The deejay is making a comeback to remind listeners of his or her important role in introducing new music, reinterpreting tracks and entertaining audiences. This return was captured on the Centric Network with its Smirnoff reality series, “Master of the Mix,” which featured top deejays battling for $250,000 and the title of “Master.” In the end, the winner was “DJ Scratch,” whose credits include Jay-Z, Diddy, EPMD and more. DJ Scratch revealed to rolling out his concern that, despite the show’s success, there remains widespread ignorance about the art of deejayng. It’s an art that he believes is meant to sustain quality music by bridging the gap between generations of listeners.
“There is a lack of the art. Deejays are not teaching history in the mainstream,” he says. “They play the same 10 records, and that is repetitive.”
DJ Scratch believes that some of the blame for this dearth of talent is the rise of celebrity deejays who are not trained in the art.
“They want to deejay because whatever they do in their professional career is not working. So, the next best thing is to become a celebrity deejay. It’s like when everybody was adopting African babies – it’s the new thing to do, but a lot of rappers are deejaying because they can’t sell records no more, and that’s the quickest way to make money.”
When it comes to money, DJ Scratch finds it unfair that celebrity deejays now command higher rates than veteran deejays who are more skilled.
“I heard ‘Pauly D’ got $100,000 for an hour to deejay and not because he is a great deejay. I heard him deejay, and he needs help. But, it’s the hype of the celebrity thing,” he said. “It’s not fair to the blue-collar deejay ‘cause a seasoned deejay might get $2,000 for an hour. I’m not hating because it’s all business and money for the promoter, but your party is only as good as your deejay.”
With promoters preferring name recognition over talent, the recording industry has yet another challenge to keeping quality music alive. –souleo
