2016 High School Dance Hip Hop....I'm strugglin' fellas

[jtnichol]

I'm going into the hornets nest let's just leave it at that.
Last time 10 years ago I went to this school I got called a racist for playing ONE country song.

Mixed crowd. Very little Latin.

I'm a great dj to mostly white audiences. I'm a great Dj to mostly black adult audiences.
What I'm not great at is very mixed crowds of teenagers. About 400+ are coming.

What I have at my disposal: JBL SRX rig. It's gonna rock. Other Dj's in there never bring this. I'm also making the school pay me 2X what they are used to paying. I'm throwing in some truss/led's. I'm not giving away my Laser show etc...Maybe a couple strobes/haze.

I'm listening to the charts right now and I can't EVEN believe what I'm hearing coming out of the hip hop world. It's really sad, slow, gross, and unintelligible sounding.

I need some bangers. Got any ideas?

Any playlists you can poke on here?

I'm going to stick to the mid-2000's and early and I'm going to get crucified.

I have all the DJ/TRAP music taken care of. I like that stuff anyway for the most part.

 

[steve149]

Most schools dislike current Urban music as well .. lot's of grinding, since most of it is bass heavy and slow. When I do school events, it's pretty much Top 40 .. maybe extending into the Hot 100 .. and "classics". The problem with Urban is even if you play squeaky clean edits, they all know the lyrics and may chorus some of the worst parts.

Main thing .. cater to the girls .. they'll keep the guys going .. catering to the guys doesn't work as well for me.

Stay high energy ..

and check this chart which is based on a wider set of criteria than Billboard: Ultimate Chart powered by BigChampagne

 

[rickryan.com]

My only question, if you've done this gig before, why in hell would you take it again?

 

[jtnichol]

Most schools dislike current Urban music as well .. lot's of grinding, since most of it is bass heavy and slow. When I do school events, it's pretty much Top 40 .. maybe extending into the Hot 100 .. and "classics". The problem with Urban is even if you play squeaky clean edits, they all know the lyrics and may chorus some of the worst parts.

Main thing .. cater to the girls .. they'll keep the guys going .. catering to the guys doesn't work as well for me.

Stay high energy ..

and check this chart which is based on a wider set of criteria than Billboard: Ultimate Chart powered by BigChampagne

Yes good to know. I'm definitely catering to the girls and I'm going avoid content whenever possible. Thanks for that chart. I'm doing my homework now.

My only question, if you've done this gig before, why in hell would you take it again?

They met my price. I need money. Plus I LOVE a challenge. Also this school is blocks away from my house. I'm hoping to get them year after year at my price and more (with addons) and show them what a good DJ can do for their bottom line. They have had dances with less than 200 show up because the DJ showed up. This is a school with 1200+ kids. Homecoming should be averaging much higher than that. This gig aims to do that. Plus from what I've been told the climate of the students is much more positive than ever. I can take it.

The best comment came after doing their prom 10 years ago that although the kids loved what I did the administration felt I got the kids too fired up....lol wut? I don't play filthy music ever...they just didn't like them jumping around so much....well I think having them jump is better than front/back bend ova style music all night.

 

[Audio One]

Jeremiah, This is a playlist from an event I did around 6 months ago. I know its dated but these songs worked good for me.

All about the bass Meghan Trainor 67
Hotline Bling Drake 68
GDFR Flo Rida 73
All I do is win DJ Khalaed 75
Lean wit it Dem Franchise Boys 76
Can't hold us Macekmore 73
Black Widow Iggy Azalea 82
Levels Nick Jonas 125
Fireball Pitbull 127
Darkhorse Katy Perry 130
Anaconda Nicki Minaj 130
Watch me Silento 70
Stanky leg G-Spot 77
Work Rihanna 92
Thrift shop Macklemore 95
Lean on Major Lazer 98
Wobble V.I.C. 95
Turn down for what Dj Snake 100
Talk dirty to me Jason Derulo 100
Chris Porter Water Dance 105
I can't feel my face The Weeknd 108
WOP J Dash 112
Uptown funk Bruno Marrs 115
Cake by the ocean DNCE 120
Come get it Bae Pharrell Williams 120
Bulletproof La Raux 122
Can't believe it Flo Rida 124
Don't stop the party Pitbull 127
Sandstorm Darude 136

 

[jtnichol]

Jeremiah, This is a playlist from an event I did around 6 months ago. I know its dated but these songs worked good for me.

