About
Events
History
Staff
Press
Images
Media
Donations
Sponsors
Links
Get Involved!
Contact
Sign up for Email Updates!
New Orleans Hip-Hop for Hope:
Disc Jockeys & On-Air Personalities
D.J. Soul Sister:
Where Have All the DJs Gone?
by Carolyn Hennigan
New Orleans: music haven of the Dirty South, an incubator for all genres of music, including those other than jazz, blues or Cajun, which are normally associated with our city’s rich culture. However, some music types are still stereotypically represented moreso than others, and very few venues cater to some of the unknown gems of the New Orleans music scene, including local DJs and hip hop artists.
New Orleans female DJ pioneer, DJ Soul Sista, has rocked turntables all around the city on and off for ten years, but has never lost her refreshingly unique spirit of the city and its DJs. “I don’t encourage DJs to tailor the music they play for whoever hires them. I work as a specialty DJ, or a DJ artist, as I like to call it. I specialize in rare blues, deep funk, old school funk, underground disco, old school hip hop. I collect and play all vinyl. People who hire me or let me throw my parties, they know what I specialize in. One time a bartender said, ‘I heard that you’re limiting your music.’ I said, ‘Not at all. I just play the music that I believe in.’ The only type of tailoring I do is for the energy of the crowd.”
Media Darling’s DJ Quickie Mart has been on the DJ scene for about five years, specializing in hip hop and funk spinning. Quickie Mart currently divides his time between living and working in L.A. and coming down one week out of the month to New Orleans to spruce up a few local gigs. He agrees that local DJing is underrepresented throughout the city. “New Orleans is such a roots music town that it’s hard for [New Orleanians] to accept DJs as musicians or part of music culture. It is New Orleans music is the thing. It doesn’t matter if it’s rap, or organic hip hop with a message or George Porter Jr. It’s all New Orleans music.”
“I think that the disconnect happens because no one knows where to go,” Soul Sista said. “Half of the reason people come to my parties is that I make a really conscious effort to publicize. I want DJs to get out of the mindset of ‘I’m just gonna show up at a gig and play records.’”
Just before Katrina, local DJ and hip hop shows had reached their pinnacle with often 100 to 150 head crowds. “It took a long time to get the scene how it was before the storm, which was awesome,” Quickie Mart said. “But then after the storm, things slowed down for everyone.”
Six year local DJ Matic, best known for spinning hip hop, reggae, dancehall and downtempo, as well as for his various weeklies around the city, said, “The people were
incredible [before the storm]. But now after Katrina, it’s terrible ‘cause a lot of the cool people that were eager to listen to good music left. Now it seems like the people that are still here are just worried about jazz and zydeco, which is good of course. It’s us, and it’s New Orleans. But I’m really worried because I really don’t see an outlet for the younger kids where they can go and listen to alternative hip hop and DJs.”
Any advice for DJs, their fans and those who want to become fans or expand the scene itself?
“We need to convince the bar owners to give people a chance if we want the scene to expand at all,” Matic says. “And then DJs need to bring a crowd and get the crowd going to make the bar owners money.”
Soul Sista added, “If they stick with what they believe in, they’ll make a name for themselves. And DJs need to stick with the attitude of ‘I’m building an event, I’m building a vibe and a scene’ instead of a having a night just be a gathering where they play records from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.”
The DJ scene remains incredibly underrepresented in our music community, especially in relation to other more commonplace New Orleans genres. However, the DJ scene is there; weeklies are held every day at various bars and venues around town. These musicians put an amount of heart and passion into their sets equal to any other musician in this city. L.A. and New York can’t have all the fun; it’s time for NOLA DJs to get the spotlight they deserve.
Soul Sista sums up the lagniappe that New Orleans’ own DJs can bring to the music industry: “Everybody can play Top 40 music, but if you’re spinning music that you believe in and still make people dance, then that’s what I call artistry. It’s making people learn something and feel something and getting them out of their comfort zone.” And if there are any two things that New Orleans and its music smorgasbord do best, they are making people dance and getting them out of their comfort zone.
This article has been provided courtesy of...
D.J. Raj Smoove:
DJ Raj Smoove
New Orleans' Finest
Raj Smoove is New Orleans #1 Hip-Hop DJ, accomplishing many firsts and setting new standards for deejays in the southern region. Spinning since the age of 13, Raj broke onto the club and production scene during his college years and made a very big impact in his Hip-Hop community.
