Sandeep Kumar's Blog

urgh…..

For those of you who don’t know, Steve Aoki’s is DJ AM’s really good friend and a lotta people consider him a sorta AM-type DJ…. ummm NO! AM is good, Aoki is bad, simply put. This guy bills himself as “Kid Millionaire” (he’s a trust fund baby who’s father is the guy who founded Benihana) billing yourself as a millionaire is def douchebaggery at it’s finest, especially when ur not the one who made the money…. peep the vid above, this idiot is too busy jumping around puttin on a show that he bumps into the turntable, at one time even turning it off, totally killing the mix, the rest of the time he’s doin bland mixes and weak scratches…

why do i hate on people like this? because they set back the art of DJin, people are already not totally sure what a DJ actually does and people like this just exploit that try to make money. someone like this is in a position of interest and people/press look to him to see what exactly being a club DJ is about. but when I see people like this it doesn’t at all seem like they try to be good dj’s, but rather people who are trying to find some stupid/easy way to become famous (this guy has been featured in LA times as well as a lotta other publications) and people like this set back people like me further as well… when people are sold that some dude like this is “good” then someone like Jay or myself just goes up there and focuses on doin a good job and not jumping around like a monkey people dont quite get it. I’ve been asked why I don’t get “more into it” when I spin, my response is “what does that have to do with dj’ing?? Will that make my music sound better? Will you want to dance more because of it??”

I hate that shit, a good DJ should generate a response based on what he’s doin on the decks.
I don’t need an MC “hypin” up the crowd, if i can’t do that on my own, then I’m not that great of a DJ and dont deserve that crowd roar.
I dont need to be jumpin around on stage for attention, if I dont do stuff that makes people wanna look up at me based on what im doin, then I’m not that good afterall and dont deserve the attention
I don’t need to focus on press and bs publicity, if what I’m doing really is interesting, people will take notice and want to find out more

I think I’m done, sorry just needed to vent that out. I encounter a LOT of that and it drives me nuts. I don’t think I’m a good/great DJ, I think I’m alright, but my peers (other desi djs) just simply don’t put forth much of an effort, which makes me seem better, yes that works out for me, but I’d rather be part of a scene where everyone works hard and wants to be better/raise the bar for everyone and improve the overall quality of music for the scene… that generates interest and overall makes more people want to partake in the scene. the way it has gone has killed the desi scene pretty much entirely

Here’s the article that sparked it.

http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=6450&IssueNum=231