MiamiNights - Miami Night Clubs, Nightlife

When I started djing I was strictly into the whole turntablist battle scene. Later it died out so I became strictly a club hiphop dj. As times change and the whole open format became so accepted I play just
about everything. I remember when you would be shocked to hear a hiphop dj play a rock song, or better yet a hiphop dj play a house song. But with the popularity of remixes and mashups you almost are expected to have variety in your sets.

3. What's been the biggest "Oh shit!" moment of your career? What do you remember most fondly?

This past music conference at the Scratch DJ Academy. We had all the major battle djs in town and we had this ultimate scratch session. Guys like DJ Netik, Troubl, Idee, Animal Crackers and many others. It was funny cause some of them hardly spoke any English but we all understood each other.

4. In the old days, when you and I only had full beards instead of full gray beards (well, me at least), beat matching on vinyl was quite a chore with relaunching the beat over and over again. These days, technology has really alleviated a lot of the technical skill required to be a professional DJ. How do you feel personally about the encroachment of more advanced technology (like Traktor, Ableton Live, Final Scratch) into the DJ booth? Do you think good programming/selection skills have completely replaced the requirement for good technical skills?

Times have definitely changed. I mean I used to bring 7 to 10 crates of  records with me and if I wanted to play open format I basically needed a U-haul. But now with 10000 songs at my fingertips and no more back problems, it's pretty hard not to go digital. The problem is now everyone DJs. No skills, all playlist. DJing and song selection are in fact two differentarts and you need both of them. The skill department is
at its weakest. To me its almost like some people are just being pushed into DJing through hype and become stars.

There has and always will be criticizm with the digital DJ but with major labels not selling records -- they aren't pressing them as often -- so we are all forced to use programs like Serato. I still in fact buy records when I find good ones, but my record spending has gone down a ton. I have been really spending a lot of time on my production mainly hiphop based stuff.

Its great playing your own remixes and edits plus it keeps the longevity in your career as an artist.

5. Pretend you're in a club packed with zombies who will love anything you play. What are the top five songs on your "dream playlist"? Give us a track listing of your ultimate party, if you didn't have to appease the clueless Miami masses. 

I dont really have 5 favorite songs mainly because I have 500gb of music. I'm getting anxiety thinking about it. But I love old shool hiphop and if I could choose anything to play it would be mostly from 88 on.

Thanks to DJ Ruen!