There was no limit to the musical varieties selected at AJ’s Sports Bar Saturday night.
AJ’s and Red Bull hosted an event called “Table Manners: Battle of the DJs- Florida A&M vs. Florida State.” The event showcased the skills of four disc jockeys-DJ Venom, Brandon M, DJ Nosaj and James Henderson.
There were three rounds, and each DJ was given six minutes to blend samples, instrumentals and songs of various genres, including hip-hop, house, dub-step, techno, rock and rhythm and blues.
“The music choices were very versatile, but I could tell that FSU had much more crowd support,” said Ashley Milton, a recent FAMU graduate. “Next time I’d like to see more FAMU students in attendance.”
The DJs took the crowd on a trip around the globe, with versatility being the theme. Henderson took the crowd to Miami when he ended his set with Will Smith’s “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It.” DJ Nosaj led the crowd to Jamaica with Serani, then over to California with Roger Trout and Tupac. Brandon M. played a unique blend of house music from Europe, then detoured to Japan with his techno set. DJ Venom chose a unique clip of Kanye West from the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. He blended Kanye’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s award acceptance with an up-tempo Dub-Step instrumental.
Although the majority of attendants were from FSU, many DJs and artists came out to show support, including Sean D from FAMU’s radio station 90.5 WANM and Boogie G of Blazin’ 102.3.
“I didn’t know what to expect at the battle, but I was certainly impressed with each DJ and his musical selection,” said Brad Rutledge, an FSU business student.
One member of the crowd stood in the middle of the crowd, jumped into the air, grabbed his toes and did a back flip. The audience’s involvement and the music pounding from the DJ booth, kept the crowd hyped all night.
DJ Venom (FAMU) was the winner of the People’s Choice award. The next award was presented to James Henderson (FSU), as the winner of the Red Bull Table Manners competition.
“The event was definitely a success,” said Melia Watson, Red Bull’s student brand manager. “We look forward to hosting another event to follow this one up next semester.”