Head Spins: Ross One

Mokai, on any given Tuesday: Models and bottles. Kingpins and princesses. The odd cougar and her cub. Money. Power. Sex. And every player worth his game. Everybody’s in, everybody’s on, and everybody’s moving and shaking, swooning and swaying, to the wow now sound of DJ Ross One. See, this is Favela chic, just how every keen cat and kitten ends the best night out of the week — and no one would have it any other way.

Still, as cool as the partiers are at Mokai, even they tend to come undone under the thumb of Ross One, a Cincinnati-born head-spinner with a mere two and a half years on the South Beach strip. Maybe it’s because he built his breaks in Midwest battles, or first earned his real bread at Butter in New York. Or maybe it’s the fact that the cat can twirl in and out of Journey and Young Jeezy without missing a beat. Whatever it is, it works, hard and on the money.

And Ross One doesn’t work it only at Mokai either. He has added residencies at the recently opened Heathrow Lounge and Aero Bar to his lengthy resumé, a resumé that continues to include jaunts to Vegas, L.A., and Rio. But the highlight of his long list of accomplishments has to be the private parties Ross One spun for Prince and a select few of his pals. He played it deep, he played it funky, and he played it with the kind of know-how of a man who can tell the difference between Mandrill and Cameo. Needless to say, His Purpleness was pleased.

But don’t think for a second this room-shaker limits his selection to cheesy rock, hip-hop, and classics. Sure he gets crunk, and sure he slays soul, but he’ll also toss in at whim some classic disco or here-and-now house. Why? Because he does what it takes to shake that action, that’s why. And he does so with taste. Let me say it again: Ross One. A name with a sound you can trust.

DJ Ross One’s current top five:

1. “Out Here Grindin’,” DJ Khaled

2. “A Milli,” Lil Wayne

3. “Sweet Apologies,” DiscoTech

4. “Day Off,” Xinobi

5. “Going Back to My Roots,” Lamont Dozier