Episode 6: DJ Elusive is our guest and Producer Nicole recovers from Mardi Gras

In this episode we're bringing in DJ Elusive, one of the top DJs in the DFW area who now specializes in being a pro sports DJ.  He's also a fellow Dallas Cowboys Pre-Game show teammate. Ali Dee and Producer Nicole talk to Elusive about how he became a sports DJ, what tools it takes to be great, and how to juggle all things that are sports entertainment. But before all that we do a quick visit with Nicole who is recovering from a rowdy Mardi Gras weekend in New Orleans. 

Transcript

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Hey. Hey. Welcome to the, it's a lot y'all podcast. I'm Allie d. With me as always, producer Nicole. It is episode six and we have got a great episode for y'all today. We have a guest coming on the show, but before we get into that, Nicole can barely talk because she's spent all weekend. Partying at Mardi Gras, as she says, right? I know. Sorry. I have no voice right now, but we are working through it. Got to spend a lot of time with family. Super exciting weekend. but glads be back in Dallas, I thought it was really funny you sent me those cute videos. You saw the Clyde Tales when we were talking about how we love seeing them on the Super Bowl, so you're so lucky. We did. I know. they're always a part of this. Sunday's night parade. B. Every year the Clyde sales come out and they have a dalian and they're on a big red wagon. It's a Budweiser, you know, Clyde sales, and they're just stunning. So when I saw'em come down, I had to video and take some pictures to send over to Allie cause I knew she would appreciate it. Yeah, absolutely loved it. And I asked you like, why did you lose your voice and what did you tell me, Nicole? Because I was screaming for some Mardi GRA beads. literally, like, when am I gonna learn? I don't know. But gosh, I was just screaming. Throw me something, throw me something. And I have lost my voice. If you eat some delicious food down there, The best we had past, we had king cake, we had gumbo, we had everything. You name it. just so good to be spending time with family and celebrating, the Mardi Girl weekend. It's funny, my husband's from Louisiana too, and, when he's cooking you're always like, Hey, what's you guys cooking over there? Because he's always cooking something that you're gonna like some kind of Cajun Delicious. I know. And I'm, I need to bring some. Yes. I'm always like, Allie, bring me some to the masks game. Just, just pour me at to go plate okay guys. So yeah, this week we've got a great guest in the house. It is DJ elusive, you guys. We have been working with him for a couple years now on our Cowboys pre-game show. He's amazing. He's a sports dj. He does it all. So without further ado, here's DJ elusive. All right, everybody, we are so excited that DJ Elusive is joining us on the Itlo Y'all podcast. Woohoo. Thanks for joining us. it took Nicole like four weeks just to get me on cause of my schedule just to book you. Yeah. You are crazy. Hard to book. Busy man. We have so much to talk about with you today because you guys, DJ Elusive is a sports DJ amongst many other things, and as I was doing my research into sports DJs, there's some. Cool things that came up and some stats that I saw and actually that I created in my own mind. but I was thinking about it and how unique your position is because really, if you think about it, there's what, 32 NHL teams? 32 N F L teams, 30 N B A teams, 30 major league baseball teams. That's not many. That's 124 sports teams overall. So what that boils down to basically is there's 124 people in the entire United States of America. That are gonna get your job as a professional sports dj. So that's like 330 million people in the US That boils down to 0.0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 3 8%. Wow. Chance of you becoming a sports dj. So your position is so hard to get. How did you eat in be this? so it's kind of like a weird, crazy story. I've always DJ'ed since I was 12, Music has been a big part of my life the entire time. I think one day, how I got into sports DJing was I attended, I think it was something at the Mesquite Arena, and it wasn't Rodeo, it was Indoor Football in like 2016. And I was like, wait a minute. There's music here. Who's controlling the music? and then I started thinking about it and I was like, well, somebody has to push play. So then I kind of started doing more research about sports DJs and being in Dallas, Google's gonna pop open whatever sports DJs are, in Dallas. And I came across DJ ej, who's the in-game DJ for the Cowboys, and I ended up reaching out to him and I kind of like kept up for a while before he gave me my first sports gig and. Sports gig was SMU football. I did a game and I quickly realized how hard it was to do sports DJing, with the style that I was used to So how do you go from being a DJ that's DJing parties, clubs, weddings, things like that, and then transitioning into sports DJing. And what are some of the major differences that you saw right off the bat where you're like, oh gosh, I need to work. timing for sure. I mean, typically when you're DJing like clubs and, weddings or any events in general, we use a whole different program. So like I use Serato, a lot of sports DJs still use Serato, but timing is everything in sports. Like you have to be, you're in a reactive role when you're a sports dj. we're also called music directors or. Sound directors because we're literally telling the story of the game. So what helped me honestly, like be able to transition a little bit easier was I've always been the type of DJ to take emotions like up and down and not just go a hundred percent all the time. And that a lot of times transitions into sports. because you can't just start the game and just go like all hype the