I hear ya Woody, I feel like my scratching has fallen off lately. I have not progressed lately. I need some new tricks....

I 100% feel you.

Its like i got 3000 hip hop tracks wit me and I dont wanna play a single one of them. Maybe its cuz I cant stand 50% of them.

LOL.... I felt funny when I bought A 50 cent MP3 for the first time....

Go thru the hip hop mix PLAYLISTS posted here in the past few months - collect those songs.... and DELETE THEM!!

start spinning and press record.

djin hip hop is tough...some are floor bangers....some are floor clearers..... what i like to do is change them a little... mix some pop with hip hop...old classics with hip hop....

Wow... and here I thought I was the only one that felt like that. I specially get Tig's point. 3000 tracks and I always play the same 17!!! What the... is wrong with me! hehehe

Damn, I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who feels this way. I do this same spot every Friday and feels like I'm playin the same tracks every week. I think I'm going to try and switch up some shit tomorrow nite.

Isnt great the SSL CYBORG COLLECTIVE....

All the music in the world but you have to walk in my life...

Even when I clear the browse green text i still pick the same tracks...

i find myself in the same boat im a house/electro/edm dj and i also play hiphop notice i said play not spin. i say that cause i never will feel it the way i do the others but as far as keeping it fresh what i have been doing is playing 1 very new track then 1 track that been out for a couple months or so then 1 track from about 6 months to a year old then one track a year or older then start all over again but i do 2's of all of them this gets me a good feel and lets me play more songs then just sexy back.

I'm exactly the same recently. Unfortunately i gotta blame it on the serato! Hahaa sorry! But its just a matter of not routing through my crates and seeing the different album covers and stuff, after a while, all the words on the serato screen just confuse the inspiration.. i think i kinda get lost in the words.. I'm definitely a more visual person. But i still love you serato! You doing great for my back and my bank!!

try doing this

Watchwww.youtube.com

I love feedback very much >,<

(this was cut/paste from the comments)

fukked up mane!!

Hahaha i'd be shot doin that in a club!!

fada, i 100 percent feel you on what you're saying. i'm experiencing the same thing.

omg wtf was that shit my ears oh my ears i cant hear now

I felt funny when i bought a 50 cent on vinyl for the first time. Lol J/k

did he just take the tone arm and smash it on the slipmatless platter?

Yes.

Holy crap! I don't have the balls to do that to my babies. I would cry if I ever did that!

Yeah but that dude is crying tears of joy because he got paid to do something my 7 1/2 week old can do.

I hate feedback very much.
Especially when it means you have to destroy TT's.

Wow thats truly using a turntable as an instrument.....

I try to challenge myself sometimes or just play games with the crowd.

1. Play nothing less than 10 years old for 30 minutes.
2. Play 30 minutes with all unknown or indie artists (eMusic has TONS of decent indie stuff) and keep the dancefloor packed.
3. Refuse to include ANY of those 17 same tracks until someone requests them - nicely. Or until they get 5 requets for the same song.
4. Try rocking doubles when you finally do get a heater and 'mix it up' a little bit.

Going to the club and dropping the same tracks over and over and over and over and over and over isn't the way to enjoy yourself AT ALL. I still search for the obscure tracks that are great on the dance floor.... and try to play them when they least expect it...

Challenge yourself... the dance floor is a lemming... willing to follow anywhere you feel like taking them...

