song off again! What song is this??"

1:30 am…

(Yawning) "Are you ready to go?" "Yeah, let's get." "Damn, there's a line at the coat room. I guess everyone had the same idea. This night was wack!"

4 weeks later…

Ties & Timbs night is done. It went from a good crowd, to a decent crowd, to a bad crowd, to no crowd. Why? Because the promoter hired a wack, cheap DJ to save some bucks on the front end instead of hired a great DJ and cleaning up on the back end.

What do you think? Am I completely off base or right on target? Let me know!

7 Tips To Make You A Better DJ

1. Know your audience
I’ve seen this WAY too often. A DJ is on the decks, playing music the crowd is obviously (to me) not feeling, but because that DJ is not reading the crowd, they keep playing what they think the crowd should want to hear. Not every Black crowd wants to hear hardcore Hip-Hop. Not every White crowd wants to hear Dance music.

Look up from the tables sometime. Look around the club. Even if people are not dancing, you can see if you are going in the right direction. Are heads nodding? Good. Feet tapping? Excellent. Are they singing along? Great. Hands in the air when you throw on the next song? You got them.

The opposite is true. Heads whip around like in a car crash? Not good. Eyes lasered on you like Syler slicing off heads (you have to be a Heroes fan for that one). Uh oh. People standing on the dance floor with their arms folded like “I don’t care if you are playing the hottest song in the city, I’m not dancing. Fuck you!” Time to start packing up your shit… you’re done for the night.

2. Play what your crowd wants to hear
This is something even big name DJs sometimes forget. Don’t play over people’s heads. Play to the crowd, not to the individual. You may be tired of T-Pain, but your audience is not. You may be sick of Beyonce, but your audience is not. You may be completely done with Lil Wayne, but your audience is not.

Oh, and this is a huge deal: don’t let the promoter, manager, owner, bartenders, waitresses or bouncers tell you what to play! Especially if you have a full dance floor. Just nod your head and keep doing what you do. “Yo, dawg, I got this honey who wants to fuck me in the coat room if you play a slow song right now.” Am I getting some pussy? No. Then you’re not getting any pussy!

3. Know what you want to play before you play it
This does NOT mean have your set of music already planned out for the night. It means thinking ahead to figure out how to get from song A to song F using songs B, C, D & E. If you are a DJ that goes straight from Snap Yo Fingers to Get Me Bodied because “it feels right,” you are a bad DJ. And if you can’t tell me why that is wrong, you too are a bad DJ. Point blank.

Thinking ahead also means having multiple options for every next song. I play I Just Wanna Love You almost every time I spin, but depending on the crowd’s mood, I could stay old school Hip-Hop and play Hypnotized. I could go Top-40 and play Get Right. I could get the ladies on the floor and play Single Ladies. I could go old school Dancehall and play Murder She Wrote or new school Dancehall and play No Games.

I love my DJ brother Jammin’ Gee-Clef, and he taught me a hell of a lot about finding the perfect spot to break into the next record, but the whole crowd knew what he was going to play next, and then could tell you what he was going to say next. That doesn’t make you a bad DJ, but your act can get old very quickly, and the next DJ who plays slightly different than you will take your job.

4. Know when and how to get to the next song
You know what grinds my gears (thanks Family Guy). DJs who cut songs off in the middle of the chorus, or worse, in the middle of the verse. Another pet peeve: DJs that get in and out of songs so fast but with no rhyme or reason, like they get paid by the amount of songs they play in the night.

I heard a DJ at Z-Square the first weekend I was back that was really good, but he kept cutting off songs before the part everyone wants to sing comes on. Sometimes he would just play the instrumental beginning, and then he was off on to another song. Example: he played the horn riff of They Reminisce Over You at the very beginning of the song, then went to the next song without letting a single word from CL Smooth play.

If you want to play quickly, play one verse and be out. One verse and one chorus and be out. If you’re really good and do the pre-work, just play the most popular part of the song (like skipping to Biggie’s verse in Mo Money Mo Problems or Foxy’s verse in Ain’t No Nigga like Chubby Chub does).

