I've actually known NobyuS for several years now because they are part of my karaoke fam and I've been a supporter of their music since the beginning. I got the Facebook invite for the party from by boy Kenny and figured I'd go to support him and Lyrion because I'm all about showing love to my peoples, especially these 2 guys because they've always shown mad love and supported me in what I do.
When I looked at the invite I noticed that my pretend boyfriend Juddy was going to so I hit him up and made sure that was definite. He was debating between going to the hip hop party and something in Baltimore so I told him "Just remember that Baltimore sucks and I'll be mad at you if you don't go with me." (I didn't really mean Bmore sucks so don't get mad my Bmore people. I was just saying that to get Juddy to go with me. I love B-Town. K-Swift is my Club Queen for life ♡).
I won out and he decided to go because I'm awesome and my threat worked.. Plus I'm cute and he's hoping since he's my pretend boyfriend he might get pretend laid...
He got Ricardo and their boy Hazel to come too...
Like 10 minutes after we got there, Juddy decided to get on the decks. He was great and I've never seen him play Hip Hop before...
I laughed when he got off and was like "And you weren't even going to come.. Look at you just randomly getting up the decks and shit."
Now I'll admit I was not like a super fan before last Saturday night of DJ Childsplay... I am now. But I wasn't then.. So I'm going to break it down in an honest way and hope he takes what I'm about to say in the spirit in which it is intended because I think he's a cool dude. I'd only heard him play one of time when he spun at Transit a few weeks prior to that for the warmup to Funky Fresh.
He played Drum and Bass and it wasn't a bad set... It was just A LOT.. Like he definitely banged it the fuck out and every track was a hardcore banger so loud the walls were banging. All I could think of was that episode of Parks & Rec when Tom Haverford DJ's the prom and he's like "Every song in my iPod is a banger. I have a 32 point scale of what determines a banger." Turns out bangers are his thing so I wasn't far off.
Like I said though, it wasn't a bad set and the youngins there were definitely feelin it. But the older folks like me were enjoying it from outside of the bar where we could still hear it very clearly but at a volume level that worked for us. Since I'm all about constructive criticism, I would just say he needs to watch the volume levels and let it breathe a little more. Also, and this goes for every DJ, you have to read your crowd and adjust what you play to fit the audience and the venue.
Spinning DnB sets to me is like fucking... You can't just get it in and bang it out like a jackrabbit in the same position for an hour. There needs to be some foreplay to warm it up and get it wet. Then you gotta ease it in gently then get harder as you go along.. You also need to make sure you switch positions every so often to keep it interesting... and since you can't necessarily keep up the same pace the whole time, some of those positions will be the lazy 'lay on your stomach or side while I do you a little more gently' switch ups so you can breathe for a sec before getting back into the hardcore parts. During the whole thing though you should be teasing your crowd and making them beg you for more. Talk dirty to them. Tell them they are naughty bitches. Play with them.. cause they like that shit.
Anyway, that being said, my opinion of DJ Childsplay definitely changed when I saw him play last Saturday night for his birthday party. He spun hip hop that night and it was dope. You can definitely tell that is his wheelhouse... which when I thought about it actually gave me an entirely new perspective on his set at Transit. This dude is doing what I, along with many other DJ's who are smart have done... He's diversifying.
I have mad respect for DJ's who do that. Too many DJ's, particularly EDM DJ's.. especially DnB DJ's, think playing styles like Top 40 is beneath them... which is bullshit. Bear in mind, the kind of DJ's who hate on playing other styles are the same cats who plan their entire sets from start to finish and play boring, monotonous crap that drones on and doesn't cater to a crowd.. Because they don't care about their audience. They only care about playing the music they think the people want to hear... and then look up and wonder why nobody is dancing.
I love playing Top 40. I started out as a DnB DJ and played places for years where I was lucky if I got my bar tabs covered. There was even one party I played at several years ago where I actually had to pay a cover charge to get in the door.. Yeah, I had to pay just to be at the party I was on the lineup for or I would not have gotten in. However, I started playing Top 40 thanks to receiving the same helpful advice I'm giving you now from my boy Quincy of Uncle Jesse who plays everything from Moombahton and DnB for ravers at massives to Top 40 for posh, fancy people at bottle service clubs. Once I started following his advice it finally gave me an asking price because Top 40 DJ's get paid. It also made me a better DJ in countless ways.
If you're a DJ who only plays one style then you should take this helpful bit of advice and learn how to play other kinds of music. It allows you to get more bookings at various shows, expands your fan base, and actually makes you a better DJ because you'll learn that different styles of music get played differently. You don't spin House the same way you spin Drum and Bass and you don't spin EDM the same way you play Top 40 or Hip Hop.