I feel you guys on this, after a few nights in a row of spinning I start to get real bored with the same tracks too. My remedy has been to not play the "old reliable" tracks that always get the floor going i.e. "Party Up" "Get Low," etc, and instead pull out some old school heaters. Another thing I like to do is bust out with some brand new promo shit and announce it on the mike so peeps arent totally thrown off. BTW if you havent already, drop that new Daz feat J.D., the crowds here love that shit.

to me one of the best things about hip-hop is all the sampling. i'll play,for example, diana ross"i'm coming out" and mix it with B.I.G. "mo money ,mo problems",just to keep things interesting. at the 05 us dmc finals , neil armstrong did this and he had joints that i forgot or didn't realize were samples. it was quite entertaining

^^^^^^^^^ posted @ 8:52 pm est. why does it say 1o/1 @ 12:52?????

your sets are stale and wack because all you do is beat match with your cd players. of course you gonna get bored. learn to be a versatile dj by learning to skratch/juggle and do tricks on VINYL. if all you do is press buttons on your cdj you might as well use your ipod.

I just started going backwards in music, ive been aquiring oldschool hiphop, funk, rnb, reggea and even pop and alternative (green day, sublime, oasis etc) You can cut accross genre's as long as you still stick to the hits.

Also avoid overpacking your library with crap you dont spin, you lose other tracks while browsing through. You end up searching for each song that comes to mind, and those are always the same damn ones.

So true!!!!!

gotta love this thread.

feeling the same, been lazy/demotivated to setup my tables after last week. I had a big gig at my former college and to be honest I just got sick of DJing about 3/4 in. Same requests, same songs, over and over... hyphy, hyphy, hyphy music.

But I think the answer is finding new songs. i guess as much as technology like SSL, FS, and mixvibes moves us forward there will always be the dj's itch for finding obscure and different music. Virtual crate digging it is :)

beavers Watchwww.youtube.com

Oh am I feeling this way. This past Saturday night after I finished spinning I felt so sick that I came close to leaving all my shit at the club.
As of right now I feel like I don't even want to rock parties anymore. I'm going to take a few days off, avoid listening to music as much as possible, and see if I can get back on track.

It's crazy when people are giving you props and love on your set, but yet you feel like it was your worse night ever.

Well just try and hold out until november. We're gonna have albums from Nas, Jay Z, Game, Young Buck (yes I like Buck!) and the Shady camp. And sometime in the next 10 years, we'll get an album from Dre. So alot of the top artist in rap are gonna drop. Now they just better deliver 4 or 5 star albums, or we're all gonna be like we don't wanna rock parties anymore...

Young buck is dirty! Def the best in the G unit crew. Hopefully his album isnt too dirty south

Yes he is the best in that crew. I slept on his last album. A couple months after it came out a friend had it and made me listen to it. I thought it would be all crunk s**t. That album was so dope that I copped it the next day.

Now I'm just hoping all of hiphops "stars" come thru in the clutch. Cuz if they all have wack albums, I will be stuck spinnin' So-So Def and chicken noodle soup. And if I'm stuck playin' all that bulls**t, somebody has to die <joke>.

yo this got me rolling! i know that sickening feeling and it is by far the worst feeling you can get as a DJ.
i think your idea is good. I have stopped listening as well between sunday and thursdays. (unless its new shit).

Yeah tig....it's a horrible feeling alright.
I'm starting to get sick just thinking about it.

I remember feeling this way back in 02 or 03. I was listening to another Dj's set waiting to get on and he played Lil Kim's "Jump Off" and it literally made me sick to my stomach.

I think what really brought this on (other then me working too damn much) is that i went to The Tribe Called Quest Concert at the House of Blues.
Man...to see them, plus Consequence and Rhymefest...it was more then a treat. Especially Rhymefest!...dude is good!!!! He has great stage presence, and his performance was flawless.
But...to go from that environment, to playing the regular club set really jacked me up!

my month has jus been ruined!! for some f'd up reason I had them playing in mass on 10/29, and it was 9/29. I am so dissappointed in myself for not being more up on this.

*heads to basement to find rope to hang himself wit* lol.

what 17 songs were they?

This is exactly how I felt on the cab ride home early Sunday am.

What is SSL doing to us?

Maybe we need to challenge ourselves to keep the playlists smaller.

I used to not be able to bring everything to the club. Now that I can, if someone requests "In Da Club" (again), I feel more compelled to play it b/c I know I have it with me. It sucks. . .

