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DJ KhanFu shares his thoughts on DJing at dance events
At any given dance event there are dozens to hundreds of dancers with only one or two DJs to provide music for everyone. Find out how DJ KhanFu deals with that responsibility in our interview.
The UK breaking scene is known for producing inspiring battle DJs, like the legendary DJ Leacy and DJ Renegade. One of their latest talents is DJ KhanFu (short for Khanfucious). The German-Pakistani DJ was born in Mönchengladbach, Germany and after living in the Netherlands and Pakistan he settled in the UK. There he started DJing and has now built an international reputation with his musical selection of hip-hop and rap beats, accompanied by funk samples and mixed with classic, traditional breaks.
KhanFu, a member of MDK crew (Mad Dope Kru), was the DJ on deck at the recent return of the Red Bull BC One Cypher UK and we caught up with him just before he span for the competition. We wanted to know what it takes to be a successful, international battle DJ.
How long have you been DJing and how did you start?
I started DJing in 2010 and it was by accident. My crew mate, DJ JamFu, was already DJing and he was doing club nights with just vinyl. One night I asked him if he could play a certain song next time. He told me that he didn't have it, but if I bought the record he'd play it. So I went out, bought the record and haven't stopped buying records since, and that's how I started, with collecting records.
How did you learn to DJ?
There are three sides to DJing: the technical, the creative-selection side and your experience in playing and keeping a floor busy.
The technical and creative-selection side I learned at home by myself and from watching my crew mate JamFu. I also had my mentor, DJ Dek One, in London, and I asked international DJs loads of questions, hitting them up on Facebook and asking advice. YouTube tutorials also helped me out a lot.
Do you break and does it help you with DJing for battles?
Yes, I do break, but nowadays it's just for fun when my knees allow me to. And yes, 100 percent, breaking helped my DJing and DJing helped my breaking. The hip-hop mentality behind breaking is precisely the same as that behind DJing.
You're 27 years old, a young DJ on the scene. A lot of the younger generation of breakers are into music like trap and grime – is this something you take into account when DJing?
I do take it into account, but when it comes to the breaking side of things, there are foundations to it, so I'm never going to play a trap song for a breaking battle unless it's a concept battle or a grime or trap song that you can break to.
Are there any DJs on or off the scene that you look up to or who inspire you?
Yes, Dek One was a mentor, JamFu helped me loads, and then there are a lot of DJs I've spoken to online and hope to meet one day, like DJ Tee from Japan. I also asked DJ Main One from America, and Renegade from UK, a lot of questions as well. But I'd say my biggest influence is DJ Timber. He's the one I learned the most from watching, and I've ingrained a lot of his style into my own, which is a homage to him.
What would you say is one of the most important skills someone must have to be a good DJ?
As I said before, there's three sides: the technical side, the selection of what style of music you like to play, and then the experience of keeping the dance floor busy.
A DJ can be amazing technically. We call those people 'turntablist' – they can scratch like nobody's business, which is a technical science itself.
Then you have club DJs with the best selections. They might not be the best technically, but they have the rarest records.
And then the last part, the experience of keeping the dance floor busy only comes with playing, and that can make or break a DJ sometimes. Playing for dancers has helped me a lot in the last aspect, because dancers give immediate feedback – if they don't like a track they stop dancing – and I've taken that approach into the clubs.
DJ KhanFu before the Red Bull BC One Cypher UK 2019
© Eva Berten
Are there any unwritten rules among DJs?
Yes, it's just like breaking. So, no biting allowed. You have to have your own style. Obviously, when you start out you have influences and you might look or sound like other people and that's absolutely fine. That was the advice I got from DJ Tee from Japan. He said, "Don't be afraid to copy other people while you're learning, until you find your own style."
Vinyl is an unwritten rule I think should always be implemented. Go dig, dig, dig, spend hours and days and months in a record shop, spending all your money.
What's the hardest thing about being a battle DJ?
The pressure of being one person in charge of a whole event, and the fear in the back of your head that your technology or equipment might mess up.
DJing a competition is mentally tough. You don't stop thinking. There's so much: what's the next track, how long is this person going to dance for, do I change the track now or do I wait? The sound man is looking at me, the host is saying that the music isn't loud enough, oh now it's too loud -- all these different things are going on and so it's mentally hard.
And, to get to the point where you can handle an event by yourself, you have to make a lot of mistakes and I've made every mistake imaginable. There's a lot to learn, but really the only way to get it is by playing out and messing up.
Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to be a battle DJ?
Firstly, you have to be into music – if you're just looking for breaks and battle breaks and you only want to play for breaking battles you're going to get bored very quickly. It's about enjoying other music around it. And learn the foundations by finding the people that you look up to and asking them for advice. Take your time as you're going to mess up a lot, so you have to be in it for the long haul. Plus, make sure you can handle the criticism, because again it's pressure, as you might have 200-300 people in one event and only one or two DJs, and those DJs are in charge of everyone's happiness. But you can't make everyone happy, remember that. As long as you make most of the people in the room happy, you're doing a good job.
Being invited to DJ events all over the world is a very strong indicator that DJ KhanFu is making rooms happy whenever he is spinning, and we thank him for taking the time to do the interview before he once again got behind the decks.