5. Understand what building momentum means
Why are you playing Pop Champagne at 11:30 as people are still piling in? Single Ladies at 12? Got Money at 10:30? I can’t stand coming into a club and hearing the top 5 songs in the country at the beginning of the night. That is a DJ who doesn’t know their craft well enough to build the anticipation in their audience so that when you FINALLY drop that track, the crowd is orgasmic. It doesn’t mean playing slow jams early and then increasing the speed. I’ve started a night with uptempo songs and built momentum by slowing the music down and making the night more steamy and sexy.

First point: don’t play songs twice. If you do, you’re scared that you can’t play other music to keep people dancing.

Second: save the top hot songs in the country until the final hour. Once again, if you are playing Top 10 songs at 11:00, you are not a good DJ.

Third: before the bulk of the crowd comes, your job is to keep people in the club until the crowd comes. If you are using Serato, you probably have at the very least 5,000 to 10,000 songs in your computer. You mean to tell me you can’t play anything other than the Top 10 songs? I’ll give you twelve 15 minute set catagories that you can use before you get to your last hour.
⁃ Old School Hip-Hop (late 80s-mid 90s)
⁃ Old School R&B (90s)
⁃ Old School Dancehall (90s)
⁃ Old School Uptempo (Hip-Hop, R&B, Dancehall and House)
⁃ Funk/Soul (late 70s into the 80s)
⁃ Early 2000s Hip-Hop
⁃ Early 2000s R&B
⁃ Early 2000s Dancehall
⁃ Big Hits from the past 2 years (songs that are not classics)
⁃ Party classics from the past 5 years
⁃ Hot R&B catering to ladies
⁃ Old School Hip-Hop featuring one artist
If you build sets of 10 to 15 songs for each set, you’ll never have to touch the Top 10 songs until the end of the night, when it will have the biggest impact.

6. Sandwich great songs around a new song
You have this great new song by MC Low Clearance that you just have to rock tonight. The best way to introduce it is to hit the crowd with 5-7 bangers in a row. If you know how to get in and out of songs quickly, that should be 8-15 minutes. Then bring in the new song just like you brought in the previous songs.

Here is the key: know what song you are going to go into after the new song BEFORE you play the new song. You are going to lose people on the dance floor with the new song (unless you have a crowd that trusts the DJ). But if you come back with a hot song, your dance floor will come back with a vengence. Then you rock another set of bangers before you slip another new song in.

7. The bar is your friend
Make sure you let this last point sink in: IF THE BAR DOESN’T MAKE ANY MONEY, YOU’RE NOT DOING YOUR JOB. I’m not just talking about getting people into the club. If people are not drinking in the club, the club is not making any money, the club will close (or at the very least close the night you’re spinning) and you’re out of a job.

Most DJs think “keep the dance floor packed no matter what.” And I agree… 90% of the time. But if everyone is on the dance floor and they’re not drinking, that’s a problem. So what, you say. That not my problem, that’s the club’s problem.

But think about it the opposite way. If everyone is drinking, they are more loose. If they are more loose, they get on the dance floor easier. If they are on the dance floor, you can be more adventurous with your music. Yes, you may lose some of your dance floor if you go left and they don’t go left with you, but they’ll most likely go back to the bar for another drink. You hit them with that next banger (see #6), and they’re right back on the floor.

So your goal is to get as many people drinking as possible because it makes it easier for you to get people on the dance floor. Plus the manager, promoter, bartenders and waitresses will love you because you are putting more money in their pockets, and they won’t bother you with stupid requests!

Now, by no means is this list complete, so add your own comments to this blog. I would love to hear if you agree, disagree, think I’m off-base or I’m dead on. Add your own list of what makes a good DJ better.

The Start Of The Rollercoaster

I call this the start of the roller coaster because this past year my radio career has been just like a roller coaster: a long climb up, a tantalizing pause at the top to enjoy the view, then a fast, terrifying drop followed by twists you don't see, turns that sneak up on you, loops that leave you dizzy, punctuated with little inclines for you to catch your breath, finally leaving you where started, but instead of being on the ride now, you're in the back of the long, long line of people who want to get on the ride again too, and they changed how tall you have to be to get on the ride, so you barely make the height now, and all the big kids are taking all the seats on the rides the little kids had all to themselves, but you don't want to ride another ride, you want to ride on THIS one!

Okay, so that made no sense to you, but I'm laughing hysterically!

