It had been more than 13 years since I’d last stood on a stage in front of a large audience, so as I looked out at the venue ESPN The Magazine was having their Friday Night Super Bowl party at, the Merrill House, in Jacksonville, FL, I began to get nervous.
 
The spot could hold more than 750 people, inside and out… ESPN The Magazine had transformed the converted church into a log cabin. The interior was decorated with bear skin rugs, several couches, two bars, and at least 10 plasma screens that displayed video footage of burning logs to create that cabin atmosphere. Although I do feel that this was sacrilegious, there was something extremely sexy about the décor.
 
Right outside of the Merrill House, under a huge tent, was the staging area - this was the main party area. The DJ table was set up directly in the center of the stage.  As I walked up the steps, I found myself becoming extremely nauseous. All of the symptoms pointed to one thing; I was coming down with a bad case of the sissies!
 
Hold on!  No, I’m not a sissy! But, like I said, I hadn’t been in front of that many people in a long time, and since we have yet to see rappers perform on a Las Vegas stage, I thought my days of performing in front of throngs of people were over. But there I was, feeling like an old retired boxer slipping on the gloves one last time, except in this case, the gloves were replaced with headphones.   In order to get through this, I started thinking to myself, “What do I have to be nervous of? I am the hip-hop version of George Forman and this is my shot at getting my own D-Nice Grill!”
 
With my head right and being ready to get my “grill on”…I prepared for my set!  I was scheduled to DJ from 9 p.m. until 11 p.m.  Alicia Keys was to take the stage at 11 and introduce her new artist Shawn Kane, who was expected to do an hour set. And, at midnight, Biz Markie was scheduled to DJ until 2.
 
I started my set by playing classics that ranged from Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” to the Rolling Stones’ “Miss You,” which had the multi-ethnic crowd, consisting of people like Jerry Bruckheimer, Gene Hackman and Tyson Beckford, dancing non-stop. This continued on until 10:15 p.m. when I was informed that Biz wanted to get on early. I was extremely upset because I felt like I was being hated on because I was rocking the party.  How could they interrupt me during my set when it was obvious that I was doing my thing?
 
After playing 2 more songs I handed the headphones over to Biz and proceeded to exit the stage.  I was totally content with my performance because I knew I did very well. After realizing that I’d left my CDs, I turned around and walked back to the DJ area when at this point I was approached by Biz’s boy.  He informed me that Biz was only DJing for 2 hours and after that I was to get back on and close it out.  I politely declined and told him that my time was done.  Before I could grab my CDs, he said to me that I shouldn’t be afraid to go on after Biz.  I took that as a direct diss.  Obviously dude doesn’t know me well, because if he did, he would know that I am suffering with an incurable condition called “compulsive DJ-itis.”

TO BE CONTINUED...

-dj