How the DNC Roll Call Went From Snooze to Sensation: DJ Cassidy on Lil Jon’s Cameo and the Playlist That Turned a Dull Tradition Into a Dance Party

variety.com:

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The reviews are in for DJ Cassidy‘s 75-minute DJ set Tuesday night… and they’re coming from unusual quarters.

Said conservative commentator Meghan McCain: “I’m sorry but this #DNC2024 roll call with DJ Cassidy, themed state music and party/club atmosphere is blowing the RNC’s roll call out of the water.

It looks like a giant party and celebration and everyone in that room looks like they’re having a blast.” Indeed, what is usually the low point for energy in any national political convention — the formal process in which delegates certify, state by state, what is already a foregone conclusion — became one of the most energizing and even thrilling moments of the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

Politico columnist Jeff Greenfield agreed: “The convention managers deserve a Lifetime Achievement Emmy for turning what is usually the most boring part of a convention into an eye- and ear-catching spectacle.” That’s thanks to the producers’ decision to have DJ Cassidy act not just as a source of bumper music, as he had in past conventions, but as the host of a playlist that — with 57 choices spread across 75 minutes — gave each state its own loud-and-proud theme song.