Finding the Rhythm

Once again this year, the good folks at DJ Times will be endeavoring to name “America’s Best DJ.” While it’s only in its third year and perhaps doesn’t have a hugely long track record, I appreciate one of the key motivators of the effort: to celebrate the DJ talents of US-based DJs, since it seems our brethren in Europe get most of the global recognition (Tiësto, Paul van Dyk, Armin van Buuren, etc.).

The contest comes with its own summer tour, featuring many of the DJs up for the award. Everything culminates in Las Vegas in September for a blow-out closing party and the hand-out of the award itself. Voting apparently opens on May 1st at http://www.americasbestdj.net.

I certainly applaud DJ Times’ work on promoting dance music and the DJ art in the US, and I’ll be watching the contest with interest. But searching for the best DJ is a little like searching for the best motorized vehicle; from the tiny Smart ForTwo to the sensible Corolla to the extravagant Hummer to those monstrous dump trucks you see on obscure television shows on the Science Channel, “best” sort of changes contextually depending on who you are, what you’re trying to accomplish, and myriad other factors.

Similarly, “DJ” has way too many meanings. Are you a radio DJ? A dance DJ? A hip-hop DJ? A producing DJ? A wedding DJ? That of course isn’t DJ Times’ fault, but it does point to the difficulty in naming one, singular “best” in a category that has a dozen very different shades of meaning.

At the end of the day, it probably doesn’t matter much. Like any awards show, there are the people who get nominated, and there are those that don’t. There are those who win, and those that don’t. And there’s likely to be a lot of overlooked and perhaps unhappy people in DJ circles. (I hasten to point out I’m not one of them.) But anything that shines more light on an art form that seems in my mind to be a little too underground than it probably should be is a good thing.

I’ll keep you posted as this unfolds over the course of the summer months.