4 DJ Tips On Preparing To Backup A Rapper On Stage

The Covid-Lockdown is officially over and nightclubs are open again. This means DJs are back in the DJ booth playing music for people worldwide, and as happy as that makes us all, with that also comes experiences that can be aggravating for DJs. By now, we’re all familiar with Request Culture, club goers who frequent night clubs with the intention to micromanage what DJs play. But the most recent incident at Poppy Night Club in LA speaks to a more serious problem that DJs have had to deal with for decades, entitled Rap artists publicly humiliating the house DJs for lack of preparedness.

Let me explain.

This past weekend, Whiz Khalifa made an appearance at Poppy to promote an upcoming release. On the afternoon of his performance, the house DJs (Mike Danger and MC Tron) were sent the MP3s of the songs Khalifa would be performing and they were asked to have them ready to be played that night. According to a video of Khalifa physically and verbally attacking the DJs, things did not go the way Khalifa planned in his mind.

It’s obvious Mike Danger, nor MC Tron were experienced enough to live up to expectations, and that’s not a personal slight against either of them. Being a resident DJ at a club requires a totally different set of skills from being a tour DJ for a rapper, and at that moment this truth played itself out in real time.

“I was on one last night. the DJ was fucking up! I cussed ’em out, pushed him off his computer and started DJing. I was like fuck this guy!” – Wiz Khalifa

The arrogance from Wiz Khalifa towards DJ Mike Danger and MC Tron that night encapsulates the puffed up sense of importance from a lot of rappers. I don’t know what it is about holding a microphone to their mouths that gives rappers like Wiz Khalifa a sense of grandiosity but let me be the first one to say, I’ve sat behind the scenes with many of them and I see right through the act. Most rappers are extremely insecure, hence why Khalifa needed to be flanked by security in order to muster up the courage to threaten Mike and Tron for not adequately backing him up, but I digress.
The point of this article isn’t so much to expose Khalifa’s lack of decorum as an artist. I’ve already done that on my Insta page. My deeper goal is to impart some tips on my DJs colleagues as to how to prevent a situation like this from ever happening to them.

1. REHEARSE

Just as you would practice running through your playlist for a particular party, I can’t stress how important it is for you to rehearse with a rapper appearing as a guest performer at your residency! In this case, Mike Danger and MC Tron should have requested Whiz Khalifa to show up for sound check so that both parties could vibe together and get a feel for what needed to happen.

2. I DON’T DO SOUNDCHECK

There are cases in which an artist would rather skip sound check and send a road manager or roadie to handle that very important task. When that happens, insist on at least having a phone conversation with the artist. A serviceable DJ at the least, should be able to have a clear understanding of how to organize and mentally prepare for an impromptu performance after a detailed rundown of what the rapper expects.

3. STAY FOCUSED

Do not drink alcohol or smoke weed before you step on stage with a rapper. As much as you may think you need these things to loosen up, what you’re actually doing is impairing your mind and operating your laptop, making DJ decisions while backing a rapper requires laser focus.

4. MURPHY’S LAW

I bring a backup laptop with the exact playlist I plan on running through any time I’m collaborating with a rapper.

This backup is powered up and accessible to me within seconds should I experience a mishap with the laptop I am running. Murphy’s Law states, “Anything that goes wrong will go wrong.” So think ahead because it’s important to remember when you’re DJing for an artist or under a high stakes situation readiness is just as important as sounding good. Following these 4 very basic tips will ensure a fiasco like the one at Poppy’s doesn’t not happen to you.

All of that aside however. We’ve arrived at a Day of Reckoning. This is a testing time for DJs worldwide. Rappers have perpetually acted in a disrespectful manner towards their DJ counterparts for too long and that shit stops now. Rappers who operate under the false premise that DJs are slaves to rappers are mistaken because I don’t see any shackles on us. Godspeed.

2 Comments on 4 DJ Tips On Preparing To Backup A Rapper On Stage

Omega Supreme August 3, 2022 at 11:32 am

Good information to know. The preventive steps given in this post concerning a DJ performing for an artist are logically and intelligently explained here! More proof of how Rob Swift’s teaching techniques extend beyond what would be normally ignored, or factored in for DJ’S on ANY level of development. Always “news you can use!” Kudos Rob!
Dark Nite August 3, 2022 at 5:33 pm

Rob you hit the nail right on the head. All of this could’ve been avoided by someone meeting with the Dj‘s prior to the performance to make sure they were on the same page. Not knowing exactly what the MC expected during the show basically put them at risk of everything going wrong. No one can ever explain away an MC treating a DJ like that. But it happens a lot. The artist knows that in the culture of instant media, people will point to them as the problem of something bad happens, not the DJs. To save face they make a spectacle of shaming the DJ. You can even hear the audience applauding and egging the MCs on in the situations of trashing the DJ. There are several instances of MC‘s stopping to show to throw microphones at a DJ. Think about that for one minute… a grown man turning around and throwing a microphone at another grown man. It’s unconscionable and for any venue that allows their resident DJs to get shit on in this manner is a shit facility and not deserving of anyone’s money.