The Imaginary Crowd is Satan.
One of the biggest changes over the course of my years of DJing has occurred in how I spend the time I spend before the actual set itself. I'd always spun recreationally, and for the gutter house parties, but I remember years ago when I started actually playing out in Brooklyn for the first time, and suddenly had to face the problem of how to please a room full of strangers. I'd been booked for a gig at Franklin Park, after spending a few nights in their hiphop-funk fests as a patron. Expecting that OG Brooklyn rap and funk scene for my own set, I spent hours pooling in music for my "imaginary crowd". I was ready to give a fucking epic boom bap and funk display. Circumstance did NOT pan out that way.
Fast forward to my first Franklin Park gig, and I'm in a room that was a HipHop HAVEN a week before…..but it's filled with crowd that's more Chromeo than chrome and candy paint. I ran through a couple of the gems that I'd planned, and got a few folks to hit the floor, but nothing seemed to tie everybody in. The few joints that worked? Dre shit, Neptunes shit, Timbo shit. All dancey, all synth filled. I decided to eject from the hiphop for a bit and go for other music that shared the low end, and funky synths. Mad Decent, Ed Banger, and Fools Gold were slaying as usual at the time, so I went with some of their hiphop remixes, and slower tempo stuff to keep the rap fans on the floor happy, while teasing the rest of the room. Within a half an hour, I had the floor filled like I'd hoped, rap fans with their hands up to Crookers and Uffie. With everyone primed, I was able to genre hop for the rest of the night, matching the mood to the song choices, rather than working from my "imaginary crowd" playlist. That was the last time I ever tried to plan a set ahead.
Tomorrow when I walk into 19 Stanton to spin in the LES for two hours, I have no idea what to expect. I've seen that room packed and ready for anything thrown through the subs. I've also seen that room with a handful of folks who only like Garage, and refuse to dance to anything else. Rooms like Franklin Park are the biggest reason why I can feel comfortable in that setting, because they teach you to be as rounded as the asses you want shaking.
Come holler at me tomorrow before I shoot out to Texas for SXSW. Picked up a whole lot of good shit for the Festival, might as well start partying now in case you can't make Austin.
https://www.facebook.com/events/490497627675637/
Doors & Open Bar @ 9
Line Up:
Winston Filet 9-11
http://soundcloud.com/winstonfilet
SicksentZ 11-1
http://sicksentz.tumblr.com/
FuegoBeatz 1- you drop....
www.djfuegobeatz.com