Saturday night. September 1st, 2007. The anniversary of my 29th birthday. I am the PD/Afternoon personality for the #1 station for young adults in the Dayton area. It's 8 o'clock and I’m ordering dinner for myself and a beautiful young lady I met a few weeks ago, having made reservations at the local equivalent of Morton’s. The calm before the storm of my birthday party later on that night at the newest hot lounge. Life is good.

Then the call comes. “The station is off the air!” Oh, s$#%! We have one 4 hour show a week that we play off of CDs, and the person in charge of running that show, the board op, failed to show up. No answer from repeated calls to the board op. I call a board op running a show for one of our sister stations. I have him start the first CD, but since the first segment is only 25 minutes long, we’ll have dead air again if no one is in the studio.

• Do I hope the board op is just running late and stay with my date at the restaurant?
• Do I ask the other station’s board op to skate back and forth between stations, running my programming and his own, and stay with my date at the restaurant?
• Do I call around to the other staffers to see if anyone can go to the station and babysit the show, and stay with my date at the restaurant?
• Can you tell that I want to stay with my date at the restaurant?
• Or do I apologize to my date, give her the choice to stay and have her meal, and sprint to the station before that 25 minute segment finishes?

So dessert comes and I say to my date, “I wonder if the board op ever made it to the station?”

No. Not really.

I skid into the station parking lot at 8:20pm and take the stairs two at a time to the on-air studio. “Good, 5 minutes left.” A quick search of the premises turns up no trace of the board op, and this show has 3 1/2 more hours to run. The lounge opens at 10pm. I have to be there, not just because it’s my birthday party, but because I have a signed contract to DJ and host the event. The station is my primary responsibility, but I am the face of the station. If I back out of a deal, that reflects badly on the station. I don’t want the station’s credibility with the owners, managers and promoters to be shot.

The challenge is this: can I get the remaining 7 segments on the air and get to the club before the bulk of the people make it there?

I first call the club to tell them I will be a little late, because I have an emergency at the radio station. That gives me some breathing room, but at that point I don’t know how much more time I need. I then fire the next 25 minute segment. I jog to the other end of the building and start downloading segments into 1 of only 2 computers that can quickly send music files to the on-air studio (I’m glad I earned my operation manager’s trust for him to give me a key to his office). Once segment 3 is ready I place it in the queue. I continue to scamper back and forth between office and studio until all the segments are in the queue, ready to go! I jump into my truck, observing the speed limit and stopping at every yellow light… (riiiiiiight) and make it to the lounge only 30 minutes late.

Oh, and the young lady? She understood completely, left the restaurant with me, met me at the lounge later on and made the rest of my birthday memorable!

Racial Profiling AND Quotas?

I'm sitting in my living room in shock right now. I got stopped by the police and got a ticket. ON MY BICYCLE!

Yes, I know. My mouth is still open. I honestly can't believe it.

Was I weaving in and out of traffic? No. Was I drunk? Getting ready to be, but not yet. Was I on the wrong side of the street? No.

I was riding at night.

That's it.

Yes, that is it.

When I saw the police officer slow down, I thought that was weird, but I'm on a bike. I can't be doing something illegal. He swung into a housing complex, so I thought that's why he slowed down. But then he pulled a U-wie (has anyone ever spelled that before?) and came back out right behind me. Since I'm not a nerd, I don't have mirrors on my bike, so I couldn't tell that his lights were on. I finally realized that he hadn't passed me, so I look back and am blinded by the flashing lights. So I stop, wait for him to get out the car and ask what's up.

He cited me for not having flashing lights on my bike at night. Okay, it's a safety issue, I understand that completely, so I'm not mad. I've been wanting to get some lights because in the 'burbs, they don't have street lights like I'm used to in the city. But then he says I have to give you a ticket. WHAT!? A ticket for riding my bike at night without flashing lights. I didn't get a ticket when I was driving my roommate's car and she had no registration in the car and her license plate was illegal! I could have been arrested because it looked like I could have stolen the car… and I didn't get a ticket for that but I got a ticket for my bike? I got a warning for speeding and the officer told me there was a serious accident 5 miles down the road so they are stepping up enforcement. And I can't get a warning on a bike at night?

