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I know this sounds really unhelpful, but the best way you'll get a feel for what to play at that kind of thing is to do it, let it go to shit if it has to, then know what to do differently the next time. It could go amazingly well and from that you'll know to just do the same again next time... house parties/any non-club sets can be very very strange things.
With that in mind, I think you're going to find it really hard to judge what kind of thing will work in advance. Dealing with the crowd with these things is always the hardest part - you'll be pulled in 5 different directions by people who each think that everyone wants to hear what they want to hear (I've had people coming up to me and telling me that "no one can dance to this" with a rocking dancefloor in front of me and also "everyone wants to hear this" about a tune which then all but cleared the dancefloor when I fulfilled the request)... Are there any other DJs playing? If so, they're a great way to get people to shut up and let you get on with what you're doing - simply tell someone that the next DJ will be playing the hip hop, you're doing house or whatever.
If you've already got some hip hop or any other genres you think people might want to hear, it's definitely worth taking it along in case it can get you out of a corner (dead dancefloor, everyone just asking for some Usher), but if you haven't done this kind of thing before I wouldn't go splashing out on a load of new CDs just to please a crowd when you don't actually know what they'll want.
Also, don't trust the person running the event to know what the crowd will want either - the number of times I've been asked to do a wedding or a party or something (normally for friends of parents etc) and I've said the music I play wouldn't be suitable, they've asked me what I play and I've said "trance & techno" and they've told me that's fine and that they're sure everyone will like it... yeah that's right, your nan's gonna love a bit of Murder Was The Bass isn't she? "Young" people are no better - unless they're an experienced club promoter, the chances are they haven't got a clue... again half the time if they like it they'll tell you all of their mates like house too, when actually they can't stand it.
There are exceptions - like a wedding reception I did a few years ago and was told by the groom (a big old skool rave fan in his late 30s) that he wanted hard trance and that he had loads of guests coming who would like it too... obviously quite dubious, I took all the usual 60s, 70s, 80s crap, some funky house, a little bit of uplifting trance and a little bit of hard trance and found myself following on from a jazz band with loads of his 40-odd year old mates constantly telling me to "speed it up a bit", and "play something a bit harder mate"... ended up finishing the thing on Tony De Vit "The Dawn" at +6% and about 40 or 50 very happy people (including his 60 yr old aunt) raving away and cheering in front of me. Very surreal.
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Stu Cox |   
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