YES YES YES>..Ok. I'm on track then. Thanks for this. I have some really choice remixes of a couple of these. Nice list.

 

[rickryan.com]

I know there are plenty of needs in school dances but I just don't like them. If you play what the kids like then the sponsors fuss. Please the sponsors and you're just as likely to have a principal override it all and now you've got the kids hating on you. It's just too easy to get into a no-win situation and seems we often end up getting fired off an account through no fault of our own. I'd rather spend my time chasing other biz.

 

[jtnichol]

I know there are plenty of needs in school dances but I just don't like them. If you play what the kids like then the sponsors fuss. Please the sponsors and you're just as likely to have a principal override it all and now you've got the kids hating on you. It's just too easy to get into a no-win situation and seems we often end up getting fired off an account through no fault of our own. I'd rather spend my time chasing other biz.

Maybe I didn't mention before...I like school dances mostly because they are shorter and I've connected pretty well with the crowds.. This is just a big one and a bit out of my comfort zone. Definitely should chase the biz you enjoy brother. That's exactly right.
I'm still mining Ethereum and active with Bitcoin/Blockchain stuff. Eventually I'm hoping it will be the next step and I'll move out of DJ'ing all together. But I still love the crowds and what I do for now. Schools are starting to move off the radar...but not just yet.

 

[Valerie Hicks]

I know there are plenty of needs in school dances but I just don't like them. If you play what the kids like then the sponsors fuss. Please the sponsors and you're just as likely to have a principal override it all and now you've got the kids hating on you. It's just too easy to get into a no-win situation and seems we often end up getting fired off an account through no fault of our own. I'd rather spend my time chasing other biz.

Not always...it's all about finding the right customers. We did a homecoming last weekend with over 2000 kids in attendance. They broke policy and let about 50 kids from other schools in (because they came to see us play). We had less than 6 requests all night, and all were playable songs. They had to push kids out at the end of the dance. Probably ended with 1600+ still there. At the end of the night the advisors came over and thanked us...told us about how much easier it was at our dances than others at the school because we knew how to manage the crowd. At their back to school dance the DJ kept playing inappropriate songs....when told no he would get on the mic and say administration won't let me play that one. There's a fine line.

This is the same school who a few years ago got a new athletic director. We've been doing their homecomings for close to 15 years now. Anyway, new AD approaches the asst. homecoming advisor and says "do you know how much these guys charge"....she says yes, we get them every year. "do you know how much these guys charge!?"....yes, they have a big system..... "do you know how much these guys charge!?" yes, they come from South Dakota..... Fast forward to dance night, advisor, asst advisor and AD standing on a stage deck at the side of the dance floor. Gym is hoppin...kids decide to try their hand at crowd surfing...we pull the music, hit the crowd lights, get on the mic with a quick "down please", kid gets down, music & lights resume. None of the chaperones had time to even leave the stage deck. Advisor turns to AD and says "that's why we pay them so much money". Ever since the AD keeps asking the advisor for our business cards to share with other schools because he just brags us up non-stop.

The point to the long stories is you can have happy kids and happy staff. Yes, sometimes the first visit to a new school is a little rough (from our perspective--uptight staff who hate dances because they are so much trouble + kids trying to push the line). Sometimes kids push back because there was a staff change and subsequent policy crackdowns. It all passes with each year we go back. It's a lot more of taking control of the event & situations than keeping one group or another 'happy'.

