Craig David Quotes

I've always wanted to be a DJ so I could play the music I love for other people. That feeling hasn't changed, but my sets are always evolving. In terms of tailoring to a specific crowd, certainly I do play differently depending on the situation. It's a different feel, for example, in a small club versus a festival.

It's weird being a DJ and you have a playlist of your own songs that you could hold it down for an hour.

Anyone can be a DJ but it's understanding how to read a crowd and keeping them on the floor is what takes years of experience.

The role of a DJ is being able to keep people on the floor for X amount of hours so you can't just push buttons to do that, you have to have good tracks and a knowledge of where to take people.

Now, the DJ becomes a star in itself because of the way he programs the songs with lows and then highs and then slowing it down. The big DJs, like Tiesto and Deadmau5 and all those guys, they are very, very creative.

When you're DJing, there are songs I love to play, but I know people are going to walk off. It doesn't matter what I like. You have to be able to play the popular song and slip in one of yours, in such a way that they don't notice it. You've got them in such a roll that you get them back into what they think they like.

I can read a crowd pretty well. I know what to play and know how to keep it interesting for them and for myself as well. Most of the other DJs are more like producers so they become famous because they make hits and then they start DJ-ing. But I'm more from the other way around.

I just think a lot of people don't give credit to EDM producers or DJs. People think they're just button pushers and just get on stage and don't really perform.

I love music - in my playing days, I was always the team DJ.

The DJs with a lot of hype are not necessarily the best DJs at creating a vibe.

Here's the thing: My hobby is to DJ. I just love music, so I can hear the beginning of a beat, the beginning of a melody, and think of the words, think of the name of the song, think of the hook, and just go there.

I used to do this one club called New York Sound Factory where I played house, hip-hop, and dancehall. I was one of the first DJs in the South to play everything.

That's the whole part about being a deejay: You've got to make sure you are prepared. At the end of the day, you do have your genre - house music, dance music - but there are many different ways of playing that.

If you love music, than you can play music.

I've made club songs, and I've made radio songs, and I've made the car songs.

Everything I make as a producer, I visualize it as a DJ first. And all those beats, I test them as a DJ.

A DJ can't just play one song. It's about playing a set, or how you connect songs in those two hours, and where you place them.

Most of the time - at the Grammys for example - a DJ will perform with just their hands in the air because they can't do anything and that makes it a little awkward, I think.

I made my name and reputation DJing in hip-hop clubs in New York. 'Celebrity DJ' is a term that I hated. To me a celebrity DJ is someone that's on 'Big Brother' or in some kind of B-movie who gets a gig to DJ even though they're not talented enough to do it.

I want to make an album my grandma and my fans are going to like. I want to make my grandma understand a drop and make club fans understand a song.

I was the little white kid who rocked the turntables.

As much as I am hip-hop, I'm soul. As much as I am soul, I'm a turntablist. As much as I'm a DJ, I love jazz and rock.

I love DJing, I do. I love everything that comes with it; it's fun and it's kind of glamorous.

A lot of work and thinking goes into my DJing. I want the entire night to progress seamlessly and when I have to adapt the energy on the fly for the crowd on any given night, I can do so with harmonic mixes that I've practiced over and over again. I am far from the only DJ that does this and it's something I take pride in being able to do.

DJs are in incredible competition, musically. And they are the most musically creative and sensitive people in all the music charts. I am amazed how they are.