The officer then proceeds to tell me there is a zero-tolerance policy for this because a 15 year old was killed on a bike recently just up the road. Told me this 3 times. Okay, so my policy is to never challenge a police officer because they have the power, and I don't want to give them a reason to abuse it. But am I wrong to look up the story to see if he was telling the truth? Because I did. Looked up the road he said the kid was on. Looked up "cyclist killed." Looked up "pedestrian killed" in Miamisburg, Miami Township and West Carrollton. I didn't find this story, which to me would seem like a big deal and there would be some story about it on a local news website.

So I believe this is an officer trying to get his August quota. Yeah, yeah, I know… "there are no ticket quotas." Riiiight. Why is it that almost every time I've been stopped it has been in the last 5 days of the month? Plus my roommate is moving out because she doesn't feel safe. She feels the police in this area are racially profiling and she wants to get back to the west side of Dayton. This doesn't make my skepticism of her thoughts look good at all.

Industry Thoughts-August 26th, 2008

How in the hell do you justify taking home this much money when your company is barely making a profit? Don't get me wrong; CBS is one of the only radio conglomerates to actually be visionary, and I appreciate that they pay their talent what they are worth. But wow!

"CBS' LES MOONVES landed at number three on the ASSOCIATED PRESS' list of highest-paid CEOs this year.

MOONVES, at $67.6 million in compensation, trailed only ORACLE's LARRY ELLISON (at $84.6 million) and MERRILL LYNCH's JOHN THAIN ($83.1 million) on the list."
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On another CBS note, I'm glad to see Rob Scorpio getting the job at WPGC. I don't know him, but I've followed his career from afar. Through his interviews he seem to be a good dude, plus he has been successful everywhere he has been given the resources to succeed (let's just forget about the West Coast, shall we?). With Donnie and Big Tigger holding drive time down, there is no reason to think he won't be successful in DC.

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Update on Choice FM-London
I'm still very surprised on how much American music is played on Choice FM in England. I'm going to have to do some research on other Urban stations in that area, because there has to be more talent in the UK than they are displaying on that station. I love the fact that it's an uptempo station; however, one of the things that I have to get used to is their personalities talking over the final 1/3 of the songs. They will talk 45 to 70 seconds over the words of the song! That makes their forward momentum crazy because they never let the music stop, but if you can't hear the final verse of the song, what's the point?

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Kids Arguing About Vocabulary!

I never thought I would see this in my lifetime. I'm sitting in the back of the bus yesterday and I overheard two kids arguing. City living makes you hyper-aware of your surroundings, but I try not to get too much into anyone's business. So I'm making sure they are not getting ready to jump into the aisle and start rolling up and down the bus, but I'm not really listening. Until…

"My vocabulary is bigger than yours."

What?

"No, my vocabulary is bigger than yours."

Okay, so now I have to look. One girl, one boy, from the same school in Dayton, OH, sparring on vocabulary. I did my best Allen Iverson talking about practice in my head ("Vocabulary? They're talking about Vo-cab-u-lar-y).



I thought they were going to bust out dictionaries and start an impromptu spelling bee. In a world where most kids are hiding how smart they are because they want to fit it, these kids are flaunting their intelligence!

But I wonder… when they get back to their neighborhood, does the dumb mask go back up? Are they accepted as the smart kids they are, or do they need to dial it back so the other kids don't ridicule them? How many intelligent kids guard their brain power like gold in Fort Knox from their friends, neighbors and even family?

I identify with those kids because I was one of those kids. But I couldn't put up the dumb mask. And I paid for it.

The names: Peabody. Mr. Wizard. Brainiac. At my high school in Chicago, we didn't the "Most Likely To" thing, but if we did, I would have been Most Likely To Become A Rocket Scientist. Even though rocket scientists are paid (or in reality, all the different types of engineers it takes to design, build and launch a spacecraft), that was the ultimate insult. "How dare you actually be smart?"

And the craziest thing? I was a jock! I played Basketball, Baseball and (allegedly) ran Cross Country (my only rules in running: don't come in last and don't let a girl within my eyesight beat me). But I was on the outside of the in-crowd. There were plenty of people who would have loved to trade places with me, but inside the locker room, I was low man on the totem pole. I always say kids are so cruel, because they will say and do things that will keep rattling inside someone's brain for decades.