 

[EERobert]

about 6 months ago, I did two proms within a week of each other, one mostly white, one mixed (white and Latinx) here (minus the country and 80s) is what I played:

My House-Flo Rida
Cha Cha Slide-Mr C
Uptown Funk-Mark Rosen and Bruno Mars
Fireball-Pitbull feat. John Ryan
Party in the USA-Miley Cyrus
Our Song-Taylor Swift
Call Me Maybe-Carley Rae Jepsen
Cake By The Ocean-DNCE
Wop-J. Dash
Ice Ice Baby-Vanilla Ice
Cupid Shuffle-Cupid
Me, Myself, and I-G-Eazy
Jumpman-Drake
Thriller-Michael Jackson
Classic-MKTO
One Call Away-Charlie Puth
#Selfie-Chainsmokers
Baby Got Back-Sir Mix A Lot
Anaconda-Nicki Minaj
Yeah!-Usher
Shut Up And Dance-Walk The Moon
Cool for The Summer-Demi Lovoto
Downtown-Macklemore
Wobble-VIC
Hit The Quan-iLoveMemphis fka iHeartMemphis
Love Myself-Hailee Steinfeld
I Can't Feel My Face- The Weekend
I took A Pill In Ibiza-Mike Posner
Jump On It-Sir Mix-A Lot
What Me (Whip/Nae Nae)-Silento
GDFR-Flo Rida
Like I'm going to Lose You-Meghan Trainor feat. John Legend
Stitches-Shawn Mendes
On My Mind-Ellie Goulding
Exs and Ohs-Ella King
See You Again-Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth

a week later this was my playlist (again cutting out country music, 80s, etc):
My House-Flo Rida
Shut Up And Dance-Walk The Moon
Cha Cha Slide-Mr C
Uptown Funk-Rosen and Mars
Don't Stop The Party-Pitbull
Party In The USA-Mley
7 Years-Lukas Graham
Cupid Shuffle-Cupid
Cake By The Ocean-DNCE
Downtown-Macklemore
Walk This Way-Run DMC
What Is Love-Haddaway
Jungle Love-the Time
Get Low-Dillion Francis and DJ Snake
Low-Flo rida and T-Pain
Yeah-Usher
Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)-Silento
One Call Away-Charlie Puth
No-Meghan Trainor
Wobble-VIC
Hotline Bline-Drake
Talk Dirty-Jason Derule and 2 Chainz
Smooth Criminal-Michael Jackson
Love Yourself-Bieber
Harlem Shake-Baauer
All The Small Things-Blink 182
Hello-Adele
See You Again-Wiz

Also played but not on VDJ (songs I had to download to my phone because of no wifi for my laptop) so I'm not sure where they were played

Panda-Desiigner
El Taxi-Pitbull

Finally from a couple of private parties where I had a little more leeway (private birthday parties)

Get The Party Started-Pink
A Little Party-Fergie
Don't Stop The Party-Pitbull
Party In the USA-Miley
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun-Cyndil Lauper
It's Tricky (DJ Fresh Remix)-Run DMC
Uptown Funk-Rosen and Mars
Sing-Ed Sheeran
Cupid Shuffle
Dynamite-Taio Cruz
Hit The Quan
Watch Me (Whip/Nae nae)
Cha Cha Slide
Timber-Kesha and Pitbull
S&M-Rihanna
GDFR
Dance Dance-Fall Out Boy
Fancy-Iggy Azalea
Flashlight-Jessie J
Hello-Adele
Fight Song-Rachel Platten
Rather Be-Clean Bandit ft Jess Glynne
Bang Bang
Can't Hold Us-Macklemore
A Little Less Conversation (JXL Radio Edit Remix)-Elvis
Where Are You Know-Skrillex ft. Bieber
Wobble-VIC
Dear Future Husband-Meghan Trainor
Disturbia-Rihanna
Hey mama-David Guetta
Get Low-Dillion Francis
Teach me How To Dougie-California Swag District
Bad Blood-T.Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar
Dark Horse-Katy Perry
Run The World-Beyonce
Thinking Out Loud-Ed Sheeran
All of Me-John Legend
Keep Your Head Up-Andy Grammer
Lean On-Major Lazer
when I grow up-PCD
Here's To Never Growing up-Avril Lavigne
All For One-Gangstagrass feat Dolio the Sluth and R. Son

 

[Hank Davidson]

I'm strugglin' fellas...

