Laurent, on the Left, Teaching How to DJ

I went to SIPA about an hour late last night cause I had to pick up my dry cleaning at Sloan’s on Main in Lincoln Heights and traffic was a bitch even though I cut a little bit of that time off by taking Alpine through Chinatown. I brought my Rane 57 SL mixer but we didn’t use it until the end of the class. It turns out that one of the guys, Laurent, who used to take the class wanted to teach the class and the money would benefit him more than me since he is in college. He was really good at teaching though and even though he doesn’t have as much experience as me, Linotype, Soulspeak, or Phatrick, it seemed that he remembered all the lessons he learned when he was being taught himself and delivered the message concisely.

I feel like I am past the point where I want to teach anymore. Back in SF, I taught a few of my friends how to DJ and helped guide others who already had the basics down. I was happy to teach then, but now I don’t know why I don’t have the urge. Maybe its because I am surrounded by great DJs and I have more to learn than teach, where as I was the pinnacle of all the DJsI taught in SF. This may be true, but the urge to teach the craft still lingers inside me.

While I was hanging out at SIPA while Laurent was teaching away, I talked to a homie of my friend Matt who was telling me about DJ teaching opportunities in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with the Tiny Toones. I first heard about this from Jumakae and have been fascinated by the story ever since. Hip hop was pretty much nonexistent in Cambodia and was brought in the last 5 years by former Khmer Rouge refugees that were deported back to Cambodia for felony charges. Breaker Kay-Kay was one of those deportees. Kay-Kay would give breakdancing lessons for free to help keep at risk kids away from prostitution, drugs, and gangs. Now the program services about 2000 kids a week and they want to expand out into the other hip hop elements. Right now, the program wants to try to obtain two turntables, a mixer, serato, and a computer that can support serato. Although using scratchlive doesn’t really promote the true DJ element and its place in hip hop, it makes more sense since records are very expensive to ship and most records were destroyed during the Khmer Rouge. Serato makes it easier for the kids to have access to all music and makes it easier for us to send them music. I would donate my turntables if I could afford new ones but at this point in my life I can’t. Rest assured, they will get my turntables when I do get new ones though and I will deliver them myself.

I am really thinking about the the teaching opportunity in Cambodia and I hear that Soulspeak is as well. I would want to be there for at least a month though to really feel like I was making a difference. I was told that food and housing would be provided and that I would just have to get my ass there. But there are many reasons why I can’t go.

1. I have no Time off meaning I would have to take leave without pay for a month.
2. I would still have to pay rent, utilities, cable, cell phone, college loans, credit cards, all my insurances.
3. I would have to pay for my ticket to Cambodia.
4. I don’t have any savings in the bank right now and couldn’t support myself after I got back.

I do have some ideas for making money while I was there though.

- DJ nightclubs out there where I hear there DJs really suck but I would probably have to bring my turntables for the nightclub and the class anyway.

And in reality if I do end up going there.

1. I would probably just leave my turntables there knowing that they would be way more beneficial to a endless amount of at risk kids rather than myself.
2. I would want to donate any money I made there to the organization because I feel like they are doing something really special.

I see myself teaching kids to DJ within the next year with my turntables that I let them keep. This is a program I truly want to support and it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Hip hop is brand new in Cambodia and in its first generation. It is already helping kids stay off the streets and bringing communities together at weekly breaking shows.

Support the Tiny Toones and help at risk kids in Cambodia help themselves.

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From the Tiny Toones Website

From the Tiny Toones Website