Okay, so how do I make this about music, DJing, radio or women? Well, all those kids who thought I would be a rocket scientist… were right! But I'm a "Rock-It" Scientist! Instead of being in a lab, I'm in a club. Instead of running computer simulations, I'm running Serato Scratch Live. Instead of using my smarts to place people on the moon, I'm using them to bring them to the club, get them on the dance floor, get them drinking and (most importantly) get them to come back!

So I thank those kids in the back of the bus. I feel good that they felt comfortable enough around their peers to show their intellect. They are going to be highly successful in whatever they decide to put their mind to.

My 5 plus 1 list on how to overcome childhood ridicule:
1. Find people who like you for you
2. Find hobbies that you excel in
3. Find hobbies that you love to do, no matter how bad you are at it
4. Let negative energy roll off you like water off a duck's back
5. Actively remember the good things that people say to you and about you

and plus 1: look in the mirror and say "I love you" to yourself. Watch the smile creep over your face. Internalize that feeling.

Lovin' Me Some Choice FM in London! (Click here to go to their website)

I get so tired of the same music on almost every single Urban station in the country. I was so excited when streaming came about, but there are very few stations that I feel actually give me some variety. And very few personalities I like listening to. Big Tigger at WPGC In DC (or as he says, the DMV). Ryan Cameron on V-103 in the A. Mr. Peter Parker at B96 in the Twin Cities. Doug Banks. Russ Parr. 100.3 The Beat in Philly is exciting. 96.3 Jamz in Albany, NY is exciting. Power 96 in Miami and B96 in Chicago are exciting (I guess I just like 96 frequency stations). I wish Emmis would stream, because I love listening to Angie Martinez and Funk Flex when I'm in New York. And I wish I could figure out why my Mac doesn't work with Clear Channel stations, cause then I would listen to 103.5 The Beat in Miami (another fav).

I don't even remember how I ran across Choice FM in London, but I'm hooked! I was listening to their morning show, which is nothing special, but the music was great. I love the energy. A nice mix of R&B, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Soca and House, plus UK Garage and 2-Step. In an hour I heard 6 songs I didn't know existed. Plus the old school joints they play pass the "oh, shit!" test. I can't wait to listen to their mixshows!

What's crazy is Choice FM is very much an American radio station with English-accented jocks! Okay, an American station with a wider playlist. But the beds are American Hip-Hop, 85% of the music is from North American, and the topics their morning show talked about were about American celebrities! They talked about J-Lo, Morgan Freeman, Mr. T from the A Team… and I just heard a drop from Ludacris, T.I. and 50 Cent. I guess I would have expected to hear a lot more about things I had never heard of before. Even the songs that I hadn't heard before are by American artists! This station really could be a pirate station out of Boston, New York or Miami run by people from England. Maybe outside of the morning show it will be more UK based.

Here is the track listing for about 2 hours of listening (new favorites in bold):
I'll Be Lovin' You Long Time-Mariah Carey f/T.I.
Stressed Out-Mass Destruction
Confessions (Part 2)-Usher f/Twista, Kanye West
She's Like A Star-Taio Cruz f/Sugababes, Busta Rhymes
Only You (Bad Boy Remix)-112 f/The Notorious B.I.G., Mase
Dance With Me-Dizzee Rascal f/Calvin Harris
80s Joint-Kelis
Do You Mind-DJ Paleface f/Kyla
Won't You Stay[not sure of title]-[don't know artist]
Sunshine-Jay-Z
Superwoman-Alisha Keys
This Is The Girl-Kano f/Craig David
The Bongo Jam-Crazy Cousins
Miss Independent-Ne-Yo
Hypnotized-Plies f/Akon
When I Grow Up (Remix)-Pussycat Dolls f/Rodney Jerkins, Diddy, Fatman Scoop, Lil Wayne
Body-Nelly f/Akon, Ashanti
Mary Jane (All Night Long)-Mary J. Blige
Dangerous (Remix)-Kardinal Offishall f/Akon, Sean Paul
Low-Flo-Rida
Defense (The Anthem Remix)-Pitbull f/Machel Montano, Lil Jon
One More Chance-Will.I.Am
Saturday Night Hustle-Sway f/Lamar
Heard Em Say-Kanye West
Love Tha Girl-Raphael Saddiq
Run It-Chris Brown f/Juelz Santana
Oochie Wally-QB's Finest
Juicy-The Notorious B.I.G.

