Street Beatz: DJ Scientist strives for ‘knockout’ performance

This week’s Street Beatz feature took THE STAR to Prison Oval in Spanish Town to catch DJ Scientist in action at the WOP Rum Punch Series.

The music could be heard from the streets outside the multi-purpose stadium, almost as loud as the cheers of spectators who were there for the matches.

The club-like lights from the Wray Mobile marked DJ Scientist’s spot. He was involved in deep discussion with his teammate for the event, DJ Vaughn, about their next set.

“I am the people’s emcee for the night; it is primarily what I do, the one who has eyes in the audience to know what the next track should be and that engages everyone,” DJ Scientist explained.

Emcee, ‘mic man’ or ‘hype man’, he accepts the title and the responsibility to keep the event-goers entertained, even while the focus is not on the music.

It is not DJ Scientist’s first affiliation with the popular brand, as he was a Magnum Energy Jock in 2011.

He said, “I see my part of the work as necessary, especially in these times when people are always on their phones wanting and waiting to capture the whole atmosphere or a specific. There are basically two sources of entertainment in one space, the match (the fights) and the music. We work together to keep people engaged because once you lose their attention, you lose them.”

As a disc jockey that likes to experiment with music, DJ Scientist (or ‘Bad Scientist’ as he is known to some persons), teases with tracks to match the occasion.

Though heavily centred on the boxers in the ring, the DJ gave a knockout performance that had most singing along with the music during the final fight, from dancing tunes like Ding Dong’s Snappin’ to Vybz Kartel’s latest Scorched Earth.

“The difference with this event and other is usually, the whole night belongs to us; where I have more freedom to mix in humour, talk about social issues from the breaking news to politics and experiment with the talking, too,” he said.

“I like being at an event, seeing the reaction of people when different genres are being played and I as the emcee. I can tell them to buss a dance move or run and act crazy and they do it,” he said.

He expressed that while other hype men or DJs overdo the talking, people like Arif Cooper and years of experience have helped him find the right formula. Like DJ Scientist’s day job at Sherwin Williams, where he is known as Corie Forbes that started out as paint mixer in 1996, playing around with the formula is part of the learning process. That’s where he even earned his stage name.

“Getting it incorrect is a way to get it correct; whether mixing or talking, it takes a lot of reading into the minds of the audience and creating chemistry. All of it comes with time, time practising or working at an event for six or more hours … it gets exhausting, but you just have to love it,” he said.