I'm also making the school pay me 2X what they are used to paying

I'm listening to the charts right now and I can't EVEN believe what I'm hearing coming out of the hip hop world. It's really sad, slow, gross, and unintelligible sounding.

They met my price. I need money. Plus I LOVE a challenge.

Are these the kinds of things you want someone to be saying after you just hired them to do a job? Scary.

 

[rickryan.com]

Not always...it's all about finding the right customers. We did a homecoming last weekend with over 2000 kids in attendance. They broke policy and let about 50 kids from other schools in (because they came to see us play). We had less than 6 requests all night, and all were playable songs. They had to push kids out at the end of the dance. Probably ended with 1600+ still there. At the end of the night the advisors came over and thanked us...told us about how much easier it was at our dances than others at the school because we knew how to manage the crowd. At their back to school dance the DJ kept playing inappropriate songs....when told no he would get on the mic and say administration won't let me play that one. There's a fine line.

This is the same school who a few years ago got a new athletic director. We've been doing their homecomings for close to 15 years now. Anyway, new AD approaches the asst. homecoming advisor and says "do you know how much these guys charge"....she says yes, we get them every year. "do you know how much these guys charge!?"....yes, they have a big system..... "do you know how much these guys charge!?" yes, they come from South Dakota..... Fast forward to dance night, advisor, asst advisor and AD standing on a stage deck at the side of the dance floor. Gym is hoppin...kids decide to try their hand at crowd surfing...we pull the music, hit the crowd lights, get on the mic with a quick "down please", kid gets down, music & lights resume. None of the chaperones had time to even leave the stage deck. Advisor turns to AD and says "that's why we pay them so much money". Ever since the AD keeps asking the advisor for our business cards to share with other schools because he just brags us up non-stop.

The point to the long stories is you can have happy kids and happy staff. Yes, sometimes the first visit to a new school is a little rough (from our perspective--uptight staff who hate dances because they are so much trouble + kids trying to push the line). Sometimes kids push back because there was a staff change and subsequent policy crackdowns. It all passes with each year we go back. It's a lot more of taking control of the event & situations than keeping one group or another 'happy'.

Val, that's a great story and a great example of excellent customer service and professionalism. Kudos to you guys.

 

[Jas]

Nice lists from a couple of you. Not all hip hop, but looks like good hi skool dance songs. A lot of them would work well at weddings too.

 

[jtnichol]

Not always...it's all about finding the right customers. We did a homecoming last weekend with over 2000 kids in attendance. They broke policy and let about 50 kids from other schools in (because they came to see us play). We had less than 6 requests all night, and all were playable songs. They had to push kids out at the end of the dance. Probably ended with 1600+ still there. At the end of the night the advisors came over and thanked us...told us about how much easier it was at our dances than others at the school because we knew how to manage the crowd. At their back to school dance the DJ kept playing inappropriate songs....when told no he would get on the mic and say administration won't let me play that one. There's a fine line.

This is the same school who a few years ago got a new athletic director. We've been doing their homecomings for close to 15 years now. Anyway, new AD approaches the asst. homecoming advisor and says "do you know how much these guys charge"....she says yes, we get them every year. "do you know how much these guys charge!?"....yes, they have a big system..... "do you know how much these guys charge!?" yes, they come from South Dakota..... Fast forward to dance night, advisor, asst advisor and AD standing on a stage deck at the side of the dance floor. Gym is hoppin...kids decide to try their hand at crowd surfing...we pull the music, hit the crowd lights, get on the mic with a quick "down please", kid gets down, music & lights resume. None of the chaperones had time to even leave the stage deck. Advisor turns to AD and says "that's why we pay them so much money". Ever since the AD keeps asking the advisor for our business cards to share with other schools because he just brags us up non-stop.

