Hip Hop at Rye

Just a few minutes ago, I was asked to DJ the Rye Bar again, but this time they were looking for some Hip Hop: "shit that's on the radio, that everybody knows and can dance to." As you can probably imagine, I had to tell them 'no', as I really don't have any Hip Hop, nor do I listen to it. This really is a shame, as I was eager for the opportunity to do Rye Bar again. Bottom line though, it's not as if they won't ask me to spin there again, it's just that I wasn't what they were looking for for this particular night (a special night on the evening of a big cycling event in Athens).

When it comes down to it, I think it's a little bit sad what the term 'DJ' has come to mean in America. I assume most people think that a DJ is someone who just plays music, any kind of music, and does so at the beck and call of whomever's paying him/her, kind of akin to a wedding/Bar Mitzvah DJ. People here just don't understand that a DJ (or at least a good one) isn't someone who plays what everyone else wants to hear...rather, they play what they think everyone else SHOULD want to hear. It has traditionally been the DJ's job to be more on top of new music than anyone else so that he could show them some new (and great) music. Sadly, all anyone ever seems to want to do now is have some automaton play back all of their Top 40 Hip Hop hits so they can pretend to have sex on the dance floor (as opposed to actually dancing).

This isn't really a problem in Europe though, and although I suppose it's possible that things could turn around here, I fear this won't happen without a TOTAL shift in the political/social landscape...