Do I need to know hip-hop?
A good friend of mine (a dj) told me today that since I’m just getting started, and want to (ultimately) be a club dj, I have to learn to play hip-hop, because so much club music is remixed top 40 and top 40 is (often) rap/hip hop/r&b.
Any truth to this? I never much cared for “urban” music, and love EDM (and some downtempo stuff) - to be SUCCESSFUL do I need to bend over a little bit here?
(If it makes a difference, I am currently living in the Philadelphia area)
If you want to play in a top 40 “club-style” environment, then yes, you should have a knowledge of popular hip hop / rap (if you can even call it that anymore, lol)
it depends entirely on the crowd you have and where your playing. if your playing in a club where people absolutlely love the edm scene, theres not much reason to play hip hop, and vice versa. if your playing in an enviorment where its 50/50 then of course you should know some good tracks. if you don’t have much of an ear for hip hop (like me) you can just go and look at the billboard top 100, and there are lots of blogs for new up and coming hip hop tracks as well.
I loved hip hop back in the 90s, like east coast/BadBoys type stuff, but I guess the issue is that I don’t quite have the “producer’s ear” for hip hop (I compose EDM and classical music mostly, just getting into DJing from a producer’s background to get to play some original music out haha)
I would like to get the most opportunities, though - I am investing time (and money) into this as a career choice more than a hobby - not that I don’t love it! I just am that starving artist type, I suppose.
Just got offered an MC gig for a wedding in september. It’s a start! (never done that before, but plenty of public speaking experience, and no stage fright whatsoever after a decade of performing on stage as a cellist)
So I guess I’ll watch the billboard site for hip hop, or anything that I would immediately change the radio station if it came on (adell, rihana, etc)
Yes make sure you get 90’s hiphop classics, you will get a good reaction with these
honestly can’t tell if that was genuine, or utterly sarcastic…
I was being serious (lol), in general as a dj you should have a well rounded library of top songs from many different genres. Most of my songs in my HYPE playlist are classic hiphop songs.
as other people said before me, it really does depend on your crowd. I used to be like you, only wanting to play edm music. For me I had to adapt and be more versatile if I wanted to dj at places that were “higher classed” clubs.
You have to accommodate to everyone if your in a top 40 bar/club or you will end up killing the crowd every time you dj.
I guess I can learn some dj’ing skills with some old Puff Daddy & BIG, etc and then transfer that process and finesse, flow, and groove on to new music.
Though I must admit I have a soft spot for the hybrid Felix Da Housecat (anyone have his Past…Present…Future… album? Promo from some magazine back in the day. Track 1 Jack U feat. P.Diddy rocks me the f out. I don’t think jack music is still in style enough to play a lot of it in a set, though!)
just play what you like to play and market yourself at clubs that play the music that you like, no need to play crap you dont want to unless you need the money really bad
You only need to learn hip hop if you’re going to play hip hop. And, as you don’t like hip hop, you’re only going to play hip hop if you’re playing at a club that requires you to play hip hop.
So, do you want to play music you don’t like, in a club that doesn’t want to hear the music you do like? If the answer is yes, learn to play hip hop.
This times > 9000
this is by no means an absolute but if youre playing shit that doesnt move you - people are going to pick up on it. dont force it, because if you arent feeling it, i think its hurts how much other people are feeling what youre doing. if you dont like hip hop what chances do you have of picking good tracks for the mix?
i remember knowing this ponce who had some shit band that he played guitar in and sang, and watching his live show was just painful because he just tryed so fucking hard. nothing about it seemed sincere, it seemed like a paint by the numbers process, just watching him on stage it looked like he was doing chores… and then he would wonder why he couldnt get a crowd excited. just find places that cater what you want to dish out dude.
[quote="“LmnLm3"”]
honestly can’t tell if that was genuine, or utterly sarcastic…[/quote]
Listen to some 90’s Hip-Hop (NOT Puffy…) and make up your own mind… 
He’s right I thing…to good at your profession you should know hip-hop for best orienting in this field.
Been a club DJ off and on since 1994. The answer to you question is YEEESSSSSS. Open format DJ have to know a bunch of genres. However, if you know the basic of mixing. Beatmatching, counting bars and phrasing, this will not be a problem.
I love House, Prog House most of the EDM out (except dubstep). But EDM DJ here in DFW and when I was in CA is saturated. Promoters and club owners know this so they pay em shit. The big clubs are open format, that is where you can make $250-$500 a night. So guess what, my ass is playing open format, even though I don’t like hip-hop.
But when I am at home mixing and practicing, I never touch hip-hop. But the basics of mixing applies to it, so at this point I really do not need to practice it. At least in my opinion. I’m not trying to be a battle DJ.