entire time, right. You gotta read the crowd. Mm-hmm. And honestly, the first time I did a sports DJ gig, like I failed immensely because I was like, all right, well people aren't into it. you have to be able to pace, that's what we call it. Pacing, like pace the energy, pace the crowd, and. When it came to like me using Serato in this program, there was no way for me to be able to do that. And then as I was getting more and more gigs, EJ helped me out a lot. He was like, Hey look, here's this program that, it's kind of like the industry standard for sports DJs. So we're gonna get it for you and you're gonna load in all your music there and you're gonna queue it up all to these points, certain points. What is that program? so because we are now working on a new program, I'm mention the previous program, are We Gatekeeping Here? the new program is, called seven Point Audio and it's becoming the industry standard, for all sports DJs. you have 72 buttons on a screen and it's like tabs. and you have groups of tabs. And then within there there's 72 buttons on there and each button is queued up to a specific part of the song. So what about your drops and your little noises and your, you know, when someone makes a basket or, yeah. Is that all in there too? it is, but me personally, I actually use a iPad. and on the iPad I load him a whole bunch of different, I call'em stingers cuz it's a lot faster to get. I have an iPad pulled up right in front of me, and then I just push the buttons that I need to. So technologically speaking, it sounds like it's a lot harder than I thought it was, because I think, oh, you're just up there and you're like, oh, I feel like I wanna play this song, Bing. Like it's a whole different ballgame. It, everything really is a lot more calculated and sounds like there's a lot of technology that goes into all of that. But going back to Mesquite Rodeo, where you actually discovered that this was a position you could potentially have, which, by the way, I wanna go back to my statistics because statist. Speaking, it's easier to make an N B A team than it is to become an N B A DJ or any sports dj. So let's just abor that So Chris, awesome. I know it's true. I mean, I don't know if it's true, true, but it's true in my world because I meant about the math and when I broke it down, you got a lot more people on the team. You only got one DJ people. that is true. Back to Mesquite Rodeo. From there, you got your first gig, and then after that, how did you get into getting more gigs? And tell us about what your current gigs are. so. I am gonna back it up a little bit because at that time, when I saw that f indoor football game at the Mesquite Rodeo. I reached out to EJ to figure out kind of that side of things about how to do this stuff. at the time they were called Mesquite Marshalls, the professional indoor football team, and then I became their dj. And that's where I kind of learned a lot more about how the game flow goes And the producer of, the Mesquite Marshalls Travis also did stuff for, the Smith Pro Rodeos. Yes. So Smith Pro Rodeos produces a whole bunch of, rodeos all throughout, the United States and also produces, Mesquite rodeo. So Travis worked for Smith Pro Rodeos, and they're like, Hey, we need somebody in market to do the Mesquite rodeo because, Dallas is getting kind of like expensive now, and there's all these music directors that come into town and you live here, so why not? Like, how far do you live? I was like, oh, 15 minutes away. He said, perfect. So fast forward now, last year was my fifth rodeo season wow. And like rodeo is just, it's, as you know, Allie, it's very different than any other sport. so Rodeo helped me out a lot because it helped me think on my feet because it's very like slow and then all of a sudden it's very fast, and then anything could happen. and then from Rodeo, I started, to DJ for University of Texas at Arlington. I did their volleyball season for three years. I did some of their basketball games, men's and women's. I've done T c u men's and women's basketball, volleyball as well Dallas Open and you've done it all. Dallas Open. I've done the Gold Cup games at at and t Stadium. I've DJ'ed for Nike at at and t Stadium. I've done the, U I L State Football Championships, which is really big in Texas. high school football in Texas. Yeah, huge, huge. and then, Before I was able to do all that at at t Stadium, I became one of the Dallas Cowboys DJs, so one of the pregame DJ. talk. That's where we know you from, Yeah. I think we need to talk about how we all know each other and kind of introduce how we brought DJ Lu on board. I know. It's so awesome. So if you don't know, this is like the, dream team as we call it. It's myself besides producer Nicole. we work on the east side of Cowboy Stadium. We host the pre-game show, so we all work super closely together. That's how we met. How many seasons have we been working together now? Two. Two. Wow, okay. I was gonna say like five because it feels like we know that's what it feels like forever. It's hard to find a team that you really just gel with and everybody can like, play off each other and we know what each other's thinking before we even do it. That's a really like special place to be. in a team so quickly. I think, you know, we've all worked with all different kinds of people, I mean, I hope you guys like me. I love you guys. Um, but let's talk about our stuff at the Cowboys and how being the DJ of the pre-game show and what responsibilities you have there, Yeah, I feel like I really warm up the fans. because it's like these people are out there for hours before the game starts. And I mean, we're out there in the cold, in the rain. At least we're covered. They're not, yeah. Right. So it's like, it's, it's our job to really be, entertainment. And it's basically