Do you see what I mean? Even the new music is from America! My mouth dropped open when I heard Raphael Saddiq's new song, because it REALLY sounds like a song from the 60s! Hot!

Advanced Dance Therapy Podcast

Urban Jam Session Podcast

I Want To Work For Diddy… My Thoughts

I've never really been a reality TV show type person. I'm proud to say I've never watched Survivor more than 5 minutes in total. Big Brother, the Amazing Race, the Real World… couldn't care less. I did like the Biggest Loser, but really because there were some sexy big women on that show! ;-)

But now I've run across I Want To Work For Diddy. I like the show, but I don't like the people on it, probably because I feel they are playing up for the cameras (which is exactly the reason why I can't stand reality shows). For people who want to work for a person who doesn't tolerate bitchassness, all I see… is bitchassness! Right now, I feel like the person who wins won't last 6 weeks as Diddy's assistant. But maybe by the end of the show that person really will deserve it.

But the reason why I like the show is because I'm in the music industry (on the radio and nightclub side), so I've met Diddy. He was the very first interview I had on the air at WILD-AM in Boston! BTW, probably the worst interview I ever had, not totally because of me, but because of him. He had an earpiece in for his phone, and he was talking on the phone in between being interview by me! Multitasking. So I couldn't ask him what he wanted to talk about, or even get warmed up with him before we hit the air. PLUS I had never done an interview on the radio before! This wasn't just a train wreak. It was a missile hitting a jet plane crash landing on a train falling off a bridge onto a ocean liner!

Okay, back to the subject. I know the inner workings of radio, and I want to see how similar behind the scenes is on the music side. Plus it's a great opportunity to see a highly successful Black man and find out what makes him tick. It's almost better than reading a book about Diddy, because you are seeing firsthand how hard he hustles to be that successful. A lot of the things he talks about are so over the top, it's hard to believe, but many highly successful people in every field imaginable are hyper-driven like he is. It makes me look at myself and my life and say, "Do I want to work THAT hard?" How hard can I work to make $500,000 instead of $5,000,000?

But I then think of one thing that Diddy said on the show that makes the difference for me, that makes me say, "Yes, I CAN and WILL work that hard." He said (and I'm paraphrasing, since I can't find the actual quote) that he can't sleep because he is that excited about what he needs to do that day because he is in love with what he is doing. Well, I love spinning, and I will go anywhere around the world to do it. I love podcasting, and I have to hold back all the mixes I want to post because it would be a flood. I love radio, and I am determined to get in front of the right people to get me back on the air. And now, I love blogging, and it is 5:14 am and I'm writing about I Want To Work For Diddy! Maybe I should be working for Diddy, because I naturally don't sleep! :-)

The Black & White of Reggie Beas

I love doing podcasts! It is so liberating to just play music for myself, and find other people who love what I do. Not just because I'm playing "Today's Hottest Music," but they like the WAY I'm playing the music. They like the new music I'm introducing to them. Even when I go left, they will go with me because they trust me. I have a podcast called the Lost Classics. Man, I'm yelling and screaming on this because I am FEELING IT! I had so much fun making that podcast.

My Urban Jam Session podcast is for the Black side of my fan base; the Advanced Dance Therapy podcast is for the White side, but feel free to switch sides! :-) Really though, the Urban Jam Session is more thugged out with mostly Hip-Hop with a little R&B and Reggae. Advanced Dance Therapy is more uptempo, with Hip-Hop, Dance, House, Rock, Freestyle, R&B and Top-40 all mixed together.

I would love for you to subscribe to my podcasts! Go to www.ReggieBeas.podOmatic.com and/or www.AdvancedDanceTherapy.podOmatic.com, and scroll down until you see "Subscribe to this Podcast." Click either button; it takes you to another page. Look on the right side for "Subscribe in iTunes." Then you will get the Reggie Beas vision every time inspiration strikes!