In 2000, Raj Smoove, born Roger Donald Dickerson II, broke into the nation's view when he deejayed for Cash Money Records during the 2000 Cash Money/Ruff Ryder Tour. Since then, this bayou turntablist has received much national exposure. He appeared on BET's Rap City: Tha Bassment three times as a featured dj and also deejayed for the airing of the 106 & Park Top 10 Count Down: Super Bowl XXXVI edition in New Orleans. In July of '02, DJ Raj Smoove made history as the first DJ contracted by the Essence Music Festival to perform as a Superlounge artist in the Louisiana Superdome and has already been booked for the 2003 festival. In September of '02, Raj flew to Chicago to represent New Orleans as a finalist in the KOOL MIXX National DJ Championship.
For the past five years, Raj has been the resident Hip-Hop DJ at the world renowned House of Blues in New Orleans, rocking the very successful Soul 2 Soul Hip-Hop night every Thursday. In April of 2003, Raj signed on with Hot 104.5 KNOU in New Orleans as a mixshow DJ allowing him to dominate the city's airwaves as well. Stemming from this, the world renown and respected DJ organization, the Tech.Nitions inducted Raj Smoove making him the New Orleans representative. His presence in the city also won him a sponsorship with Anheiseur-Busch making him an official Budweiser DJ.
Raj Smoove's relationship with Cash Money Records still remains, and he now acts as the in-house producer/DJ for Young Money Entertainment, Lil' Wayne's new label venture. Raj was the DJ behind the Lil' Wayne and SQAD Up underground mixtape buzz in New Orleans and throughout the country. As a producer, Raj has crafted several tracks for Wayne's new album, The Carter, which dropped August of '03, as well as the SQAD's first album, SQ7. It’s no surprise that Raj was named
Raj has solid production credits under his belt already. He produced the tracks "If It's Cool" and "AssassinNation" on Mac's album WWIII, released on No Limit Records in 1999. He also released an entirely self-produced compilation album independently entitled Bayou Classic featuring many New Orleans' artists such as Mannie Fresh, Mia X, Mac, and 5th Ward Weebie.
In June 2008 he was featured as a panelist in the PotLuck Audio Conference’s Urban Edge Seminar 2008. Raj is also an Associate Member of The Recording Academy (Grammy Awards), who co-sponsored the event in New Orleans. On the panel, Raj’s experience and wisdom as a producer/ DJ was appreciated amongst industry greats such as Al Kapone (Hustle & Flow Soundtrack), Billy Hume (Shop Boys, “Party Like A Rockstar”), & Slicse Tee (Hustle & Flow, “Nolia Clap”) and other experienced music producers.
Raj has recently focused his attention on developing Paper Chasin Organization (PCO), an independent label venture which he co-owns with former Young Money artist, Raw Dizzy. PCO has already grown considerably, and the label plans to release Raw Dizzy's new album, "On the Inside Looking Out", on August 25th, 2008.
Despite his many achievements, Raj still remains very humble and down-to-earth. He is a hard worker and holds others to the high standards of quality that he has for himself. For more info call 504.288.6129 or hit the website at www.psychoward.com.
Q93's Dj Wild Wayne:
Check out Wild Wayne's "Industry Influence Conference" on the first monday of every month at the Hangar! This event is great for artists, labels, promoters and industry professionals who are looking to network in the city. All artists, promoters, booking agents, managers and other music industry affiliates have something to gain by attending this event. THIS IS NOT JUST ANOTHER CONFERENCE- ITS INDUSTRY INFLUENCE. Check it out on the first Monday of each month! Networking. Education. Showcases. We will be there in attendence, networking and honing our music industry skills to help make sure Hip-Hop for Hope 2008 gets even bigger and better!
***************************************** Dyron Ducati- Q93
C.J. Morgan- Q93
D.J. Mike Swift- 102.9
D.J. Johnny Bapo- WTUL
D.J. Tony Skratchere- Handsome Willy’s
D.J. Beverly Skills- Handsome Willy’s
D.J. Evann- The Boot
D.J. EF Cuttin- New Orleans
D.J. Raj Smooth- 2Cent
Ben Brubaker © 2007
CountryviewProductions.com