Dubstep versus Hip Hop

There’s always something.  That’s why I love the teen dance business. Never a dull moment.   Reports from “the field” ….the dubstep kids and the hip hop kids are not getting along.   Two styles of music, two different kinds of dancing, and two different lifestyles.  A clash on the dance floor and a new challenge for the school dance DJ.  Play hip hop all night and you have the dubstep fans  unhappy and vice versa.  Long time school dance veteran,  Lance Daly,  sent me his assessment:

“I’ve had several incidents the last month or so at a few of the Proms I’ve done,  with a very small minority of kids wanting to hear some of the faddish electronica/dubstep, with the bulk of the kids still wanting the more mainstream format. Unfortunately, the two styles don’t match very well, leading  me to get caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between the two vocal factions.  For whatever reason, neither side is very tolerant of each other’s requests and a handful of groups have gotten pretty upset and somewhat profane with me so I’ve actually had to pull in chaperones at a few to keep them away from me and nearly each other.  I just wanted to let you know of this growing trend … wasn’t that way earlier in the year but increasingly it’s been getting worse.  While I am still holding my ground on keeping the hip-hop clean and dance floor grinding free, I am trying to appease the alternative kids as well.”

I’d love to hear from others around the country, to see if this is a universal thing or just isolated issues in one part of the world.   Please help with your comments if you have input.