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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 2005)
BY STEVEN SAWADA DJ Tekneek Eugene’s Hardest Working DJ DJ Tekneek spins the nights away. H every three months, succeeding as a club DJ ip hop is a Monday through depends as much on the music you can pull Saturday affair for Kenneth C. out of your crate of records as it does the time Morris III, aka DJ Tekneek. Once 9 of the year. pm rolls around, it’s time to pack up his record In his five years as a DJ, Tekneek has box, his turntable, his mixer, whatever miscel- watched clubs and weekly dance nights come laneous cords he may need throughout the and go. “I’ve been at night, and head for the nights that died out com- club. Those are his tools, DJ Tekneek pletely,” he says. But and DJing is his job. This Fri, Jan. 7: Taylor’s through it all, he’s man- is what “puts food on the Sat, Jan. 8: Club Tsunami aged to make a living table.” Monday, Jan.10: Taylor’s from it and is recognized This tall, stocky, soft- Tues, Jan 11: Joe’s Bar and Grill as Eugene’s most prolific spoken, 32-year-old per- Wed, Jan 12: John Henry’s DJ. forms five nights a week That has meant not being too picky about at four different dance floors: Taylor’s, Joe’s where he plays. He used to spin exclusively at Bar and Grill, John Henry’s and Club one club. But if attendance was down, so was Tsunami. Over the years, he’s held weekly res- income. “I had to make the decision that I idencies at more than 10 different local night- wasn’t going to give up any gig,” he says. clubs. But in a college town where students, The role of the club DJ is to entertain. To the staple customers of bars and clubs, leave get people dancing, the DJ must select and mix other musicians’ music. Tekneek spins a popular style of rap known as urban hip hop. Songs that you may hear on MTV or KDUK, from rappers such as 50 Cent to Jay-Z, help define this style and frequently permeate his four- to five-hour sets. It’s what his crowd wants. Although his mix of music is well known, the type of hip hop that Tekneek pro- motes remains underrepresented in Eugene. “KDUK only plays about 25 different hip hop songs,” Tekneek explains. “I get the same requests for those 25 hip hop songs over and over again.” Like all genres of music, thou- sands of great hip hop songs are out there; they’re just not getting major airplay. Urban hip hop encompasses a diverse group of artists, from De La Soul to Slum Village. The genre’s name alludes to its popularity in pri- marily urban markets. In Eugene, many of these rappers are undiscovered. It takes about 120 songs to fill four or five hours with music, and it’s the music outside the local mainstream Tekneek seeks out for his sets. Urban hip hop culture is an underground scene in Eugene. Ironically the indie hip hop genre, made famous by visiting national acts such as the Living Legends and Anticon, gets more hype in town than the popular, national sound of urban hip hop. Phat Trax hosted by DJ L2G (Friday night on KWVA, 88.1 FM), is Eugene’s only live urban hip hop DJ mix show. Tekneek says shows like Phat Trax are common in his native New Jersey. “Campus radio has the only live hip hop mix show around,” he says. Tekneek’s DJ company, Hardwood Entertainment, uses a stable of five profes- sional DJs who share gigs around town. Through constantly promoting himself and his company, Tekneek has carved his own niche in Eugene. He uses his East Coast roots to learn about new music and new artists, then introduces them to his local following. With five gigs a week, saturating the mar- ket is something he strives to avoid by keeping each of his nights unique and appealing. “You can’t let the nights overlap,” Tekneek says. “Format is what maintains the individual nights.” Finding a unique formula that works is a big reason “Reggae vs. Hip Hop,” a show- case of reggae, dancehall and hip hop at John Henry’s every Wednesday night, is such a huge success. DJ Kal El and Tekneek started the night years ago at the old John Henry’s lo- cation. It was so popular fans followed it to the new club. Despite the fact that Jamaican music is a pop- ular style in major cities, John Henry’s is the only place in Eugene you’ll find a reggae groove. Crowds of reggae lovers pack the club at the be- ginning of the night, and don’t leave until the final cut is played. Tekneek calls Reggae vs. Hip Hop night the closest thing to a Brooklyn, Queens, or Manhattan style club night. “It’s important to get underrepresented music to people’s ears,” he explains. “There’s always a song out there that’s everything you wanted to hear buy you didn’t know you wanted to hear it.” ew 5 5 5 555 UO Cultural Forum presents 343-0224 710 W ILLAMETTE TONY FURTADO BAND 6 WEEK SESSION ALL AGES S UNDAYS NFL Ticket & All-You-Can-Eat Buffet M ONDAYS Working Man’s Blues Jam T UESDAYS & S ATURDAYS DJ Ty (Hip Hop) January 12 5 8:30pm Fridays Jan. 21 - Feb. 25 Tickets: $5 ($3 Students) at the door Doors open at 7:30pm Beginning Class 7-8pm Learn all the fun salsa basics Intermediate Class 8-9pm Learn more complex steps AT: 5 I N S HAPE F ITNESS C TR 2 6 8 1 W I L L A M E T T E S T. E U G E N E 342-3021 mario@salsamora.com 26 JANUARY 6, 2005 EMU Ballroom, UO DON’T MISS AN EVENING WITH TONY! Champion guitarist Tony Furtado has performed with Galactic, Alison Kraus, The Everyone Orchestra & String Cheese Incident
