Mazel Tov!
Today’s B’nai
Mitzvah Tunes
Take TikTok’s
Cues SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
W hen Justin Kodroff had
his bar mitzvah party in
2006, Lil Jon’s “Snap Yo
Fingers” and Yung Joc’s “It’s Goin’
Down” were as big of hits on the dance
fl oor as they were on MTV and VH1,
which then still favored music videos
over reality television.

His party at LuLu Country Club in
Glenside was defi ned by the break-
dancing lessons the party starters and
DJs conducted for the pubescent guests
— a fl eet of seventh graders trying their
best to “walk it out” and two-step with
gawky limbs and ill-fi tted dress pants.

Either today’s teens are cooler than
those from yesteryear or it’s easy to roman-
ticize the past, but the b’nai mitzvahs of
today have certainly changed to align with
today’s popular culture, although some
tracks and trends are timeless.

A DJ for Horsham-based HotHotHot
Entertainment since 2015, Kodroff has
since leveled up to spend b’nai mitzvahs on
the other side of the proverbial turntables.

Maybe the most obvious change to
the b’nai mitzvah music of today? How
it’s played.

Gone are the days of DJs lugging
records, tapes, CDs and turntables to
a venue. Instead, they bring a laptop
loaded with thousands of songs, with
thousands more available online, mak-
ing spontaneous song requests for deep
cuts available at the click of a trackpad.

With a minimalist setup, DJs are
nimble, sometimes cycling through
400-500 songs for one event, Kodroff
said, opting out of playing an entire
three- or four-minute song.

Technology has accounted for the
change in more ways than one. With
kids compulsively scrolling on their
phones, their attention spans have
deteriorated, argued Michael Langsner
24 of the Englishtown, New Jersey-based
Xplosive Entertainment. Minute-long
TikToks and Instagram Reels have cap-
tured the catchiest minute of a song,
and that’s the minute kids want to hear.

“It’s not uncommon to be playing a
minute-and-a-half or two minutes of
each song before you switch to the next,
because if you don’t, you’ll lose your
dance fl oor now,” Langsner said.

Kodroff calls this new styling of
DJ-ing “rapid mixing,” and it’s gaining
popularity among younger audiences.

For younger DJs like Kodroff , the shift
is understandable.

“Being a millennial, I get it. We want
things instantaneously, to have that
Justin Kodroff is a DJ for the Horsham-based HotHotHot Entertainment.

Courtesy of Justin Kodroff
Xplosive Entertainment DJ Michael Langsner has noticed TikTok making its mark on the songs tweens are dancing to
these days.

Courtesy of Xplosive Entertainment
MARCH 31, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



The Cynwyd Club
“The best kept secret on the Mainline”
Event venue for Bar & Bat Mitzvahs
and other special events!
332 Trevor Lane Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
610-667-4524 ex. 3240
banquets@cynwydclub.com www.cynwydclub.com
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