As the winter break drew to a close, some Weber State University students spent their last Friday night of 2011 at Bring the Bass, a hip-hop and electro music event hosted at The Basement, a local Ogden venue.

Audience members, aged 16 and up, came to dance to music performed by local hip-hop and techno DJs. The event was alcohol-free, and all kinds of crowds seemed to be filtering through the door of The Basement’s newly relocated venue.

“We see a lot of Weber State students come in wearing their Weber State gear, so it’s good to see the school supporting the venue,” said Jason Allen, a WSU graduate and owner of the venue. “We like to try to support the school in any way we can.”

Bring the Bass was the first event of its genre in the new facility, since The Basement typically caters to more of a metal music style. Two of the venue’s most recent and biggest seasonal shows were Halloween Havoc and Christmas on Fire, all-day metal festivals that attracted touring and local bands, not to mention several hundred people at each.

According to Allen, on the night of Bring the Bass, The Basement partnered with a promotions company called Dee-Lux Entertainment, which specializes in hip-hop and techno, and it set up the event.

Co-owner of Dee-Lux Brigham Salazar (promotion name Big Sal) caters mainly to hip-hop events. He thought to combine his music scene with the electro scene and test out the market of an event like Bring the Bass in the local Ogden area. He promoted the party through WSU After-Parties.

“The Weber State following is pretty big, only because it’s a network,” Salazar said. “Network marketing is key towards any type of business as far as promotion, so networking through Weber is huge, networking over 100,000 people that have gone to Weber or still go to Weber, and they tell people they like the scene or any scene we collaborate with.”

Wildcats weren’t just in the audience. WSU freshman Antuane Walker was asked to be a DJ for Bring the Bass, Dee-Lux’s second event.

“It was definitely way better than I thought,” said Walker about the show. “It was a better turnout, a lot of people, a lot of energy. It was good.”

While Walker is focusing on a non-musical major, he said being a part of Dee-Lux as a student has helped him balance school and music and gives him a chance to do what he loves. His goals for the new year are to start adding hip-hop to his DJ genres and to just keep up with school for the next four years.

“Music is what I breathe; it’s what I live,” Walker said. “I wake listening to music; I go to sleep listening to music. It’s a part of me. It’s why I became a DJ, to experience other people and music.”

Students from WSU who are a part of Dee-Lux also attended the event, even though they weren’t performing. Hip-hop artist and WSU student Jay Lee said he believes the promoters can get an even bigger turnout at the next event. He said being part of Dee-Lux as a student also helps him “stay out of trouble” by continuously writing music in the studio and planning future events.

“You can become a promoter if you write music,” Lee said. “We’re always trying to find new local talent. If you do music, dance, model, DJ — anything, really.”

To become part of Dee-Lux Entertainment, Lee said to just get in contact with Hunter Green or any Dee-Lux member. Contact information is on Dee-Lux’s Facebook page. The next event Dee-Lux Entertainment and The Basement are collaborating on is Freaky Friday, an 18-and-older lingerie party with strictly hip-hop music, on Jan. 13.

“What people don’t realize is how hard it is to make it as a musician,” Allen said. “You can’t be afraid of working hard and promoting yourself, but don’t give up on yourself and keep chasing your dreams, and good things will come to you.”