"Where Have All the Deejays Gone?"

Hi All,

Thanks for all the love and feedback on my poetry as I celebrated National Poetry month by sharing a little. I really appreciate it! You would think a writer would be used to sharing and putting herself out there. But I guess I'll never really get used to it. Anyway, my alter-ego is off to give a lecture in NYC and I'll be away for a minute. But I thought I'd share one last poem before I headed off to the airport. This is one that Deidre, the heroine from SWEET SENSATION actually performs in the novel. It's titled, "Where Have All the Deejays Gone?" And it's a sort of funny scene in the book because the hero, Flex, used to be a deejay and now he's a big time producer and label owner. Anyway, he's in the audience when she performs the poem and she has no idea that he's there... I guess you'd have to read the book to realize why this is funny... So, before I go into detail and give away spoilers, I'll just leave you with this poem. :-)

"Where Have All the Deejays Gone?"
with a special shout out to those not mentioned by name
(RIP Jam Master Jay)



Not to be on some ole nostalgic tip
but where have all the deejays gone?
Back in the day you couldn't be a fly emcee unless your deejay was a nice as you
Nowadays you can't be a platinum selling artist
without a track from a super producer
And I'm not making a value statement
it is what it is
all I wanna know is where have all the deejays gone?
because back in the day
the right deejay could break an emcee off
something proper
like slowing down the beat
or bringing in a dope scratch
just when the emcee is about to
break it down
switching records like only a
true mix master
a real beat blaster
could
where have all the deejays gone?
I'm not longing for some yesterday long forgotten
though sometimes I do get a little misty eyed
for the days when you knew what deejay went with what crew
you know like
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
Run DMC and Jam Master Jay
Sweet Tee and Jazzy Joyce
Gangstar and Premier
Pete Rock and CL Smooth
Salt-N-Pepa and Spinderella
Marley Marl and Dimples Dee
and then Roxanne Shante
and then MC Shan
Tribe Called Quest and Ali Shaheed Muhammad
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
Scott La Rock and KRS-One
and I won't even get started on the commercialization of the mix tape
because I know by now you have got to be feeling me
I'm just asking
where have all the deejays gone?
because you know wherever they are
there has got to be a fly ass party going on

Thanks for reading my poetry y'all.

much love and peace,

Gwyneth