When guests arrive at an event and grab their first drinks,
many years of DJ-ing have made me know that the music that goes best with most
cocktail hours are songs that have a vibe that's upbeat and fun, but not
overpowering - regardless of the kind of music being played.
I'm not talking about "chill-out" music, though. Whether
it's vintage or new R & B, or the more recently popular genre of electronic
lounge music such as those tunes featured on the seemingly endless editions of
the Bhudda Bar CD compilation series, a chill-out vibe often has too
much of an after-hours sexiness or a spacey ethereal feel to totally fit with
cocktail hour. Usually, cocktail hour is 
the part of the event where guests
only begin to interact, much less start to become a bit tipsy and become
more prone to engaging in the kind of activities for which the chill-out vibe
would be more appropriate. (You know what kind of activities I mean.)
I think that cocktail hour goes best with music that isn't "all party," but also isn’t "all chill," either. Often at events I attend as a
guest I find the DJ is playing one or the other - being too harsh with aggressive dance music, or too mellow with the electronic dreamy stuff. What people seem to
really respond to at our events over the years had been the sweet spot in
between - music with an easy groo
ve, a pronounced melody, a catchy chorus, and,
as a bonus, lyrics that are light, fun or positive. A song about celebrating
some hard-earned good fortune that you can bounce to a bit as you head to the
bar to refill your drink often works magic for the vibe during cocktail hour,
be it in a ballroom or at a rooftop gathering. The goal of a great cocktail
hour is, at most events, not to get people dancing, but to get them primed
for it. Songs with this light, upbeat, melodic vibe put it in the heads of the
guests that the party is rampin' up, and dancing will soon follow. Basically,
the music for cocktail hour should a bit of a tease.
The tricky thing is, while there's long been a lot of great
songs with a mellow, after-hours feel in both vintage and new R & B, as well
as a growing number over the past 20 years in all kinds of electronic lounge
music, the amount of songs that have this "rampin' up" quality aren’t as easy
to find in any genre. And to those not that familiar with hip-hop, you might
think that there's even less, as the media coverage of the genre seem to only
focus on its most crude examples, like groups and songs with only booming beats
and profane lyrics.
But if you look around a bit, hip-hop tunes with an airy, melodic touch are not that difficult to find. And it's worth it, too, as
often hip-hop songs of this type does the most to bring out the hip-shaking during cocktail hour - not just because these mellower hip-hop songs are
usually fun and a bit sexy, but because older guests will many times recognize parts of the songs
as well, as hip-hop artists will often use deftly-chosen samples of beats and melodies from
familiar soul and funk songs from a generation or more ago.
I've put together an iTunes mix of bouncy, upbeat, but rather mellow hip-hop songs
that we've found work for us during cocktail hour and exactly fit the vibe of "rampin' up." Included is wide range of hip-hop styles, from the relatively
newer genres of crunk (which tends to feature a lot of infectious
call-and-response choruses and a lyrical obession with partying) and Southern
rap (which tends to put a stylized lazy slurring on words and rhymes); California
G-funk, which, with it's slower tempo and spacey synth riffs, puts a laid-back,
sun-drenched spin on ganstga life; old-school rap, with its disco samples,
record-scratching DJs and freestylin'-on-the-streetcorner MCs; underground and
alternative hip-hop with a less aggressive, often humorous and acoustic touch,
from De La Soul to newer artists in this genre like Lyrics Born; a mellower
side of the often sharper-tongued New York/East Coast-style hip-hop; and more radio
friendly "pop" hip-hop, from Will Smith in the early '90s to Jamie Foxx and
T-Pain's new hit single "Blame It."
So get yourself some gin 'n' juice, and listen to the mix here.
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