For those of us who go to predominately Black clubs, ( especially in Atlanta, Miami, and other parts of the South ) we may frequent a place that has $5 table dances. In some of these clubs, the mileage you can get from a $5 dance is close to, or even equivalent to what you can get in VIP at a much higher price per dance. The biggest issue with the $5 dance, is normally the amount of time that the DJ lets the song play. If he let's the entire song play, the $5 dance is a tremendous value. If he cuts it off short, the value seems cheapened.
The initial thinking behind the $5 dance is this. The cheaper the dance, the more likely you may try out a dancer to see what she can do. It's a lot easier to turn down a dance when it cost $10 and sometimes $20 dollars out on the floor. At $5, however, that amount lowers your defenses somewhat and makes it easier to try out a girl, or even try out multiple girls for a few minutes. If you like them, you'll keep them around longer. If you don't, you're only out of $5, and you can move onto the next girl.
The main issue though, is the DJ. Will he let the song play out or at least 3/4ths of the way out? Or will he cut the song short after just 1 verse? Or is he even in the booth at all, and the club is simply playing a mixtape CD?
So let's really break this down to see how a cut off can affect the amount you're spending, and if it's a lower bargain than getting a full $10 song. To illustrate how a DJ may cut up a song, I'll use the 2Chainz featuring Nicki Minaj stripper anthem of 2014 . . "I Luv Them Strippas"
If you were at a club that played the entire song for $10, this song would last almost 4 minutes ( 3:57 ), which is about the average time for hip-hop songs. ( I say anywhere from 3:30 - 4:45 is the average length to a song ). Keep that in mind as I go through the different places in which a DJ may cut the song.
(1) - 1st Chorus: ( 0 to :55 ) . . . actual beat drops at :28 (2) - 2 Chainz verse: ( :55 to 1:51 ) (3) - 2nd Chorus: ( 1:51 to 2:19 ) (4) - Nicki's verse: ( 2:19 to 3:15 ) (5) - last Chorus: ( 3:15 to 3:42 ) (6) - Nicki's ad lib: ( 3:42 - 3:57 )
(1) - 2Chaniz starts out singing the chorus of the song, which runs for ( 55 seconds ), before actually starting his first rap verse.
Here's the problem though. DJ's at $5 clubs routinely mix or blend songs together. So part of this ( 55 seconds ) may be playing in the background of the last song that is playing. Within this 55 seconds, the actual BEAT of the song doesn't drop until the ( 28 second ) mark. At this point, the DJ will fade out or end the last song, and you'll just be hearing 2Chainz. That's how you'll know that the other song has officially ended.
(2) - 2Chainz official 1st verse starts at ( 55 seconds ) and runs to ( 1:51 ).
Keep this in mind. If you hear another beat trying to blend in before 2Chainz finishes his verse, the DJ is about to cut the song here. If he does cut the song right here, he has played almost 1/2 of the song, thus, giving you the value equivalent of $5 for 1/2 that song. But if you believe that song REALLY started at the ( 28 second mark ), you only received ( 1:23 minutes ) worth of the song, which greatly cheapens the value of the $5 song. In actuality, you only got like $3.75 worth.
Sometimes, it is to your advantage that a DJ actually LIKES the song that he's playing, and not just playing it just to be mixing it with other tunes. If he likes it, he'll extend the song. If he doesn't, you are in danger of him cutting the song extremely short. So let's say he likes "I Luv Them Strippas", and wants to extend the song.
(3) - 2Chainz begins to sing the chorus again at ( 1:51 ) and goes to ( 2:19 ).
If he's extended the song to this point with no new song blending, he's probably going to play the 2nd verse of the song, featuring Nicki Minaj. At this point, you have received the FULL WORTH of a $5 dance, which only is about 2 - 2:30 minutes worth of a song. Expecting a DJ to play the full song for $5 is just foolish. It may happen on occasion, but you shouldn't expect it.
(4) Nicki's verse runs from ( 2:19 ) to ( 3:15 ). Most DJs will let her finish her verse and may start blending in a new song toward the end of the verse. If you have received over 3 minutes worth of a song, you have definitely received the full value of a $5 table dance song. Anything extra after this point is gravy.
(5) If the DJ hasn't started mixing in another song by the end of Nicki's verse, he'll definitely do it by the middle of the last chorus. At this point almost 80% of the song has played and you have received almost the time equivalent of a $10 song.
(6) Nicki's 15 second ad lib will only be played if the DJ is doing something else, or is about to stop the music to talk about something ( or somebody ).
Your main nemesis at the club with $5 dances, isn't necessarily a DJ that cuts songs short. It's a DJ that will play a mixtape CD, instead of doing the actual mixing of songs himself. Mix CDs are notorious for just playing one verse + one chorus of a song, before mixing in another song. That's where you can get that 1:30 minute song length instead of a regular DJ extending the song for 2:30 - 3 minutes. A mixtape like this one could KILL YOU at a $5 club. Some of these songs aren't even going 1:30 minutes.
