Happy by Pharrel Williams

Crazy in Love by Beyonce

One More Time by Daft Punk

Let Me Clear My Throat DJ Kool

This is How We Do It Montell Jordan

Hip Hop Hooray by Naughty by Nature

I Got A Feeling by Black Eyed Peas

Turn Down for What  by Lil Jon

We Found Love by Rihanna and Calvin Harris

Hey Ya by OutKast

Celebration  by Kool and the Gang

All I Do is Win  by Dj Khalid

Uptown Funk  by Bruno Mars

Bitter Sweet Symphony by the Verve

You Can’t Hurry Love by the Supremes

Don’t Stop Believing by Journey

2018 Has been a great year. I have to be thankful for many blessings during this past year. 2017 was a good year but 2018 blew it out of the water. The people that I have connected with made it beautiful year for me and I appreciate all that I met and all that I have learned. 

 I would like to thank my fabulous clients and are so easy to work with. They gave me phenomenal playlists to keep the party going and gave awesome suggestions during the event. They are quick to respond and are good people in general. 

Also I would thank my preferred vendors who do great work and I do work with them on different events. It is a beautiful partnership. They inspire me to always be on top of my game since they are always on top of theirs. 

I do want to thank the schools I work with. It amazes me to see students with so much energy and enthusiasm. I do appreciate that the leadership teachers are classy folks and do great jobs providing a festive environment. I know it is not easy to set up multiple events per year but they keep on working hard to make the magic happen.

I really want to thank a few mentors who have given me wonderful suggestions. I would meet with them regularly and they would open up my eyes to work on my business savvy and also give tips on different dj set ups and equipment. Often times, we learn one way and stick to that way but I was able to see different set ups and pick and choose what I liked. 

  At some functions, I have an assistant with me who can get requests from students of a song they have to hear. Typically I have a list a week before that I follow, but I do take requests. Sometimes, I am doing the event solo so there is no one to take requests. Most often than not, a student will approach me right in the middle of a transition so they don’t have my all my attention. But when I m able to focus on their requests I will look it up and put it on my prepare list to have it close by so I can include it in the mix.

   I try to give all the students the attention that they want but it makes it difficult since I’m trying to keep the dance floor filled with paying attention to the lighting and the volume control. I have put down a notebook for students to put down their requests.  In the notebook, students are able to put the song name and artists.  Songs that have profanity or inappropriate I cross off since I cannot play them at a school dance. Once I see a song written a few times in different handwriting then I can slip it in. There were a few times students wrote their song in really big handwriting. Those ones are not played! This past week a student wrote please play this song and I will give you 10 dollars. Of course there was no student name but I thought it was funny so I played the song because the student was creative. I knew no one was going to be giving 10 dollars but it stood out.

BENNY BLANCO, HALSEY, AND KHALID  EASTSIDE

KHALID AND NORMANI  LOVE LIES

TRAVIS SCOTT SICKO MODE

SILK CITY AND DUA LIPA  ELECTRICITY

DJ SNAKE  TAKI TAKI

BEBE REXHA I’M A MESS

CALVIN HARRIS AND SAM SMITH  PROMISES

ARRIANA GRANDE  BREATHIN

MEEK MILL  DANGEROUS

DRAKE  NONSTOP

BAZZI  BEAUTIFUL

JUICE WRLD  LUCID DREAMS

KODAK BLACK  ZEZE

SHECK WES  MO BAMBA

BAD BUNNY  AND DRAKE  MIA

CARDI B  I LIKE IT

 Typically at a wedding, I am the only source of music. There are some instances when that is not the case. On October 20th, I did a wedding with talented guests and it was one to remember. I brought my typical equipment plus an extra mixer with cabling. The young musicians delighted the crowd with their vocals and their keyboard and guitar skills. It did not take them long to set up since it was running through my system. For this set up, I included a Mackie 1402 analogue mixer. It had 14 channels  (and it was not complicated to work) so I can easily add 2 more microphones, 2 guitars and 1 keyboard. Also I had my own wireless microphone connected and with my controller was connected to the mixer. From the mixer out, the videographer was able to record everything that took place at the wedding with a recording device. 

