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Deejay

See also Disc jockey

A deejay (alternatively spelled DJ) is a reggae or dancehall musician who sings and toasts to an instrumental riddim (rhythm).

Deejays are not to be confused with DJs from other music genres like Hip-Hop, where they select and play music. Dancehall/reggae DJs who select riddims to play are called selectors. Deejays who are more likely to sing are sometimes called singjays.

The term deejay came about as a result of the act of some selectors (as they were called) of the 60's and 70's such as U-Roy or King Stitt toasting to the "version" side of popular records of the time. The "version" came about when the record company produced the 45 record with the song, the flip side of which had the instrumental to the song. This gave the deejays the chance to make up on-the-fly lyrics to the instrumental music. This occurrence gave rise to deejay toasting and the term has been used in that context ever since. Many famous selectors turned deejays include King Stur Gav, Josie Wales, Charlie Chaplin, and Tony Matterhorn (Deejay of the song "Dutty Wine").

Deejay [v.] is the proper verb form used when describing the action taken by a DJ [disk jockey]. ex: Qbert is deejaying at Madison Square Garden tonight.... DJ AM deejayed at Tao in Las Vegas last night. Tiesto is scheduled to deejay at PAcha in Mayorca this summer.

See also

• Toasting
• Dancehall

See also: http://www.limachips.com the first social network dedicated to DJ culture. It explores deejaying as an art-form by allowing visitors to listen to mixtapes, podcasts and radio shows by top DJs from all over the world. Members of the community post videos of scratch techniques, DJ battle routines and live DJ sets in order to educate visitors on the usage of turntables, records and mixers as musical instrruments