I did manage to get the crowd hyped to that new Shadow/Q-Tip/Lateef and even "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow" by Nice 'n Smooth, but it's depressing to drop the needle on something (say..."I Get Around" by 'Pac) when you know exactly the response it's gonna get.

That's the biggest challenge for any resident DJ I think. Well, it is for me at least. Every Saturday I play a hip hop room for 5 hours and the biggest challenge I face is finding new ways to keep the set fun, even with the same songs - not that I play the same songs every week, but you're always going to have your crowd favorites that you have to drop.

At the end of the day we have to play what the crowd wants to hear, or at least what we think the crowd wants to hear.
Today's radio and video channels have conditioned people to get use to hearing the same crap over and over again.
So when they come to the clubs (depending on the club) they want to hear the same crap.
What makes it worse is that if you are a working DJ who plays more then 2 times a week, and also does radio mixes then you really get hammered with hearing the same crap over and over again.

At the end of the day I know it truly is my problem. I have to learn how to suck it up and deal with it if I want to continue on as a DJ.
One of the main requirements of being a DJ is pleasing the crowd. If the crowd wants to hear that bullshit ass shoulder lean song, or lose their minds over Bossy, or Ghetto Story, Shake there asses to Head Sprung, or decide that they need to Perculate....then I got to do it.
If they want Snap their fingers.....or lean wit, rock wit it then I have to do my due. If they want to be Ms. New Booty...then (oh gosh I'm going to lose my lunch in a minute) then I got to do it.

Sorry guys....I'm trying to work through my anger issues....Woooosaaaaah!!!!

I thought about this some more. About 6 years ago me and a friend were playing a weekly disco/old school set for 5 hours every saturday night. When we started I barely had enough records to cover my half of the 'hits'. 6 months later we had it covered but it was getting stale. One night I was there by myself and I decided to play all of the obvious shit before midnight. As I got drunker, I got bolder and started playing B-sides and the stuff in the back of my bag. It's a challenge, and it doesn't always, but sometimes if you can be bold enough to challenge the crowd, you'll learn things about them. For instance, white girls love "Rosa Parks".

mobb deep is the best in g-unit--by far

The best solution that i've found is crate digging in record stores, finding hot shit like Zapp, Mr. Groove, cameo and all the George Clinton P-Funk and stuff ya never even heard of really just lifts the funk, and you'll feel that fever running up your spine. Get back to the time that got ya started. Finding hot shit, old rare shit.

Also i came across this great site today called Pandora www.pandora.com you put in a song and it gives ya related music, its pretty cool. Dont play new shit when ur feelin wacky, bring up the old hotties. Guarenteed to cure the funk!!

Sounds yucky saying the two together.. Mobb Deep are on such a higher level.

I love Mobb, but Young Buck is by far the best individual in the group imo. dude can deliver ny style and south style.

That is possibly the most untrue statment ever said on this forum. "Club" Mobb is dead.

they should have hung it up after Murder Muzik. They were once the two dopest kats. now they are just another branch on the G-unit roster. If you had of said that statement back in the 90's then it would be true. New Mobb Deep is garbage.

I guess this is what happens when all people do is buy their records from online, or via a dj pool service. What ever happened to heading down to a local store, and being greeted with a pile of real good white labels that the owner had set aside for you cause you were a regular.

Anyway if you can't find the music you want, why not make it yourself? That's what dj's have been doing for centuries. I know that I can't find the music I want to play [old skool hardcore] so I just make it myself. Gives me something exclusive to play, and sets me out from everyone else in the game.

p.s I don't just play hardcore, that is just my preferred choice. Hip Hop, R&B, House, Country whatever the same rules apply to you too.....

word
check out pandora.com, last.fm and mystrands.com.

lots of music w/ similar artists and undiscovered ones.

