I Am A DJ: DJ Last Word

Every night of the week, Twin Cities clubs offer a wide array of dance nights. How to choose where to go? You could make your decision on factors like drink specials or the crowd, but what about the DJ? The person in charge of the music is the most important part of any danceteria, but DJs are also often almost anonymous compared with a live band. Decider’s I Am A DJ series aims to break the ice.

DJ Last Word may not be a household name, but he’s earned respect for his work producing and live mixing for local rappers like Dialogue Elevators, Ernie Rhodes, and more. He's been spinning since 2000, getting his start at former Dinkytown sandwich shop/music venue Bon Appetit. You can currently find Last Word every Monday night at the Dinkytowner Café, where he spins a mix of hip-hop and beats.

Decider: What was the first record you bought?
Last Word: Soul Sides’ record with DJ Shadow, I think.
D: What are you listening to the most right now?
LW: I’ve been bumping the new TI record, Paper Trail, and the MGMT record. I listen to pretty to pretty much anything, though.
D: What’s the best thing you’ve ever mixed?
LW: For a couple years I’ve been doing this mix of Punjabi MC’s “Beware Of The Boys” into TI’s “Bring Em Out.” I’ll do a long mix with the instrumental version of the Punjabi MC track. The first 32 bars are just a loop of the sample they use, and then when it breaks down the bass line, it sounds like the Knight Rider theme song. And when it breaks down, I drop the TI. It always works really well.
D: Is there anything you won’t ever play?
LW: I don’t think so, necessarily. I think it comes down to the show that you’re playing—low-key night or a party. If it’s a low-key night and someone requests a weird party song, I’ll probably say, “Sorry, not tonight.” I would never say no, but I’m sure there’s records I’ve heard that I’m like, “nah, I’ll never play that.” It happens more than you think, but I don’t think I’d ever say no. More often someone will request something I’ve never even heard of.
D: What was your worst experience DJing?
LW: I was talking to Zach from Kanser about this the other day. Myself, Kanser and Ernie Rhodes did a show in Spearfish, South Dakota. It was a quick show in between some other shows for extra money. So we got booked for Thursday, and we pulled up to the bar and there was a sign on the door that said “No Hip Hop On Thursday,” which was a weird way to start the night. The bar had two rooms, but they were open to each other, so we could see there was lots of action over by the bar, but it was pretty empty over by us. It actually turned out to be fun because the manger felt bad because he had booked this show and told us drinks were on the house. So we just ended up getting trashed.