anyone spin 'random' rap at the clubs?

SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
edited February 2008 in Strut Central
if so, how has it gone over? i haven't played anything too obscure, but i'm thinking of doing a set of the random to mid-90s indie. i'm thinking if the beat is hot, it might not matter.

  Comments


  • waxjunkywaxjunky 1,849 Posts
    But is it credible?

  • every now and then. i definitely get the feeling sometimes, but most of the times i don't have much with me. should get to ripping i guess.

  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    i doubt many are open minded enough to deal with it all the way.
    i'll probably bust a few out 'randomly' through the set.

  • verb606verb606 2,518 Posts
    But is it credible?


    a good question. but seriously, Dakar. Are you in the US? If not, disregard this. Unless you have an ultra open-minded audience, I would avoid random rap. For most crowds, the objective "hotness" (as in "club-worthy") of the beat doesn't matter. If they don't know the song, they're probably not going to fuck with it. I used to try to slip in that Royce the 5'9" track produced by the Trackmasters, which I thought was a pretty "hot" club track, and I would get little to no love because it wasn't banging all over MTV and shit.

    If you are going to drop some, do it a track or two at a time. If your night is some casual weeknight type thing with a regular clientele, then that's different. But if it's anything close to a typical "clurb" situation, a random rap set is not the best look. I would recommend more well-known classics instead.

  • is "random" some new sub-genre of rap music?

    i don't get it.

  • is "random" some new sub-genre of rap music?

    i don't get it.

    I was in the same boat a couple weeks ago. Until this.

    ah, i see, thanks. then in that case...

    i think you can play whatever you want if it fits with the program. not sure i play any "random" rap though. i think i played something the other night that i know people didn't know, but it had a recognizable sample so they didn't even notice. dopped something they did know after that and kept it movin.

  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,473 Posts
    surely most rap that isn't a top 10 hit is effectively 'random' to 90% of most audiences?

    More or less, yeah.

    I make a point of dropping random rap into sets. Generally speaking, it doesn't go over all that well with most crowds (it's that whole "play something I know!" thing referenced above), but oh well.

  • jaymackjaymack 5,199 Posts
    not random at all, but i've been playing "crushin" by dilla at the strip club. works well.
    and i played "white girls" by mighty casey saturday.

  • Are you in the US? If not, disregard this.

    Is rap appreciation really that much better outside (North) America?


    to answer your question, yes. i've been to quite a few countries & continents, but let me use "europe" as the ejemplo since i lived there for 2 years. pretty much people who listened to a specific genre of music, pretty much stuck with that same genre and are well informed on it throughout to certain extents, but not limited to. all your typical white chicks listened to that whacky euro techno shit. not sure what it's called, but it's in my "Not Rap" category. so if you were spinning a hip-hop night, and you broke out some "old classic", A) if they recognized the song they have that ohh snap smile on their face, B) if they didn't know it, they would still have that face on some "this is tits, what is it?"

    basically as long as it was good[/b] music, the crowd was with it.

  • verb606verb606 2,518 Posts
    Are you in the US? If not, disregard this.

    Is rap appreciation really that much better outside (North) America? I mean, I have a stereotype that it is, but could you really drop a random set on a typical "classic rap" crowd in Berlin or wherever and get good responses? Or would it have to be a strict specialty/ex-backpack/graffwriting/"true hip hop" audience--aka, the same audience that would support a random rap set here?



    All I meant by that is that the suggestions I was making apply to US audiences only. I have found audiences in every other country I've been to (most of them European) to be far more open-minded and less reliant on radio or mass media to tell them what they like. Not just with hip-hop, but any genre. The "I don't know this shit, but it's hot and I'm gonna dance" ethos is prevalent over there.

    That might be just the clubs I've been to, but my main point was simply that I find that many ,if not all, of the rules/conventions I DJ by here in the US do not apply outside of the US. Your mileage may vary.

  • The "I don't know this shit, but it's hot and I'm gonna dance" ethos is prevalent over there.


    'szackly!

  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Real rap fans in the US want to first and foremost rep their blocks.

    So in the Bay, you can play some obscure Dre Dogg b-side and it has the potential to be embraced with open arms.

    In Texas, you can play some obscure Big Moe b-side and it will likely make people go crazy.

    So my answer would be that yeah, you can definitely play what could be construed as "random rap"...but only under the right circumstances.

  • in DC you can play Section 8 Mob go-go and it will have the same effect Harvey.

  • Capitol Punishment is go-go.

  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,473 Posts
    Go-go is capital punishment.

    Sorry, couldn't resist.

  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Go-go is capital punishment.

    Sorry, couldn't resist.

    Go-Go...and especially Trouble Funk...was huge in New Orleans during the early 80's. It was just too close to second-line funk for NOLA folks not to appreciate. Big Mike makes a brief reference to this kinship on his first solo album.

  • Capitol Punishment is go-go.

    yeah, couldn't care less...nothing amazing either way. never listened to em so my bad.

    funny cause i do listen to a lot of go-go for obvious reasons.

  • i play random crap. goes over pretty well if i may say so.

  • i think we all know that you can generally play what ever the fuck you want early in the night but i would NOT drop a frickin random Cage song at about 1am after dropping some UGK or Jeezy shit....


  • nothing amazing either way. never listened to em so my bad.

    Do you write for Blender?

  • no...on the go

  • spelunkspelunk 3,400 Posts
    Can someone clarify the definition of "random rap" in 2008?

    For awhile I thought it had to do with a particular era. Now it seems like some hodgepodge term for anything that's not an completely obvious and classic hip-hop record.
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