United State crowds are different. They're stuck on stupid when it comes to music. They want to hear the same crap over and over again. You can get away with sliding some different stuff here and there, but in order to rock the crowds you have to play the stale crap.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

My mobile partner was resident in a local club Tuesday-Friday. They used a programmed list on mondays (same playlist, every week!) I took-on playing on mondays and used it to exercise my collection. I avoided the obvious hits, and looked for the "damn, I haven't heard that in years" factor. I actively searched for things like UMC's "Blue Cheese" and Jesse Jaymes "Shake It Like A White Girl", I was playing lots of digital underground, de la soul, 3rd Bass. Throw in a eclectic set of movie stuff like Dead Eye Dick "New Age Girl" (Dumb & Dumber) and Jamiroquai "Canned Heat" (Napoleon Dynamite) and the crowd would start picking up on what I was doing, and sorta play stump the DJ, "you have East Bound And Down" from Smokey and the bandit? (and jaws dropped when I play it!) One night we did a set of all the songs from car commercials and ipopd commercials. It was not a prime night, so attendance was short, I would play like "if I were sitting at the bar, what would I want to listen to"...a three song set of reggae covers...anything with Parliament samples... Built a good following for six months without ever playing anything currently on the top 40 charts...then my wife and I had our third child, and the 3am closing time conflicted with the baby's (constant) feeding and diaper schedule (ever change a full diaper with a hangover?), However it charged my imagination for the weekends when I had to add chart action!

H.N.I.C

Well....I just got a lot of new music....it kind of woke me up!
Here's a mix...enjoy!

To play mix
www.djsilk.net

To see playlist
www.djsilk.net

I say now that you have Serato try exploring some different shiz that you've always wanted to play and make that your escape from your other "work" music. I guess the trick with hip-hop may be that you gotta look for something out of the norm and spin at say a more downtempo show or a radio show where you get more freedom to experiment.

I used to play hip-hop and house and ditched it when jungle came along and then developed into dnb ... A) because it would have been to expensive to stick with that stuff when jungle is what i was booked for B) because my studio is so overrun with records its insane. But now that Serato is around I'm thinking I could drop $50 here and there and build up sets of breaks, house or hip-hop and play that out for fun. I'm actually pretty excited to try a breaks set sometime soon.

As djs you have to remember that if you always play for the crowd its gonna eventually turn into a "job" you have to be able to play for yourself too and push and mold your crowd or else you won't be having any fun and you'll be just like every other "dime-a-dozen" dj

^^^

Word!

I read on another thread (in someones opinion) that you have to play for the public and what they want! But sometimes the public aren't always right and you have to teach them a lesson, and re-educate/educate them in music. Maybe those you play for won't come back to the club, but soon, if you stick to your guns word will get out about you DJ "so & so" playing some great music and you'll find a new crowd who are willing to hear the good stuff.

I think the reason why I feel my set can be stale is if I play similar sets at the same club weekly. When I play one offs and I do a similar set or play similar tracks, it's fun.

I would have to think in most cases, you'll be spinning in your bedroom after too much of this! On the real, you are correct. But how long does the club/bar owner put up with it? I would suspect most owners won't be too patient with getting a new crowd in.

I like to mix in "good music" with my hot garbage. That way everyone is happy. Maybe that was the point you were trying to make... I dunno... :P

Hmmm.. not really! I run my own nights so I don't have to put up with the politics of club owners trying to get paid, as they get paid when I hire the venue. I also pick unusual venues. I can play what I feel like. If people are coming to the club to hear music and dance as opposed to coming to the club to get drunk, you'll find they don't mind a little unusual music. Maybe everyone should be more choosy as to the gigs they subscribe to. Even though I sometimes need the money, I'm not gonna play the alcohol run joints if it means compromising my integrity. It's like asking Hendrix to play Celine Dion. lol..

p.s I'm not comparing myself to Hendrix in any capacity!..