   The best man told me he was nervous and wanted to do the second toast after the maid of honor. With that information, I introduced the toast and gave the microphone to the maid of honor. Later I was told that the best man would be doing the toast while a guitar was strummed and I relayed the information to him and he had a shocked look on his face. The best man started serenading the bride and groom and it surprised everyone. In reality, the best man was not nervous but it was an act. He had a good voice and sang a good song. Weddings can be creative especially when you have talented people. 

Halloween Playlist 2018

Some of the best Halloween songs come from movie soundtracks.  When people do hear these songs from the movies, they think of the goosebumps they hand during the movie.

Micheal Jackon Thriller

Tubular Bells

Gerard McMann Cry, Little Sister

Oingo Boingo Dead Man’s Party

Blue Oyster Cult Don’t Fear the Reaper

Nine Inch Nails  Dead Souls

Ray Parker JR Ghostbusters

Warren Zevon Werevolves of London

Rockwell  Somebody’s Watching Me

Mc Hammer  Addams Groove

Bobby Pickett  Monster Mash

John Carpenter Halloween Theme Song

Rob Zombie  Dragula

Marilyn Manson  This is Halloween

Dj Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince  Nightmare on my Street

Creedence Clearwater Revival Bad Moon Rising

AC/DC  Hells Bells

Radiohead Creep

Ella Henderson  Ghost

 AC/DC  Highway to Hell

Little Mix  Black Magic

Eminem and Rihanna The Monster

Imagine Dragons Demons

Nina Simone  I Put a Spell on You  

Evanescence  Bring Me to Life

Katy Perry ft Kanye West E.T.  

Rihanna  Disturbia

Marilyn Manson  Sweet Dreams are Made of These

Lady Gaga  Monster

The Smiths  How Soon is Now

Dusty Springfield Spooky

Alice Cooper Feed My Frankenstein

Metallica  Enter Sandman

Primus  The Devil Went Down to Georgia

The Ramones  Pet Sematary

1 Des’ree  I’m Kissing You

2 Sade  By Your Side

3 Luther Vandross Here and Now

4 Christina Perri A Thousand Years

5 Eric Clapton Wonderful Tonight

6 John Legend All of Me

7 The Righteous Brothers  Unchained Melody

8 Ingrid Michaelson Can’t Help Falling in Love

9 Stevie Wonder  You are the Sunshine of My Life

10 Etta James  At Last

11 Journey  Faithfully

12 Stevie Wonder  I Just Called to Say I Love You

13 Lonestar  Amazed

14 Dooley Wilson It Had to Be You 

15 Nat King Cole Unforgettable

16 Louis Armstrong What  A Wonderful World

17  Jason Mraz I’m Yours

18 The Goo Goo Dolls Iris

19  Joe Crocker  You are So Beautiful

20 Savage Garden Truly Madly Deeply

21 Aerosmith  I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing

22  Israel Kamakawiwo’ole  Over the Rainbow

23 K-Ci and JoJo  All My Life

24  Mazzy Star  Fade Into You

They use an analogy that someone would not go into a restaurant and tell a chef how to make food. I believe djing a party is a wee bit different.  As djs we play for the people. The best requests are the ones that go with the genre that the dj is playing. For example, if the dj is playing Bell Biv Devoe and a guest suggests throwing in En Vogue.  That is applauded. Usually I put in on my prepare list and throw in as soon as I can. If it isn’t the right genre I can still put it on my prepare list and can throw it on when its appropriate.  If they ask for a song I already play, then I ask them if there is another song I can play for them or I give them suggestions they can choose from.

   When I play at an event, I use the playlist given by the client and I will include music suggested by the guests. I will happily play the suggestion. If every guest came with a suggestion, I would add it to my list. It can be a little much when the same guest keeps on asking for more and more songs and the event becomes more about that guest than the rest of the guests of the party. As a dj, I never ask another dj to play my song since I know its difficult to dj a party and maintain the dancing vibe.  Sometimes djs get in a zone and playing hit after hit and the floor is jamming.  Be aware the wrong request can kill the party and the concentration of the dj.