Are DJs Musicians?

[swink]

Am I missing the joke, or are you completely oblivious to the history of hip hop? Your example comes a decade after hip hop's origins in the Bronx.

Yes to all the above.
If someone draws the racist wild card, and claims a music genre to an ethnic group in one post, it shows some inconsistencies.
I did the same thing, to make a point

 

[factory presets]

Do your homework.... before you make a statement

The clothes tell you there'd been hip hop for maybe 10 years when that was made. DJ Herc and Afrika Bambaata they are not.

 

[factory presets]

Old saying, The New York Philharmonic is a cover band. Interpreting music written by other people, and conveying the composers message. That in itself is a skill achieved by those with a high level of musical ability, along with an understanding of the language of music.

And at the other end of the cover band spectrum are bands who play 12 bar blues well because they been doing it for 50 years. It makes as much sense to say they are both doing the same thing as it does to say all DJs are the same.

 

[Mark Ambler]

DJs are NOT musicians and any serious musician should be
ANTI DJ as they are taking food from our mouths. Club, wedding, political and restaurant lounge work is down as people would rather pay a DJ than a live band.
That said, I'm appalled at how much some DJs charge and what people are willing to pay!
Lately, a lot of private work that I've done consists of live musicians AND a DJ. Maybe I'm just ol skool but it bugs me big time to see some clown who likely has no musical training or ability take work away from those of us who have invested countless hours honing our craft.
My father, who was secretary of the New York LOCAL 802 musician's union fought tirelessly for the musician, mandating a minimum amount of live players in union rooms.
DJs are NOT musicians.

Yes, the DJ and a Sax player has become popular, unfortunately. Also, amateur singers with backing tracks doing partys, also happening. This is making it harder and harder for people to make a living, and many people are teaching a lot now.

 

[GlenParks]

Scratchity Scratch Scratch

 

[LBS-bass]

26 memorable DJs and radio personalities from WMMS-FM's past: The Buzzard turns 50

I haven't seen him in several years, but check out Billy Bass. I grew up musically listening to him on the radio and got to know him personally as a photographer.

Billy was also majorly instrumental (no pun) in breaking Brian Auger into the US market.

OT tangent: We're having Brian Auger week here at the household; my husband has just discovered him. I was a big fan back in the 70's, so it's fun having his music played throughout the house this week. </hijack>

 

[Frank Tuesday]

DJs are NOT musicians and any serious musician should be
ANTI DJ as they are taking food from our mouths. Club, wedding, political and restaurant lounge work is down as people would rather pay a DJ than a live band.
That said, I'm appalled at how much some DJs charge and what people are willing to pay!
Lately, a lot of private work that I've done consists of live musicians AND a DJ. Maybe I'm just ol skool but it bugs me big time to see some clown who likely has no musical training or ability take work away from those of us who have invested countless hours honing our craft.
My father, who was secretary of the New York LOCAL 802 musician's union fought tirelessly for the musician, mandating a minimum amount of live players in union rooms.
DJs are NOT musicians.

DJ's aren't taking money from musicians. If someone wants a band, they aren't going to hire a DJ. If they want a DJ, they aren't going to hire a band. If you refuse to adapt to the new reality of what people want for entertainment, it's your own fault.

 

[jerry]

OT tangent: We're having Brian Auger week here at the household; my husband has just discovered him. I was a big fan back in the 70's, so it's fun having his music played throughout the house this week. </hijack>

Probably should have his own thread, but I've always dug Auger going back as far as the Driscoll days.

 

[DJ Bebop]

OT tangent: We're having Brian Auger week here at the household; my husband has just discovered him. I was a big fan back in the 70's, so it's fun having his music played throughout the house this week. </hijack>

Brian Auger!

 

[Frank Tuesday]

Yes to all the above.
If someone draws the racist wild card, and claims a music genre to an ethnic group in one post, it shows some inconsistencies.
I did the same thing, to make a point

How does it show inconsistencies? Hip hop does originate from African American culture in the Bronx. It is an African American art form. That a couple Dutch men adopted it (rather poorly) doesn't change its origins.