The point to the long stories is you can have happy kids and happy staff. Yes, sometimes the first visit to a new school is a little rough (from our perspective--uptight staff who hate dances because they are so much trouble + kids trying to push the line). Sometimes kids push back because there was a staff change and subsequent policy crackdowns. It all passes with each year we go back. It's a lot more of taking control of the event & situations than keeping one group or another 'happy'.

Valerie I've always appreciated your posts over the years. Spot on. Exactly. We win schools over and they always have us out if we are available. We're there for the staff and the kids and we'll have fun like kids and help with making things easy for the staff at the same time. We love it when the chapperones and students come up and say "hey that was fun!"...if the parents are tappin' their toes your doin' ok. Thanks for your post.

 

[jtnichol]

Hank.

I came across as an ass for some reason so let me just say I didn't have time earlier to type in a way that would clearly explain what I meant. Since you quoted it and called me out I'll address them one by one.

"I'm also making the school pay me 2X what they are used to paying"
This school has 1200 kids. Last time I was there I did a favor for them after a sob story about budgets and went ahead and accepted what THEY said was their budget: $300. Then 500 kids came at 9 bucks a piece. Now 10 years later I was upfront with them about everything this time. $750.00
I told them if they want us they are going to meet me at my regular price and I'm going to throw in some added value gear like real JBL Duals. I have to go to KC to get them because my other set I have access to is in service that night...I'm losing 10% just in rental alone. But that's ok. This school is local and my foot is holding the door a bit wider this time for future gigs.

"I'm listening to the charts right now and I can't EVEN believe what I'm hearing coming out of the hip hop world. It's really sad, slow, gross, and unintelligible sounding."

Yes. Much of the hip hop is unintelligible and I'm just trying to find some of it that I can play. I need to review some stuff so I'm not caught off guard by requests. The school has no problem with me saying that after the fact. I'm trying to help the kids and the staff simultaneously by doing homework. Frankly, I'm out of the loop post 2010. This crowd is heavy on the hip hop. I'm not.

"They met my price." Yes they did.

"I need money." Yes I do. Christmas is coming. I just renovated a kitchen. I have 4 kids. 2 are in High School. There ain't enough money printed.

"Plus I LOVE a challenge." Hell yes. It's healthy as a DJ to get out of your comfort zone.

 

[Jeff Romard]

I'm strugglin' fellas...


Are these the kinds of things you want someone to be saying after you just hired them to do a job? Scary.

If he was struggling and not willing to learn it's a problem. Jeremiah is here asking for assistance and doing work on his own beside that. Sometimes the best thing you can do is step out of your comfort zone

 

[Albatross]

I think on the slow radio hip hop you've got to go to remixes versus play the originals. Not a scorcher anymore, but I think about a song like Hotline Bling. SUPER slow track in it's natural state. But, the James Hype Remix even drops into the original for a second, and then builds it back to a house groove.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIjgfaVYUb8

For a school that might be worried about grinding, going to uptempo versions of stuff is a safe move, and the kids still know the song. It's just tough to work through finding good remixes because there are 100s of remixes out of just about every Top 40 track.

Promo Only puts out an e-mail list of trending remixes that is a good spot to check out. Also, you may want to skim the Hype Edit Top 100 (Hypeddit) for ideas - but some of that will be too clubby for a school dance.

 

[sonic-vision]

If he was struggling and not willing to learn it's a problem. Jeremiah is here asking for assistance and doing work on his own beside that. Sometimes the best thing you can do is step out of your comfort zone

Nothing wrong asking for help. I thought that's why we have forums or are they for people to strut their ego and continue their way!

 

[jtnichol]

I've been doing homework with all these lists. The students gave me a surprisingly clean list.

I can't do that damn song Brocccoli....No way...

I'll report back after the show. Thanks to each and EVERY one of you!

Hugs from KC!

 

[steve149]

I've been doing homework with all these lists. The students gave me a surprisingly clean list.

I can't do that damn song Brocccoli....No way...

I'll report back after the show. Thanks to each and EVERY one of you!

Hugs from KC!

Maybe you can play Broccoli Rabe ...