And in the first 10 minutes of this, I counted 6 songs. That's a song roughly every 1:40 minutes . . or the equivalent of $14 every 4 minutes.
If you really want to break this down, use your cellphone stopwatch to see how long the songs are before a new song fully starts to play. I may do this on my next trip to a club, just to give a more accurate breakdown of how much money I'm spending per song or per lap session.
Most people would think that $10 per song every 5 minutes is the going rate at most clubs. I think that's a little high, unless the DJ purposely stops the music to talk in between songs. That will extend your time. But if the DJ is playing full songs, then immediately playing the next song, that rate may be more like $10 per song every 4 - 4:30 minutes.
If this is the case, and if you're getting at least 2:30 minutes for every $5 song, that might be a slightly better value than 4 minutes for every $10 song. And if the DJ stops playing the music for a few minutes to talk about somebody not tipping, that actually plays into your advantage.
The $5 table dance isn't in place to give you a bargain on a lap dance by playing a full song. It's in place to entice you to buy an initial dance, with the option to continue or stop the dance after the 1st song. To the dancer, even dancing for just 2 - 3 minutes for $5, is worth more than her sitting around and not collecting money. The very good dancers or females with great bodies, can at least get $10 - $20 out of a person, if he or she is buying $5 dances.
If she's dancing poorly, end that session with the quickness. If she's great, keep her as long as you want and give her a tip afterwards. At a $5 club, she'll either spread the word about you, or another dancer may be watching you the entire time, just waiting for her turn on you.
You can just hang out some and see how much they let the songs play. If they cut them real short, then they are also cutting into the money of the dancer who is currently on stage. So I wouldn't think they would cut it extra short just because you are in the booth with one dancer.
One guy I discussed this with via PM. He said about $5 versus $10, you get what you pay for. This never made any sense to me. As I see it, it is just about time and the level of privacy, and what the girl wants to do with you. And at $5 it is hard to refuse the chance to find out.
The amount is arbitrary. Out here at the Sunnyvale Cheetahs it is $40 for a zero privacy dance where a bouncer will be right by to make sure the no touching rule is strictly adhered to.
It is a joke! But the club is between a rock and a hard place. If they allow touching or privacy, our DA's office will shut them down and bring felony charges. They will assign more people to the case than they would to a murder one trial.
But then if the money is less the girls will split, because they know that they are as hot looking as the ones in San Francisco.
$5 or $10 with good privacy, yes. But $20, limited interest from me. $40, no way. Only reason to do it is just to flatter a girl whom you want an outside relationship with.
Now one thing, when the money is real low, then what that means is that the girls are working there for another reason, to set up OTC's. Once place I was in had $5 air dances. The girls would smile into your face up close and listen intently to every word you said. Then if you mentioned where you lived, they would interject, "I live in San Jose" or "I live in San Carlos".
The first time I figured that she must be getting a little bit tipsy and so she doesn't realize how that sounds. But then I saw the pattern repeated and I saw the girls leaving after they had danced for a guy.
Since they have changed it to $20, as they are trying to clean up, under pressure from LE.
At other places I've just handed the girl $20 if she is sitting with me. This way she doesn't have to cut the money. If she is sitting with me I might be able to touch her a little bit, where as in the air dance area there is a minimum distance rule and it is enforced. At least sitting with me, I can talk to her. From time spent in strip clubs, I'm good at that.
In other places, if the girl is sitting with you and basically anything goes, try getting physical with her right there. Dance booths and VIP Rooms are also toll gates. No reason to use them unless really necessary.
At these $5 and $10 dance places you speak of, what would happen if you got the girl to sit with you and just gave her $5 or $10? Suppose you started trying to get physical with her right there? Best would be to get into an intense makeout session with her. Then and only then, take her to the VIP Room to continue.
See that way you actually are better able to lead the interaction. You haven't prepaid for anything.
Now in San Francisco, it should be able to be like that. But most of these places are the modern version of a clip joint. So they try to force all the action into the booths. They have convinced the dancers that they make more $ this way. But this really is not true. Dancers who have worked in wilder and woolier environments know that the more free form, the better. In those more extreme environments, they just come and sit on your lap, without asking, and then start licking your neck and nibbling on your ear, and see how you are going to respond.
Actually where lap dancing originated, at MBOT, it meant a girl sitting on your lap. What happened with that varied widely. But the original group of dancers agreed that it should be for $1 per minute.
No booths or backrooms, and this is what helped Jim and Artie win a jury acquittal. If they had been using booths or backroom then, that would have been the end of it.
Mostly the booths and backrooms just take the initiative away from you, and they help the club take more of the money while actually limiting how far things go because you have to let the dancer drive it.
SJG
Rolling Stones, Chicago 1997 youtube.com