Lakota, youth worker, student, and hip-hop enthusiast DJ Micah seems to have “figured out the equation” of having a very cosmopolitan occupation in a semi-rural setting. Photo by A. Teef
Filling a void: DJ Micah
By A.Teef
Native Sun News Correspondent RAPID CITY— It’s fairly well-known and agreed upon that no modern bar or club is truly complete without a DJ to provide the soundtrack to a lively night. But in a location that’s far from the global art hubs where mainstream sensibilities develop, it can be challenging for an artist to maintain credibility among their national and global peers while tending to the musical needs of a local populace who don’t necessarily care about DJ’ing history or the current artistic trends of physically removed and more urban locales. Lakota, youth worker, student, and hip-hop enthusiast DJ Micah seems to have “figured out the equation” of having a very cosmopolitan occupation in a semi-rural setting. Whether it’s for big crowds on big screens or for small events and club nights, the guy can mix music that the people in attendance can enjoy. And after all, what are the job requirements of a performing DJ anywhere if not fluidity and ingenuity? Rapid City’s isolated geography and the resulting void of popular culture command a kind of adaptation to the local environment that I believe presents a unique challenge and a long-term benefit to the upper-Midwest DJ. Pure, unflinching circumstance has created the need for artists like DJ Micah to venture from the inflexible fad-ism that is the hallmark of many in the field. As EDM (Electronic Dance Music) continues to be a dominant, powerhouse trend in the music venues of major cities, touring EDM artists arrive to find paltry interest in a genre that currently is wildly popular on an international scale. Essentially, to even be a performing DJ in Rapid City entails ignoring musical movements that are already popular elsewhere enough to avoid the shock of unfamiliarity while incorporating them slowly enough to provide a sense of hipness and a contemporary edge to the city’s nightlife. When asked what it’s like to be a DJ in a place with almost no tangible electronic music community, Micah offers, “That’s what’s weird about being in Rapid. It’s just such a small place, man, so isolated. Five and a half hours this way from Denver, like eight hours that way from Minneapolis. We’re like a cultural island as far as urban culture, music culture.” At time of press, Rapid City has a population of roughly 70,000. In terms of opportunity for exposure as it pertains to performing musicians that puts this frontier mini-metropolis well behind the marks of, say, Chicago, with its population of approximately 3 million, Denver (not counting much of its large metro area) at about 650,000, or even Omaha and Minneapolis, each weighing in with a population of around 400,000. This socio-geographic condition, as most any live musician here will tell you, is a challenge to anyone who seeks to make a living with their craft, but it has been particularly inhospitable to DJ’s. The swell of humanity essential to filling entertainment venues and sustaining a “club” scene in which electronic music can flourish has proven difficult to establish without the sheer numbers of people willing to participate in a scene that are available elsewhere. But it seems people, no matter their location, still want to party, enjoy music, and participate in some semblance of modern night life ambiance. In the case of a small city with palpable entertainment needs, certain individuals who are aware enough of the popular artistic world at large, and forward-thinking enough, inevitably begin taking proactive steps to bring their communities a bit closer to being “on par” with the norms of far-away major cultural centers. One such individual in Rapid City is DJ Micah. As a member of hip-hop collective Demwitz Crew, he has been practicing the art of DJ’ing for almost 13 years and is now well-versed in the technical, skill-oriented side of his work along with how it translates to the highly reactive climate of a bar or club. The benefit to all that cultural solitude is the requirement of versatility. When interpreting the latest national club trend, a tried-and-true means of becoming and remaining a relevant DJ, becomes a non-viable option, playing to one’s crowd is of utmost importance. DJ Micah possesses an acute understanding of this dynamic and seems to have no trouble tailoring a skill born of his hip-hop background to the ebb and flow of local musical tastes that are all-encompassing in genre and occasion. He says of his adaptability, “I’m into EDM, I’m into rap, pop stuff, Top 40, everything, you know? And if I wanna play around here I can adjust pretty easily the genres I’ll play, and people will dig it. So that’s not a big deal, but I’m sure if I were more specialized in EDM, or only played EDM, or whatever, I’d have to travel. I’d have to live somewhere else, actually.” I personally agree with Micah’s statement, though I will add that if one is able to effectively DJ in Rapid City they will necessarily develop the kind of crowd intuition that may just make them able to DJ anywhere. Micah has played for large crowds – 4,000 people in Columbus, Ohio – and in a large swath of the Midwest including Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, and more. But his ability to accomplish all the above yet stay active and present in local music entertainment is the truest testament to his eclecticism. He also maintains an affinity and inclination toward his hip-hop origins in the craft that has taken him beyond freestyle cyphers (or freestyle rap “sessions” if you’re unfamiliar with hip-hop jargon) to say the least. Perhaps most notably, his skill has even landed him a teaching artist position for a DJ survey course at the Dahl Arts Center. Being involved with the “four elements” of hip-hop (graffiti, breakdancing, emceeing, and DJ’ing) since before the days of YouTube, Micah recalls readily the urge as a youth to learn more about hip-hop as a culture. We’re past the days of the interested party having to order DVD’s and read obscure internet message boards to gain exposure to a vibrant, youth-oriented culture happening mostly elsewhere. But Micah also takes note of a strange phenomenon that has occurred with the increased availability of entertainment and information, one that applies to hip-hop and maybe society as a whole. He says quite frankly, “There was less technology when we were doing it [discovering hip-hop]. Now there’s more technology, and people are more disconnected from the culture. You’d think it’d work the other way, but it’s surprising.” In the face of such worldly yet hyper-present awareness, I’m inclined to think that maybe DJ’s from “nowhere” are privy to degrees of perspective about what’s popular that DJ’s from “somewhere” are not. However, location and its politics notwithstanding, the good news is that it’s possible to hear and experience Micah doing his thing whether he’s currently doing it or not. You can listen to audio mixes by DJ Micah on Soundcloud.com at any time, and for contact he can be found on Twitter (@DJMicah) or Facebook under Micah PrairieChicken. Better yet, you can hear one of his mixes in person at one of his many gigs. He most frequently plies his trade at the Sahara Nights Hookah Lounge in Rapid City, but can often be found behind the turntables at events all over town and beyond. If you need him to educate your children (or adult friends) about hip-hop or DJ’ing in general, he can also do that. So if you should happen to see DJ Micah while you’re out living it up, do enjoy the music, but also be sure to thank him for making your city a little cooler in everything to do with its musical history, present, and future. (Animal Teef can be reached at sambateef@gmail.com.) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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