Long Legs, Stilettos and A Peach Dress

One of my simple pleasures in life is finding that woman who takes my breath away every time I see her. I have found that woman. Her beauty is so exquisite all I can say is "oh my God." Her smile makes me smile, and she's not even talking to me! Her personality shines so brightly. She is incredibly graceful on the dance floor. And to top it off, she is 6 feet tall… and is so secure with her height that she wears heels! I have to say, never in this lifetime would I have thought that I would see a woman in Dayton, Ohio, whose style is so on-point every… single… time. I'm sure that when she is at home she's chillin' in sweats and a t-shirt (and probably making that look hot too), but when she steps out… let's just say she would look right at home on a red carpet somewhere. I am completely and total amazed by this woman!

Now I know looks are not everything. I don't know the first thing about her. She could be a complete prima donna in her private life and is impossible to deal with (I've had a few in my life)! But I've gotten to know some pretty amazing women, and my track record is pretty good with getting to know good women vs. whack jobs. From the outside, she seems like a good woman, but that's only based on how she interacts with the world around her. I'm not basing it on how good she looks. She will prove whether her beauty is only skin deep or not by her actions.

My friends tell me I'm waaaay too picky. I know my standards are high, but I want to adore my woman. Put her on a pedestal. She makes me want to be a better man. And it is attainable, because I've had these feeling before for women who I felt (and feel) are exceptional. Julia. Joanne. Crystal. Shannon. Christine. Angel. Cathy. Nicole (all 4 of them!). Shero. Maria. Mijelle. Brooklyn. Kelly. Zuly. Tasha. Darla. Some of these women I've dated. Some were just friends. Some became girlfriends. One because my fiance. All blew me away with their style, poise, intelligence AND beauty. And the funny thing is, non of them fit a "type" (which my friends also accuse me of). Two of them were 6 feet. A few where under 5'3'' (one was 4'11''!). A few were Double DDs (and up). Some could barely push out an A cup. One was 240 pounds when I was dating her. Another had more belly than breasts! Two were Puerto Rican (with the sexiest accents!). But each of them I was attracted to for what they brought to the table, not because they reminded me of someone else. One I even suspected was working as an escort! That should have been a deal-breaker. But I didn't judge her because I got to know her from the inside out. I helped her think about how she wanted her life to play out, and she ended up going back to school.

But I do have a type of personality that gets me every time. Highly intelligent (I seem to have a thing for lawyers, even though I don't like to argue). Loves to laugh. Is the center of attention because of who she is, but doesn't demand to be the center of attention (if that makes any sense). Conversation between us is completely natural and easy. And very flirty, for want of a better term. She always lets me know she's near. Sitting close enough to touch. A hand on my thigh. A quick hug. A lean-in to talk in my ear. A slap on the ass. :-)

I call it "irrational love" (as in "I have an irrational love for Mariah Carey"), but there is nothing irrational about wanting to fall in love. When I get to know someone who I can envision walking down the aisle with, it's hard for me to date what just falls in my lap. I wish there was a term stronger than "love" because it is thrown around so cavalierly. The woman I decide to pursue a relationship with will be so exceptional it will be easy to wan to work out any issues that come up. I want to be 150% sure that I want to move forward through the whole "getting to know" process.

Okay, so I just went on a serious tangent. I need to take my but to bed and dream of long legs, stilettos and a peach dress. Hmmmmmmmmmmm…

Superstar DJs vs. No-Name DJs

What is the difference between a superstar and a no-name DJ? Not much. A break here. Talking to the exact right person that can get you to where you need to be. A lot of times it has nothing to do with your talent. "Right place at the right time," as they say.

I've been looking up the bios of various major DJs. I'm amazed at how many of the stories are the same. DJ plays at small club. Big name celebrity just happens to come to said club. Celeb loves DJ, brings him/her to private upscale party. DJ kills it. Now DJ is in the inner circle, and it builds from there. The crazy thing is, almost all the major touring DJs are from New York or LA. Like Atlanta, Miami, Houston or Chicago don't have world-class DJs.

