He's The DJ ... I'm Broke!
I just had a talk with a friend of mine who's an aspiring rap artist and we both remininsced on the days of old when your DJ rock the party and everybody wanted to carry his crates or set up the equipment so we could be part of his royal court, his entourage. And the DJ was the star until the M.C. started making records like the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow or M.C. ShyD. But that made the DJs like Flash, Davey D and Smurf rock harder on stage and at the after parties to keep up with the power of the voice. They let their hands do the talking and their skills were impeccable, some were better than their M.C.s like Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince. But we still had our Edward J tapes, RonG tapes, and I remember when Jelly hit the scene. Those DJs were stars because they had skills and they never act like a star with fans or someone trying to get on the mic at the party for the first time. They were just your DJ... Now we have superstar DJs like Flex, Greg Street, Khalid, Irie who have become stars like rappers and we have other DJs like Drama, Mars and KaySlay who have grinded the mixtape game to be the next Clue. I salute the DJ who has grinded and can spend vinyl as well as Cds and the DJ who started their own label to push the next rap superstars like Mr.ColliPark(Smurf) or Mr Ernesto Shaw(Clue) but what's up with these DJs who join the ranks of these DJ squads and haven't even spinned on a stage or with a M.C. or never even touched a vinyl record before in their career. I heard a radio personality on a local hiphop t.v. show in Atlanta say that turntables were obsolete because DJs use CDs now! What!!!! This is HipHop! What self-respecting DJ that ever rock the crowd wouldn't have 1200s as part of their repertoire even if they did spinned CDs. But I guess only a real DJ would know that and that's the difference between a radio personality and a DJ., HipHop is sacred and it's an artform whether you're in it for the money or you have genuine love. These DJ unions that have been formed is because most DJs today aren't DJs at all so the only way they can eat, is to be part of a DJ organization(union). If I'm an artist and I'm pushing my new CD with one DJ crew and not the other DJ crew, I might be blackballed by every DJ that's in that other crew and that could be a hundred DJs or more. I thought it was about the music but it's really about the lifestyle and the money that DJs live these days.They are bigger stars than the rappers. And don't even bring them a CD in the club unless you got some money as well. It's worse now than ever and the real talent never comes through because the DJ has always been the A&R in the hood like Bigga Rankins and DJ Ace and my man DJ Funky.Thanks for staying true... But for the most, if you don't have a "Budget" these days to pay the "unions" , your CD might not ever be heard. Shame! One major mixtape DJ crew charges up to $5000 dollars for you to be spotlighted by their DJ crew and that's an impossible for the "little MC" who wants to be a rap star. But who am I but a fan and a M.C. who never made it big. But this is my mic and this is my stage so Mr. DJ, "Please listen to my Demo". Nat Turner
I just had a talk with a friend of mine who's an aspiring rap artist and we both remininsced on the days of old when your DJ rock the party and everybody wanted to carry his crates or set up the equipment so we could be part of his royal court, his entourage. And the DJ was the star until the M.C. started making records like the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow or M.C. ShyD. But that made the DJs like Flash, Davey D and Smurf rock harder on stage and at the after parties to keep up with the power of the voice. They let their hands do the talking and their skills were impeccable, some were better than their M.C.s like Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince. But we still had our Edward J tapes, RonG tapes, and I remember when Jelly hit the scene. Those DJs were stars because they had skills and they never act like a star with fans or someone trying to get on the mic at the party for the first time. They were just your DJ... Now we have superstar DJs like Flex, Greg Street, Khalid, Irie who have become stars like rappers and we have other DJs like Drama, Mars and KaySlay who have grinded the mixtape game to be the next Clue. I salute the DJ who has grinded and can spend vinyl as well as Cds and the DJ who started their own label to push the next rap superstars like Mr.ColliPark(Smurf) or Mr Ernesto Shaw(Clue) but what's up with these DJs who join the ranks of these DJ squads and haven't even spinned on a stage or with a M.C. or never even touched a vinyl record before in their career. I heard a radio personality on a local hiphop t.v. show in Atlanta say that turntables were obsolete because DJs use CDs now! What!!!! This is HipHop! What self-respecting DJ that ever rock the crowd wouldn't have 1200s as part of their repertoire even if they did spinned CDs. But I guess only a real DJ would know that and that's the difference between a radio personality and a DJ., HipHop is sacred and it's an artform whether you're in it for the money or you have genuine love. These DJ unions that have been formed is because most DJs today aren't DJs at all so the only way they can eat, is to be part of a DJ organization(union). If I'm an artist and I'm pushing my new CD with one DJ crew and not the other DJ crew, I might be blackballed by every DJ that's in that other crew and that could be a hundred DJs or more. I thought it was about the music but it's really about the lifestyle and the money that DJs live these days.They are bigger stars than the rappers. And don't even bring them a CD in the club unless you got some money as well. It's worse now than ever and the real talent never comes through because the DJ has always been the A&R in the hood like Bigga Rankins and DJ Ace and my man DJ Funky.Thanks for staying true... But for the most, if you don't have a "Budget" these days to pay the "unions" , your CD might not ever be heard. Shame! One major mixtape DJ crew charges up to $5000 dollars for you to be spotlighted by their DJ crew and that's an impossible for the "little MC" who wants to be a rap star. But who am I but a fan and a M.C. who never made it big. But this is my mic and this is my stage so Mr. DJ, "Please listen to my Demo". Nat Turner
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