KJHK’s Hip Hop Director DJs his high school prom
By Colin Wright
As the hip-hop director and host of I-70 Independent, a local hip-hop show, I’ve had some opportunities to do things that I would have otherwise never been able to do without my gig at KJHK. I was surprised when a woman from my hometown called me a few weeks ago and asked me to be the disk jockey/emcee at my alma mater’s after prom.
While I graduated from Wellsville High School five years ago, I embraced the opportunity to test my trendiness and see if I could entertain more than a hundred high school kids until 5 am. While it was much different than my show at KJHK (or anything I had done for that matter), I found myself having as much fun as they were.
Although they were not as excited to hear RUN DMC or R Kelly as I was to play them, we found a middle ground when I cranked up 2 Chainz and Baauer to their delight. Being the crowd pleaser that I am, I made sure Bruno Mars and Ellie Goulding were on my After Prom list as well (I may or may not have thrown in a Gangnam Style because I’m afraid that song will never die).
One of the biggest hits was when I played “Name that Artist”, playing a song and rewarding the first person to yell out the name of the artist with a prize. Despite the age difference, I was pleasantly surprised to see many of the kids in touch with the music I was playing. Maybe there is hope for kids these days after all.
I was honored that the after prom committee thought highly enough of me to invite me to be a part of the special evening. While staying up until I hear the birds chirping isn’t something I want to do every night, KJHK has opened up gigs for me to entertain the masses, one high school after prom at a time.