Know Your DJ

Local spinners talk tips, requests and their worst nights ever

DJ ROCK DEE
AGE: 39
SIGN: Leo

DAY JOB: Brookfield Guitar Center; Air personality, 88.9 Radio Milwaukee; DJ for Mob Candy Magazine & True Baller Clothing

STYLE: Hip-hop, house, old-school funk, disco, salsa, reggae

RESIDENCIES: Alverno College, Zen Den, Radio Milwaukee, Walkers Pint, Three, Summerfest

BEST NIGHT EVER: Summerfest 2002. I had produced the Diskotech DJ stage. I had all the greats that year! One night I had Biz Markie headlining … I was blessed to experience the sports area packed … over 3,000 strong, with everyone singing “Just a Friend” right along with Biz Markie.

WORST NIGHT EVER: God bless, none yet!

ON THE NO-PLAY LIST: Honestly, nothing really comes to mind. If it’s good music, I will play it, no matter what the genre.

STATE OF THE SCENE: My professor Tracy Stockwell reminds me all the time what a great city Milwaukee is … the art galleries, the economic development, the nightlife. DJs can actually work and make a living here … that is the bomb to me! Some say we’re still behind the times - and maybe we are a little - though we as a city are setting our own times, not basing our time on anyone else’s.

IN THE BEGINNING: I was breakdancing at Skate University when all of a sudden these dudes make an entrance with equipment that never seemed to stop coming. Next thing I knew, there was this guy named Dr. B mixing records … cutting, scratching, backspinning, mixing this with that and rapping on the mic … I knew from that point on that was what I was going to do for the rest of my life. That was 1982 and now it’s 2007 … you do the math!

FLAV-OR-ICE FLAVOR: Green.



KID CUT UP
AGE: 25
SIGN: Caution: Curve Ahead

DAY JOB: Being a DJ is a full time job.

GEAR: Tech 12’s, Vinyl, Serato, Rane 56, Shure SM58

STYLE: Well-rounded DJing. Hand skills AND party rockin’. Commercial AND underground. New AND old school.

RESIDENCIES: No Request Fridays @ Redlight above Tocadero w/ Why B; Flirt Thursdays @ Hi Hat Garage w/ Steve Marxx; Hiphop Tuesdays @ the Uptowner w/ DJ Musko

BEST NIGHT EVER: Any night people are down to let loose and have a good time.

WORST NIGHT EVER: Weddings

CURRENTLY PLAYING: New album from Milwaukee’s Element

ON THE NO-PLAY LIST: Requests

STATE OF THE SCENE: Potential-filled

FLAV-OR-ICE FLAVOR: Orange. Slightly melted.



DJ NU-STYLEZ
AGE: 27
SIGN: Libra

DAY JOB: DJ, mix tape producer, music producer

STYLE: Hip-hop, crowd rocking, ghetto house … you name it, I can get it done.

RESIDENCIES: Texture; Digital Underground tour DJ

BEST NIGHT EVER: Sydney, Australia… rocking 10,000 people down under… unbelievable.

WORST NIGHT EVER: Reno, Nevada. The sound man was drunk and left the board and somehow turned off the monitors, so there was no sound on stage!

CURRENTLY PLAYING: My remixes and whatever makes me and the people on the dance floor feel good!

STATE OF THE SCENE: It’s on a catch-up to the bigger cities right now, but I love the underground hip hop scene.

IN THE BEGINNING: Mr. Emage gave me my start back when I was 10 or 11 years old. He introduced me to hip-hop and I haven’t let her go ever since.

FLAV-OR-ICE FLAVOR: Blue, of course.



MISS ERIKA JEAN
AGE: 26
SIGN: Sagittarius

DAY JOB: Freelance writer/photographer; blogger; student … DJing is my primary source of income.

STYLE: Whenever a venue wants a DJ who can play just about anything, I’m their girl. I’m a total sucker for ridiculous mashups (who doesn’t want to hear a jaw-dropping mashup of Nirvana and NWA?), electro remixes of indie rock tracks and old school hip hop.

RESIDENCIES: The Social (Pampered Ladies Night, Tuesdays); MOCT (Get Your Rocks Off, Thursdays); Jackalope Lounj (Aural Stimulation, first Friday of the month)

BEST NIGHT EVER: After a while, all the nights start to blur, but I blame that on the whiskey. Any night that there’s a crowd that’s really into the music it’s reaffirming. And it helps if people tip when they want to hear requests. *cough*

WORST NIGHT EVER: River Horse. I could do no right, running the gamut from indie rock to dance and hip hop. There were kids coming back into the DJ area, messing with my mixer. I was like, “Excuse me, do I go into your cube at your job and start shredding documents and shit? OK then, get the fuck out of my office.”

CURRENTLY PLAYING: A lot of electro - Beatfreaks, CSS, Bird & The Bee, White Rose Movement, Drop the Lime. I’ve also been going back to old Kraftwerk and UNKLE lately.

ON THE NO-PLAY LIST: Ying Yang Twins. Please, people, stop asking me to play it. I don’t have it, I don’t play it and I never will. Well, maybe for the right price ...

STATE OF THE SCENE: Milwaukee could benefit from an increased desire for community and an awareness of what’s going on outside of individual comfort zones - I wish there was less in-fighting and politics. Networking in Milwaukee is pretty easy; most of the DJs I’ve met are friendly and willing to help a girl out.

FLAV-OR-ICE FLAVOR: Orange



AARON SOMA
AGE: 25
SIGN: Pisces

DAY JOB: Palomino Bar

GEAR: Technics SL-1200Mk2; Rane TTM 57SL

STYLE: Psychedelic Garage from about 1966-1969; 60’s soul & R&B from 1965- 1970; Obscure and independently released funk from about 1969-1974

RESIDENCIES: I can be found doing one-off’s at places like Foundation, Red Room, Burnheart’s, LuLu and Circle A.

BEST NIGHT EVER: MODchicago 6 in June 2007. I got a chance to play at the record swap at Delilah’s. It offered me an opportunity to trade and buy rare 45’s. I also got to spin 45’s with collectors from all over the world. I got a chance to talk shop with a lot of the folks behind specialty nights all over the world.

WORST NIGHT EVER: My collector friend had a night in Burlington. He invited me out from Milwaukee. The people didn’t seem to get it. I got haggled all night for playing “oldies.” The bartender also turned us off close to the end of the night. It was a bit rough.

CURRENTLY PLAYING: A lot of soul jazz, and the era of The Temptations when they were on heavy drugs.

IN THE BEGINNING: Flea market record dealers. My family never had a lot of money, but we always had a lot of records around (I’m talking thousands). As far as DJing goes, I’ve always loved to share music with people. I would also like to acknowledge the record collectors that have been extremely influential to me such as Andy Noble at Lotusland, Brent
Goodsell at Neapolitan, Dave Monroe (Soul Hole @ Foundation) and DJ Prestige @ Asbury Park 45 Sessions.

FLAV-OR-ICE FLAVOR: Purple