David Guetta disputes deadmau5's 'we all press play' jabs

David Guetta is taking the better-late-than-never approach when it comes to responding to jabs from deadmau5.

Earlier this year, in a Tumblr post, the latter dance artist revealed to the world that top dance artists "press play" when they perform at their shows and festivals. In an interview with Rolling Stone, deadmau5 also said that Guetta "has two iPods and a mixer and he just plays tracks – like, 'Here's one with Akon, check it out!'... there’s still button-pushers getting paid half a million. And not to say I’m not a button-pusher. I’m just pushing a lot more buttons.”

In an interview with Vibe published this week, Guetta said his performances contain more nuance than that.

“The big DJs start by being bedroom producers and they have a hit and suddenly start playing in front of thousands of people. But the way I did it was by working six nights, playing eight hours sets every night. I’ve learned a lot about how to communicate with the crowd, so when my music crossed over that stayed," he said, though not technically saying what goes beyond hitting "play." "The connection with the people is what makes the difference for me.”

What Guetta had to say about hip-hop DJs, on the other hand, may get more of a response from that music community. “If you listen to a hip-hop DJ, he’s not playing his own music. It makes a huge difference,” he said. “When I perform, everything you hear is me playing my own music. You’ll hear unreleased music; every record I play, I will edit and use parts of another record to make it unique. I’m not gonna play what you hear on the radio.”

To hear Guetta's latest new music contributions, you won't have to go further than spinning the new Rihanna album "Unapologetic," out on Nov. 19. Ri-Ri herself confirmed the guest spot via Twitter, mere hours after revealing the official tracklist for the album (which also features cameos from Eminem and Chris Brown).

There's another secret collab on #UNAPOLOGETIC

— Rihanna (@rihanna) November 6, 2012

Its David phucking Guetta!!!! He also produced Fresh out the Runway, which y'all would NEVERRR believe!! He got that Hood shit too!!!

— Rihanna (@rihanna) November 6, 2012

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

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After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.