What Makes a Good “JAM”
POSTED ON October 28th, 2010 BY Nasty Ray
Image from Street Science 2009 gallery.
Music is the most important factor for me. If this is not on hit nothing else will be. Promoters need to stop being CHEAP and hire REAL Dj’s and not bboys who just bought serato or your friend cause he’s your friend. BE LEGIT and pay that extra $100 to the real Dj’s because they are worth it. Dj’s that actually spin records. I’m not saying people with serato don’t but you can tell the difference between them. Very key to a jam and respectable to turntable-lists.
A good flooring and space is always a plus. You can’t be dropping 1 fat piece of Marley on the floor and expect us dancers to do well on rubber! Promoters take note: linoleum is ok… IF its REAL REAL BIG…big enough for 6 cyphers BIG. Stop being CHEAP again and invest in making your jam’s floor and spacing nice and large enough for whatever event you make. Even to this day I have experienced promoters dropping some wack flooring or saying this event will be at the cow palace and when you’re inside it’s a piece of linoleum on loose gravel! “I wish I knew why” oh yeah CHEAP and unorganized.
I say all this kinda “mean” because i myself threw a few jams and it wasnt hard to get these 2 things: MUSIC AND DECENT FLOORING.
For a JAM this does it for me…
For a COMPETITION there is a lot more factors…stay tuned.
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Nasty Ray is a member of Boogie Brats Crew and The Squadron, winner of Out For Fame and BBoy Unit Korea, and can be seen in the feature film Step Up 3D. He has represented the US at The Notorious IBE and entertained thousands of haters on StrifeTV‘s “What Really Grinds My Gears.” He also makes fresh gear under the moniker Godkee.
CATEGORY: Guest Blogs, How To, Nasty Ray
dope reasons, but I think you’re forgetting one HUGE factor.
the CROWD!
I’ve been to some dope jams and some really bad ones. luckily I live in the dmv area where there’s a really active crowd. we’ve had small jams where there’s a little strip of linoleum just big enough for windmills and they were dope because everyone was into it! I think if there was a jam with dope music, dope flooring and all that; it wouldn’t be worth it if there wasn’t a dope crowd.
the music/vibe makes the crowd just like a club.
Thank god somebody is saying something. I saw a dude DJ a battle with one turntable and a lap top. Another battle had dudes literally hooking their ipods up via 1/8 inch jack saying “yeah dude…uhh. play beggin.” It sounded terrible but as long as there was some type of music resembling funk the bboys we’re cool with it. I was like WTF! Do these guys even value sound quality like xlr’s compared to what! A good DJ not only knows his wax but he must be a good sound technician too. There seems to be this idea that true DJ’s are no longer relevant and low quality MP3′s played by someone’s bboy crew member running back and forth to the booth and the battle is acceptable. Man that’s some comical a** SH*T! One battle the bboys were telling the DJ what to play. This has got to change or we risk selling the scene short of high quality DJ’s and creating a bboy wasteland of ipod lackies posing as DJ’s. This is segregating the 4 elements. I get vexed because whenever I try to speak out about it I am looked as if I am hating on someone’s grow or complaining so I have stopped. That’s why I am glad you posted this even though I know nobody gives a crap. The point is I do!
YEAH YOU TELL EM RAY
what about lighting? i hate going to a jam and its like super bright. anybody else agree?