 

[factory presets]

So based on this, if I say I do not like Rap and Hip Hop, but love Blues and Motown, does that make me a half-racist or part-time racist? I want to get my label correct.

Man said the trope was racist. A case that is easily made when you look at the history of what used to be known in the industry as race music. Off the top of my head, Motown might be the only black music that never had to fight that battle.

Unless you count Reggae. Which, from its inception, was brought to a larger white audience by skinheads, of all people.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Man said the trope was racist. A case that is easily made when you look at the history of what used to be known in the industry as race music. Off the top of my head, Motown might be the only black music that never had to fight that battle.

Unless you count Reggae. Which, from its inception, was brought to a larger white audience by skinheads, of all people.

A different type of skinhead at a different time period than we know in the USA now.

The original skinhead subculture began in the United Kingdom during the late 1960s, and had heavy British mod and Jamaican rude boy influences — including an appreciation for the black music genres ska, soul music and early reggae.

Skinhead - Wikipedia
White power skinhead - Wikipedia

 

[factory presets]

A different type of skinhead than we know in the USA
Skinhead - Wikipedia

In your country they call themselves Sharps, from the acronym. They still listen to early Reggae but they call it ska.

Racism really isn't a goodies and baddies dichotomy.

 

[DJ Bebop]

In your country they call themselves Sharps, from the acronym. They still listen to early Reggae but they call it ska.

Racism really isn't a goodies and baddies dichotomy.

Yep, that's it.
Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice - Wikipedia

 

[DJ Bebop]

Man said the trope was racist. A case that is easily made when you look at the history of what used to be known in the industry as race music. Off the top of my head, Motown might be the only black music that never had to fight that battle.

Unless you count Reggae. Which, from its inception, was brought to a larger white audience by skinheads, of all people.

I knew this cat who had the biggest collection of 78s, race music, race records I'd ever had seen.
Yet he hated the people that performed on the records.

 

[factory presets]

I knew this cat who had the biggest collection of78s, race music, race records I'd ever had seen.
Yet he hated the people that performed on the records.

There are also the people, rather a lot of them, who fear the concept of black people. Yet one to one, don't seem to have a problem. Neither do they see themselves as racist. I guess they just never examine their assumptions of superiority.

 

[SJan3]

DJ's aren't taking money from musicians. If someone wants a band, they aren't going to hire a DJ. If they want a DJ, they aren't going to hire a band. If you refuse to adapt to the new reality of what people want for entertainment, it's your own fault.

I shared my feelings and you made it personal. I didn't refuse anything. I'm stating fact based upon my many years of working.
Don't you lay "fault" at my feet.
Learn how to have civil discourse or don't say anything at all.
And there wouldn't be a "new reality" if there wasn't change.

 

[factory presets]

A bit chicky. But for a nuanced and quite funny take on racism you can watch this movie on YouTube.

 

[factory presets]

And there wouldn't be a "new reality" if there wasn't change.

3 things DJs got over bands. Bigger set lists, lower overheads and smaller footprints. Unless bands come up with ways to counter those issues, DJs gonna keep making inroads into the entertainment dollar. Blame doesn't even come into it.

 

[SJan3]

3 things DJs got over bands. Bigger set lists, lower overheads and smaller footprints. Unless bands come up with ways to counter those issues, DJs gonna keep making inroads into the entertainment dollar. Blame doesn't even come into it.

I hear you but the OP's question was, "Are DJs musicians?"
I understand the advantages they may have. But they are a crop of people that are taking advantage of technology at the expense of the working musician. I've lived to watch and experience the transition. They are not musicians. They haven't learned how to play a musical instrument or studied as a vocalist. I can't place a DJ in the same catagory as a musician.
In my mind, there is nothing finer than live musicians.
As a player, I'd hope you feel the same.