Re: Down Tempo DJ's

Tony Reid (t-bird@salata.com)
04 May 97 07:52:22 -0800


>HEY! We consider "Down Tempo" to be a derogatory term! Now go wash yo'
>filthy mouth!

bi> Now you're confusing me. I thought it was the attitude that people
bi> don't dance to down tempo beats, not that the term is
bi> inappropriate--is was the problem with using the term, "chill"?

the word is problematic because it perpetuates the attitude. admittedly,
there is a lot of hiphop that isn't dancefloor oriented--i don't usually
spin
it--but there is a lot of abstrakt stuff that is (dig 9 lazy 9's "brothers
of
the red"--dancefloor *killer*). all of the "dope on plastic" series falls
into that category--and i'll be damned if "a lil' dope" by maw doesn't get a
party started!!

i guess what i'm trying to say is words are important because they are the
medium of communicating ideas. some of the ideas are overt and conscious
and
some aren't. i prefer it when communication via words are much more
conscious because then you say what you mean (i'm a real fan of being
precise
--ask anyone who knows me). and as a matter of clarification, some of the
stuff that's called down-tempo really isn't that slow--monkey mafia
forinstance...

i would probably be considered a "down-tempo" dj because the meat of what i
spin is whatever-hop & acid-jazz. i also spin jungle (and occasionally
house), but it's not the meat of what i do.

i usually describe myself as an acid-jazz dj and then throw in "...it allows
me to spin whatever i want, really..." maybe if someone else heard me, they
could describe what i do better, but personally, i think that it's like
dancing about architecture--unless you know some of the tracks...

-t

... hey, let's dance to that building--it's funky!!