If that confuses you then I'll clarify... So we've already established that spinning DnB is like sex. Well, when you spin most kinds of House or Trance you make your transitions smoother so it flows versus broken beat styles where you can chop it up a bit more. When it comes to playing Top 40 or Hip Hop though, you do more cutting and chopping on your transitions. Since a lot of Top 40 and Hip Hop songs are shorter and don't necessarily match as easily beatwise, you're also not going to go for longer mixes because you're cutting over on the meaty part of the song and only playing each track for like a minute or 2... versus EDM where the songs are longer and you can demonstrate your beat matching skills.
But the great thing about playing a multitude of music genres is you'll learn all these things.. It does take some time and getting used to though. I'm still training myself to stop playing Hip Hop like a DnB DJ... Kinda get the sense now that DJ Childsplay may be doing the reverse and training himself to not play DnB like a Hip Hop DJ on a live Friday night where you drop banger after banger after banger.
When he plays Hip Hop though, he's got all that shit down. His set was hard at the right times with breather tracks sprinkled in. He also played one of my 3 super fave jammies.. The Lil Jon "Bend Ova" Yoga Ball joint... Hold up.. In case you don't know...
My other 2 super fave jammies are "Bubble Butt" by Major Lazer and "Express Yourself" by Diplo. Any DJ who plays one of these tracks endears himself to me... A DJ who throws down all 3 is my hero and I'm just going home at that point because as far as I'm concerned the party is over and I've heard all I need to hear. However, of those 3 though, Bend Ova is definitely my #1 so DJ Childsplay got massive bonus points in my book for that.
The party itself was an interesting format and totally different from other NobyuS performances. Usually when I've seen them play, it's been at bigger spots on various size stages. This was way more intimate... Smaller place with just a folding table and the floor in front of it with tables and chairs around... like NobyuS Unplugged.
Here is the crowd...
Here are NobyuS with DJ Childsplay in the background...
So, since it was Childsplay's birthday party he picked the songs and order on the fly. He'd drop a beat and they'd go in. Some of the songs were older ones they hadn't done in awhile so it would take them a sec.. But then they'd rock it out. It was kinda like skaraoke but with your own music instead of any random song. Very few artists ever do shows like that so it's pretty interesting when it happens.
I was happy they did my favorite NobyuS joint "OH NO!" I even got a video of it...
Thats me.. in the background.. Trying to sing along and dance.. But not move too much.
After they got done, DJ Childsplay's regular MC Big B actually got on the mic. I had to stop in my tracks because this dude was pretty sick. Not sure where he came from but he definitely has some dope microphone skills.
Then there was also some birthday shennagans and group shots outside which were hysterical. I took these pics while balancing on a rocking chair in 5 inch heels and did not fall and/or bust my ass while getting on or off said rocking chair.. That my friends is called "skills".
All in all, I have to say that this was a dope night and good times for sure. Everybody killed it and The Greene Turtle in Leesburg is now still a crime scene. I've seen NobyuS perform with a few DJ's and DJ Childsplay was my favorite one by far. He got them on the hype man backup exactly in the right spots and really added to the show. I told Kenny and Lyrion they should have him be their regular DJ from henceforth because they definitely make a good team. So I'm definitely hoping to see more performances like the one last Saturday in the future.
I also have to add that I support these guys not just because they're my karaoke fam.. But because I'm a huge NobyuS fan. Every time I've been to one of their shows it's always a dope ass fun party. I think all their stuff is quality and unique. It's intelligent but not so deep it loses people. They also definitely know how to make a good party rocker that gets everybody up dancing... All of this is why I highly recommend checking them out. I definitely know that Juddy, Ricardo, and Hazel are fans now so I guarantee you'll probably become a fan too.
And like I said, I'm definitely now a big fan of DJ Childsplay. He's a down ass dude and we will actually both be playing on the inside stage at the 2nd installment of The Movement at Mahalo Cove in Sterling, VA on Friday, May 1st. So since I know ya'll are coming to see me cause you fucking love me, make sure you check out his set as well and show him some love.
In the meantime, if ya'll want to check out more from these guys and you've missed the fact that I've sprinkled mad hyperlinks throughout this shit then here they are one more time. This is DJ Childsplay's Facebook Page and this is NobyuS' Facebook Page. You can also check out DJ Childsplay's Soundcloud Profile and NobyuS' Soundcloud Profile. The guys of NobyuS are currently working on some brand spankin new tracks as we speak so as soon as they start dropping them I'll be sure to keep ya'll posted.
