Traditionally, with a DJ set, you just go hear DJ that has a good reputation and let the DJ take you somewhere. It was up to the DJ what he wanted to play. Typically in dance music, people didn't know most of the songs a DJ played.
I made my name and reputation DJing in hip-hop clubs in New York. 'Celebrity DJ' is a term that I hated. To me a celebrity DJ is someone that's on 'Big Brother' or in some kind of B-movie who gets a gig to DJ even though they're not talented enough to do it.
My uncle, he's a big DJ out here in L.A. His name is DJ Tee; he's got a bar in Westchester.
I DJ all the time, as much as I possibly can. I'll never stop. That's my security blanket, that's what I'm good at. I still consider myself a better DJ than a singer. I can DJ in my sleep.
A friend of mine that happened to be a DJ at another club actually offered me a job [as a DJ]. I didn't think I could do it but he said, "You know all the music. You are at all the parties, and everybody knows you."
Easy way to make someone sound less powerful, just put DJ in front of their name...
..DJ Abraham Lincoln
I started in '88 to play House music, it was a huge revolution for me. I went to London and I saw a DJ on stage and that was crazy at the time. I was one of the really respected and famous DJs in Paris, but they would never show me. I was hidden. A DJ on stage and people dancing and facing the DJ, looking at him? I was like 'wow!'
Some nightlife places, people aren't there for the music, and it's depressing. I'm not just a club DJ; I am a producer, and I'll only DJ when the crowd is there to enjoy the music.
To be a DJ was to be God. To be a DJ at an alternative public radio station ? That was being God with a mission. It was thinking you were the first person to discover The Clash and you had to spread the word.
You can be a great DJ and still be not very good at DJ Hero. And vice-versa: You can have never spun in your life on real turntables and be fine on DJ Hero.
Oddly I've been DJ-ing for many years, actually, but not many people know about it because if you go and DJ in a club and you've got 2000 people in there, then obviously about 2000 people know that you're a DJ.
It's tough when you're an artist because you get to go around the world and make a lot of friends, but guess what? One day, all these people that you love are going to die, from DJ Mehdi to DJ Dusk to J Dilla to Austin Peralta to DJ Rashad.
I DJ very often. I'll probably do it more. I'm not available during the week because of the show but I travel most weekends to DJ. I've been doing it for about six years.
I don't want to be classified as an old-skool DJ or new-skool DJ. I want to be classified as an all-skool DJ who plays it all. I also want to learn to DJ house music in my own fashion.
DJ Tiesto was my first inspiration. I heard him play at the Olympics in 2004 and from that moment on I knew I wanted to make music and become a DJ. I made a bootleg of a track by Enrique Iglesias called Tonight.
Being a DJ is so easy. I can put headphones in this pocket, USB sticks in the other and that's it - I'm a DJ. But when I do the live show I'm bringing all this fragile analogue synthesizer equipment and dealing with three-hour sound checks and all that.