I'm sitting here at Therapy Cafe in Dayton listening to some no-name DJs that are really good. What's the difference between them and Tiesto? I'm sure Tiesto had to start at a small club and work his way up, but at the type of venues he plays at now, ANY good DJ could rock the crowd. The real difference between a superstar DJ and a no-name DJ? The superstar DJ has the trust of the crowd, so they can play whatever they want and the crowd is receptive to it. The superstar can play Mary Had A Little Lamb and the crowd will lose its fuckin' mind. The no-name DJ can play the hottest set, top it off with the #1 song in the country, and the crowd will go "ahhhh… I'm not feeling it. I need a drink."

I love it when people complain that I play the same songs every week, but when I try to be adventurous and play some new music, the crowd looks at me like my head just split open. "Are you gonna play this all night?" "Umm, I've only played the first verse of this song." "Well, can you play?" "Umm, it's 10:30 right now, I'll play it later when there are more people in the club." "But there is no one here, can't you just play it for me?" "I don't play songs twice, I have 11,000 songs in my computer, I don't want to play the same songs over and over again." They look at me like, "but you're my personal jukebox. You're supposed to play the songs that are in my head. If you don't, you suck!"

The superstar DJ doesn't have that problem. First of all, they don't open up, they are the headliner. If the promoter did their job, there is a crowd waiting for the superstar to get on stage or in the booth, which is inaccessible. Don't even think about asking for a request. Their playlist is all set, because once they are finished, they are on to the next city. The crowd there doesn't know superstar DJ played the exact same set in Pittsburgh last week, and they will play that set again in Sacramento next week. And the best part about being a superstar DJ? You can play a bad song and get away with it, because the crowd will think you meant to play that!

The craziest thing is when someone from another city asks me to play a song from a local artist out of the city they are from. True story: "You got Do That Shit by Chip Tha Ripper?" "No, the only Chip Tha Ripper I have is Get It Gurl." "How can you not have Do That Shit? It's the hottest song in Cleveland right now." "Well, I'm not in Cleveland, he's not a major national artist yet, no one has sent me the MP3, so I have no way of knowing about the song." "Well, you need to get up on your game and expand your music." Riiight. I've worked a year and a half on making sure I had what Dayton wanted to hear, and because I don't have YOUR song by an out-of-towner I suck? (BTW, Do That Shit is hot as hell and I'm making that another Dayton anthem, but that's besides the point).

People really don't realize how hard it is to be considered a great DJ. I can play the best music, bring in each song perfectly, rock the mic and keep everyone's head nodding, but if there are 100 people in a 1000 person club, and those people don't want to dance on an empty dance floor, I suck. I can have a packed house with a full dance floor, but if the promoter/manager/club owner's friend doesn't like what I'm playing and complains, I'm perceived to be not that great of a DJ. I can play 30 minutes straight of great songs, play one song that bombs, then play 30 more minutes of great music, and "the music was up and down all night." One more difference between the superstar DJ and the no-name DJ. You go hear the superstar DJ for the experience of hearing them spin. "I can't wait to hear what he is going to play next." You go hear the no-name DJ to hear the songs you already like. "I want him to play my favorite song right now!"

What is so amazing to me is how unique different areas are in terms of music. Perfect example: Nann Nigga by Trick Daddy and Trina is a classic up and down the East Coast. Here in Dayton I almost got tomatoes thrown at me! Billie Jean by Michael Jackson is a party starter in Boston. That song got me blackballed for 4 months in Dayton! I learned my lesson: don't assume that because something works in one city it will automatically work in another. A couple of weeks ago I played at a really nice club in Cincinnati. I'm not in the city on a regular basis, so I had to feel out what people wanted to hear. The night didn't go as well as I wanted it to (it didn't help that the owners didn't get a crowd in there… I can't rock a party if there is no party to rock). The really messed up thing is that was my first and probably my last opportunity to spin at that club. Since I'm basically brand new to the area, I had one chance to make a good impression. Now I'm my own worst critic, but the people who came up to the DJ booth let me know they liked the music, there just wasn't enough people in the club to make it feel like a party, so they didn't want to dance. Now the club owner won't return my messages. I asked for feedback from him. No call back. I asked about the party he told me he would talk to me about coming the next week. No return message. I even went to his club on a Saturday (when I should have been at my own club!) to see what the club looked like packed, and texted him a compliment. No return message. I know the night I was there wasn't the hottest, because I do my best work when I have a crowd to feed off of. But I definitely wasn't bad enough for the owner to completely ignore me!