like, Hey, you're getting ready to see a football. so a lot of times, I mean, just the formatting of everything, goes hand in hand. Like I don't try to just come out and just go a hundred miles an hour as soon as we start and nobody's there. It's like, right. Try to go up and down, up and down, take emotions and Right. what do you think is one of the most important things as someone who's trying to become a sports dj? Like what do you think is one of the most important qualities that they have or that they try to learn? I always say that you have to be a good listener. and know how to take criticism. You have to have thick skin and know that the show isn't about you. Like at the end of the day, yes, I'm hired as being the entertainment, and you always have to remain humble about that. Like knowing that you can be replaced at a moment's instance, and. you have to know what the value is that you bring to the team. you could be the best DJ in the world, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you are a good sports DJ or endgame dj. Like what we do is a lot of endgame stuff. and you have to have thick skin because you may have a producer. like, whenever I go to a new team and I'm asking like, oh, what's a production style? are you a yeller? I always ask the producer, are you a yeller? And they're like, yeah, I'm a yeller. And I was like, okay, cool. Like you like don't hold back for me because I can take it. Right? a lot of DJs will freeze because they're she's yelling And I'm like, right, that's okay. Yeah, that's just how they are. And also Twitter tells you everything you need to know. The sports fans on Twitter, they're rough for bay. As well. So Baylor basketball, we're in the middle of basketball season, did football. Baylor fans love to be on Twitter and it's quite interesting reading some of their tweets cuz I really want to be like, if you only knew exactly what was going on in that moment, right. Yeah. I actually wanna kind of talk about this really quick because I know you previously were talking about, it's all about timing, which me and Allie always talk about, like in sports entertainment, it is always about timing. And you referenced like, you have your iPad with the certain sounds. I remember doing this back in 2020, whenever it was covid year, and then the N B A, we had to bring in virtual crowd noise, and so we. Similar system where obviously we were trying to get the 17,000 fans, to sound like correct, to sound like it was up. But talk a little bit about how important it is to not only understand the game, but to be aware of what's going on so you don't miss a beat. Yeah. So that's a very good point just to give like people that are in my role. So I'm literally paying attention to the game. But for basketball, for example, I'm looking at the coaches, I'm looking at how many timeouts we have. I'm looking at, the clock to see if there's immediate rate coming up. I'm thinking about the situation or about what could happen, who's in the game. I am listening to my. I am thinking four or five things ahead And it's very important to be like prepared. like you said, you don't only need to know the game, but you have to know your team, like you have to know if, so and so gets the ball, are they about to shoot? And then if they shoot or if they get a big block or something, what are you gonna play? Mm-hmm. But then you have to know your library. And you have to know where all the buttons are. and a one pager, 72 buttons. But on my page, I may be on a defensive page and there might be a big sound that I need because maybe there was a steal and then they went over and they dunked the ball. Well, that's not gonna be on my defensive page anymore. I gotta switch pages and I have to know where my, the eyes to go in order to click on that button to bring up the crowd. and then, Let's say there's an injury, like the home team gets a huge dunk and somebody's injured, well, I can't celebrate the injury because you can play the wrong thing at the wrong time and you could pass on the wrong message. And that is like a huge no-no, you're making me anxious over here thinking about all the stuff you have to do. I mean, I'm Nicole and I are like, oh, we got a lot of stuff going on. But what you're saying is so interesting because just recapping having. To have your eyes on so many things at once for example, the basketball court and like you said, the players, the coaches, the timeouts, the big screen, the vibe, the emotion. Is there an injury? knowing what players are on the court, it's a crazy job that you have and really any sports DJ just thinking. making sure you hit all those boxes. I mean, is that just something you're learning as you go in experience in those like amateur sports that you did leading up to this point, or have you been like, I'm learning right here on the job? a lot of it is learning on the job. You don't know what you need until it happens and then you realize you don't have anything for that specific thing. So I'll, I can give like a couple of examples. so along with doing cowboys and everything else, right now, I'm also in Athletes Unlimited. And Athletes Unlimited is a professional women's league. So they have lacrosse, field hockey, softball, basketball, and volleyball. So last year I was doing volleyball. so we're in South Dallas and there's a lot of straight animals over there. Somehow a cat ends up here. I my God. I think the broadcast started talking about it. So I was like, well, what can I play it for a cat? oh, I'm gonna play a Mick song. I didn't get a chance to play it, but if that ever happens again, I'm gonna load it in there You'll be prepared. Yeah, exactly. The, Dallas open, the l e d wall went out and the l e d walls go around the entire. the worst possible time for it to go out is right before the trophy ceremony, spent