Mix Master

Taijuan Moorman

The Black Student Cultural Programming Board hosted Mix Master, the Apollo Night After Party that featured a three-way DJ Competition last Friday night.

At about 11:30 p.m. you could find a slowly growing crowd of people filling into the Baker Ballroom, all waiting to hear what these three DJs were made of. The competition focused on three categories: throwbacks, slow jams, and current hits. Cincinnati’s DJ Bandcamp, Cleveland’s own DJ Ryan Wolf, and 19-year-old underdog DJ KY stood onstage with full equipment, ready to begin. Each DJ came confident and prepared, sometimes “stealing” songs from one another and trash-talking throughout the party. The crowd just wanted to hear music.

Over the course of the night, the audience heard ‘90s hits like “Poison” and the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” theme song. Also, some R&B hits from R. Kelly, Trey Songz, and Beyoncé, and the usual house party trap hits from artists like Future and YG. The music covered genres and eras geared more so towards the mostly black, ‘90s-baby crowd.

DJs Ryan Wolf, KY, and Bandcamp getting ready for competition / Photo from @DjKY_ on Twitter

Music slowed towards the end of the night, with multiple power shortages taking place. Complaints of exceeding the 8-minute set for each category were heard often, but were all in good fun. Eventually the competition came down to a tie between DJ Ryan Wolf and DJ KY. The winner was decided by a crowd-led vote. DJ KY took the time to thank DJ Ryan Wolf, who has been someone he has looked up to.

The night was a great way to showcase talent from around the state, as well as boost the profile of DJ Ryan Wolf at Cleveland’s Z1079 and DJ Bandcamp who will be doing shows in NYC and appearing on BET’s 106&Park. It was also nice to see the youngest DJ of the three win against two of Ohio’s best DJs. DJ KY showed that age and experience matter less when hard work is involved.