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May 5, 2000
Web posted at: 5:22 p.m. EST (2122 GMT)

(CNN) -- Once just spinners-for-hire who played new hits and old favorites on the wedding/bar mitzvah/prom circuit, DJs (short for "disc jockey") have risen to a new level of talent and popularity.

Thanks to the ever-evolving club culture that started with the televised dance parties of the 1950s and picked up momentum through '70s disco, '80s hip-hop and '90s techno crazes, DJs have become part musician, part remixer and all hype.

"The DJ has replaced the rock star, the pop star, the front man," says writer/director Justin Kerrigan, whose film "Human Traffic" focuses on British club culture. "He's the superstar now."

To be a superstar DJ requires talent and ingenuity and the ability to set oneself apart from the others -- and there are many -- on a fickle club scene always on the hunt for the next big thing.

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One of those superstars, DJ Spooky, agrees that DJs need to be ahead of the crowd. "You don't want to be (just) a jukebox because that will make you obsolete," he says. "You have to be creative, always be five steps, 10 steps ahead of what everybody else is up to."

Join us this weekend as WorldBeat correspondents Serena Yang and Bruno Delgranado catch up with DJ Spooky, Moby, Fatboy Slim, William Orbit, Ronni Size and the rest of the DJ culture's best and brightest.