Features
The Real Best of Detroit 2006: Media For The Masses
By RDW
Mar 22, 2006, 23:00

Best DJ: Bushman
by Lester Holmes | Photo by Scott Spellman

It’s a scene that looks more like a rambunctious classroom with a substitute teacher than a commercial radio station with professionals. Bushman takes a CD case and throws it at another DJ as an intern ducks and hides under the desk for cover. Then Bushman calmly gathers himself and asks for the eighth caller to win tickets for the Playboy party this weekend at the Zoo Bar.

A DJ with Playboy tickets — no wonder Real Detroit readers voted Bushman as The D’s best DJ. “I don’t think that I’m better than anyone else. I’m just me,” said Bushman, who — in-between fits of uncontrollable laughter, horseplay and CD cases flying in the air — hosts the weekly 2 to 6 p.m. shift for WJLB FM 98.

“I have great numbers for the last 11 years in Detroit,” Bushman said. In an industry that has a great amount of turnover, he celebrated his 11th Bushman Day (station anniversary) last Valentine’s Day. Bushman attributes his popularity with the listening audience to his personality. “I like to have fun. I’m off the cuff. I’m crazy and I know how to push the envelope without getting into trouble.”

One example of pushing the envelope happened while DJing his weekly Friday night party at St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit. “One night I played Nelly’s song ‘Hot in Here’ and I started taking my clothes off. Then every time I played that song the crowd was expecting me to take my clothes off,” Bushman recalled. He now DJs fully clothed since people started taking pictures and even brought video cameras into the club. “Unless Beyonce wants me to take off my clothes and then I might lose skin taking my clothes off,” he laughed. 

Bushman developed his style and sense of humor early, as a mentor taught him the skills to DJ back in the eighth grade in North Carolina. By the time Bushman graduated from North Carolina A&T University he was already playing on campus radio as well as several clubs in the Greensboro, NC area. After years of being one of the most popular DJs in Greensboro, he decided to leave the warmth of North Carolina. Bushman was prepared to face the harsh winter and attitudes of Detroit. “I am my hardest critic; I want to do it better than I did it the day before,” Bushman explained. He said that Detroiters will let you know immediately where you stand with them. “Up here the people will let you know if you’re good or if you suck.”

Bushman uses that same type of “Detroit honesty” when it comes to local rappers and singers who submit demo tapes to the station to be played on the air. “If you don’t want to hear what I think — don’t give it to me. I will tell you if I think you’re hot or if you don’t have a chance. I will tell you if you have potential,” Bushman said. He believes it is a disservice when on-air personalities are not honest with aspiring artists. “If I sugarcoat what I think about the artist, the artist will be the one screwed,” he added.

While Bushman has appeared in numerous commercials, television shows and movies, including the hip-hop movie classic 8 Mile, he refuses to fall into a state of complacency. When Bushman is not on the air or performing at club, he is speaking to metro Detroit youth at schools, career days and through email and text messages. Bushman didn’t realize his impact on the community until a young man spoke to him. “I was DJing and this guy came up to me and said, ‘When I was a student you spoke at my school and your speech inspired me to turn my life around. I graduated high school and I’m completing college,’” Bushman said. “You can’t reach everybody but if you can help one or two kids, it means    something.”  | RDW