I made a crate and labeled it "Shit I keep forgetting about" I drop songs in there that I’ll hear and later find myself saying “shit, what was that one song? Stuff that I’ll hear on a commercial, oldies/classic rock stations, movies, at other clubs, or wile searching for a song and run across one that I keep forgetting about. It’s fun to see the crowed dance to a hot new track and then mix a random ass old song and watch them go crazy because it’s probably some song they forgot about. I try not to play the whole song but just enough to grab their attention and go back to another club banger.

Examples:
Janet Jackson’s “Nasty”
Biz Markie “Just a Friend”
Lionel Richie “All Night Long”
Huey Lewis “I want a new drug”
TV Themes

Every DJ is differnt and songs that I forget about are probably different then others, all depends on what you are used to playing.

This tune has been a constant in my hip hop sets... I can't imagine not playing it and watching the crowd sing along "OH baby you... You got what I nee-eed. You say he's just a friend. You say he's just a friend."

ChULo, i'm diggin that idea :)

i usually get pissed at myself 'After' the gig, you know in the car on the way home, or the next day... when the gig is still fresh on my mind... then i hear songs that make me too say to myself 'crap! why didn't i remember to play that?...note to self, don't forget to play that at the next gig!'

can someone remind me why the %#$^ did i write that? i'm still trying to figure out the relevance (sp?)?

^^^WTF is that!!!! Hahahahhaaa!!!! I've always heard Cali got the best smokes...

i have no freaking clue... but my 1.5 yr old son likes watching that vid though :)

lol

What up Dj Woody?????

what up mr Smith????

Chillin dawg.... Where's the next Dj Woody gig?

Yeah man, exactly. And, just my opinion, but I feel most of this mainstream hip-hop is just commercial garbage. In mainstream the industry dictates the rules, and it's all about how many units they can move, not love of the art. They control the radio time,
radio station play lists, and they have an unprecedented amount of control over the artist’s output. And if you look at half of these cats that have their own labels, just look a little further up the tree and you will probably see that it's a sub-division of AOL Time/Warner or some such.

It's like these big media conglomerates, they ruin everything they touch because all they are about is sales. I feel like they are dictating culture to the people, especially the youth, by controlling what they listen to, what's popular, etc. Hip hop is a vehicle for spreading a social and political message to the people - but the big corporations make sure 99.9% of hip hops audience doesn't receive that message.

I'm mainly a techno dj but I've been into hip-hop since I was a kid. These days I don't mess with any of the mainstream stuff. If it plays on the radio 9 out of 10 you'll never hear me play it, anywhere, ever. A lot of the artist names I hear people drop on this forum make me cringe.... mainstream top-40 stuff just isn't for me. But, please don't take offense to my opinions, it's just different strokes for different folks ya know?

I'm kind of getting off track here, but look - I understand there are a lot of you who already gig in clubs that play this music, your constantly playing the same stuff, which is the what the crowd wants to hear, and there's not much room to move because that's what you are getting paid to do. And your getting burned out.

You can't go all obscure in some big club - but maybe you can start a side project. Keep your club name for the paycheck, but use your side project to remember and express why you got into it in the first place - for the love of music, and to share that with the people.

Get eclectic with it. Instead of playing "sexy back" or whatever it is for the 5 hundredth time, drop in some Palestinian , Israeli, or African hip-hop. Check out some indie artists. Mix it up with some whale sounds. Branch out and find some world music, techno, trip hop, oldies. Drop an acapella over a polka beat. Whatever you want to do. Find some cool exotic sounds and just run with it. Have fun and see how far you can take it.

Look for bookings in coffee houses, art openings, and things like that. Or just do it for the hell of it and make some mix tapes to give to friends. See what I'm saying, when playing the clubs you play it safe and collect your paycheck. But your side project, you do it strictly for the art, you don't take requests, you play what you want, you experiment, you grow, you have fun.

Just a thought. Oh, and sorry for the long post.

peace.