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Local DJs Throw Down Tomorrow Night

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academy-sponsors-fall2016After realizing that a lot of the talent bred at UW- Madison was moving away within one to three years after graduation, Ja’Mel Ware knew he had to do something to keep that talent in Madison.

Ware, a Detroit native, founded Intellectual Ratchet (IR), an up-and-coming entertainment company and social group to attract and entertain diverse populations of young professionals in Madison through entertainment.

“Intellectual Ratchet has a partnership with the Wisconsin Union, and we’re trying to make a community-university connection with the idea that when people graduate from UW, they don’t leave because they’ve found place and home in Madison through something as simple as knowing where to go for entertainment options,” Ware says.

To begin to bring a more “homey” feel to Madison, Intellectual Ratchet will host the First Annual Players Ball – Battle of the DJ’s tomorrow night, December 3, at the Memorial Union from 7:30 pm to 12:00 am.

DJ Boyfrrriend
DJ Boyfrrriend

Four out of the six DJs slated to participate in this first ever Madison DJ battle —  DJ Boyfrrriend, DJ deep.BLK, DJ*END SOCIETY, DJay Mando, and DJ ROBB OTICS were chosen by the IR board based on their audience reach and appeal. The fifth and sixth DJ’s – , DJay Flo and DJ Robb Optics – were chosen by the people.

“It was election season, and we see how that went,” Ware says. “We were going to fill the fifth and sixth spots completely differently but I felt like it was important to actually allow people to feel like they had power and control over something because for a lot of us, particularly people of color, students of color, the idea that our vote matters got taken away from us this election and this may be very simple DJ battle but to put some power back into the people’s hands felt really important to me.”

DJay Mando
DJay Mando

The night will start off with the six  DJ’s going head-to-head with ‘back-n-da-day’ hits from the 90s and early 2000s. The second round will consist of the top four DJ’s best ‘Players Anthems.” The third and final round is a DJ brawl between the two DJ’s dropping their best work. The winner, who will be determined by the audience,  will receive a $500 reward, the DJ rights to the next large IR event, and the opportunity to take the crowd into a full blown party.  

In addition to the the DJ battles, this event will also feature performances from Landon DeVon.

Tickets can be purchased online at $10 for the public and $5 for students. Tickets will also be sold at the door at $12 for the public and $7 for students.

This story was produced by a student reporter in the Madison365 Academy. To learn more and support the Academy, visit madison365.org/academy.