nine days there. L e d walls working and all of a sudden the last day it doesn't work anymore. Granted, it's because probably the 130 mile an hour serves So there's a big gap in the, in the wall, where sponsorship is supposed to go And that's a big deal when you're presenting a trophy for the sponsorship to be up. The person that was fixing the wall, he was like, well, how much time do you have? And they're like, well, not really any time, but you definitely need to fix it for the next match. so I pretty much, I had fun with it and I played like 10 minutes of songs about waiting, like waiting is the hardest part or a I will wait. I'll wait for you. So I got a chance to do that. But then in the next doubles match then what they call Hawkeye. Hawkeye is a system that, tells you if the ball is in or out on the line There's these high tech cameras So Hawkeye went out and it turned into a 20 minute delay and at this point I'm just gonna start trolling. So I played like the Cisco hold music, when you have to call and somebody put you on. And then Coldplay Fix You there's a lot of songs that you can use as puns in order to tell the story of what's going on. And so, I say that because. In any sport, something could go wrong. You could have a delay, you could have a review. So it's telling the story and you're learning as you go, honestly. And then they become great stories afterwards do you have to have a lot of confidence in what you're doing because you have to make split second decisions. Like you said, there's no time to dilly dally or wonder what could happen next. So you really have to trust your instincts, right? Yeah, I mean, When I first started, I was really nervous, like super, super nervous. Yeah. Just because I'm in, in charge of every single thing that comes outta my laptop, every single song. Right. and as you get more experience and as I've gotten more big gigs, it's one of those things of where I don't necessarily have to prep as hard anymore. but I do still need to look at a rundown to see what's going on, because I need to know, like a Baylor. I'm in a front facing role where it's like, You are the dj, you are DJ elusive. We're gonna put you up on the, video board. We're gonna do all this stuff. okay, well now I have to go into DJ mode and like do the life of the party and like the, and all that other stuff, you know what I mean? The triple air horn, which we had at the wedding. We had on our mask in the other day. I love that. okay, so that is so interesting to me because I feel like you really bring up a whole thing, which is that sports DJs have now become their own brand. Mm-hmm. You're not just sitting behind the booth, behind the glass, kind of hidden from what's going on. Teams really are embracing this whole. Sports DJ role and they want you to like be another big entertainment piece. So did you have to kind of readjust your thinking into like yeah I am actually like a performer, sports dj. it was actually the other way around because like I was always somewhat of a performer. Like I DJ clubs for forever, so I can get on the mic right now. True. I do it for Athletes Unlimited, where they'll come to me for crowd. right before we do tip off, Now there's times where if y'all know me and y'all, I'm, y'all know me, I have to bite my tongue cuz I'm like, all right, I'm not in the club anymore. Let me call you, bite my tongue, lemme make sure what I want to say. I have to say, put your hands up in the air and not put your. Hands up. You know what I mean? Right. You're Ming So yes. So that like, it comes with a lot of responsibility. It comes with a lot of, like realizing where you are in the situation. And then just going back to the music standpoint, I mean, you talked about checking tick marks, when I picked the. that's also like, does it make sense for sports? Is it popular? Is it something that I can play around kids? Is it is this team, a hip hop team There's some schools that don't want that. So you have to like, right, be able to literally and just go into these things and you have the biggest, age gap You can have 80 year olds there, you could have six year olds. How do you play something for each one of those people? so that part is what it comes with responsibility and it comes with a lot of prep. And I am never a hundred percent ready. Like that's just, honestly, I'm never ready because you just don't know what you're going into, what works at one place. Yeah. I may not work somewhere else. Right. I remember, Ray Allen, the n B a Great was asked, why he always continues to practice so incessantly on his shots, and he said, I've never made a hundred percent of my shots. You're never, a hundred percent prepared. There's all kinds of different situations and scenarios that can play out, and that's the same for anybody that's in the sports entertainment. as well. There's so many scenarios that we have to be prepared for that we can't really prep for. You just have to be prepared for, and I think that that's just a common theme amongst any of us, whether you're a producer, whether you're a dj, whether you're a host, you just gotta be ready for it. Yep. It's so true. Wow. I feel like we've learned so much from you. This has been awesome. I'm so glad we get to finally connect. I know you are the busiest guy on the planet. Thank you for taking the time to come on to the It's a lot. Y'all podcast dj. Elusive everybody. Woohoo. Thank you, It was definitely a lot. Y'all Thanks so much for joining us for episodes. Six. That's a wrap for the, it's a lot y'all podcast. Don't forget to follow us on all the social media platforms, but the most important thing is for you to subscribe and like us on either Apple Podcasts or Spotify or anywhere that you listen to podcasts, and please give us that five star review. All right, see you next time. Bye-bye.