25 years of drop, cut, mix, scratch fun
By Jay Chrisman
Turntablism has been around for over 25 years, whe-wa-whe-where have you been? Since the beginning of turntablism the status of musician for turntablists has been heavily argued, but with artists such as Qbert, Kid Koala, Yoga Frog and Mixmaster Mike it is hard to deny that they are musicians and that two turntables and a mixer are musical instruments.
During the 1970s Kool Herc, a Jamaican DJ, moved to New York City. In New York reggae was not as popular as funk so Kool Herc was forced to adapt. Soon Kool Herc realized that the breakbeat, which is the faster cut of a song, was more popular and that if he mixed only the breakbeats of songs he could keep a dance party bumping all night long. Soon the style was widespread throughout the underground hip-hop scene.
Grandmaster Flash invented cutting and mixing which allowed for extended play of especially popular cuts by putting the same record on both turntables. Grand Wizard Theodore, who's mentor was Grandmaster Flash, took the final progression that would result in the culture called turntablism by inventing needle-dropping and scratching.
Scratching is the manual back-and-forth rotation of a record which creates the wika-wika effect. Needle dropping allows DJs to sample a specific point on a record with minimal or no cueing.
Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizard Theodore may have been the pioneers of turntablism, but today's turntablists have perfected the art. DJ Qbert is arguably the best turntablist in the world. Qbert has been known to manipulate a vocal sample until it has been distorted to imitate a breakbeat, rendering the original vocal track unrecognizable.
Beginning his career in the late 80's Qbert joined the world-famous break-dancing squad, the Rock Steady Crew. In the 90's, along with DJ Shortkut and DJ Disc he founded the Invisibl Skratch Piklz. Later DJs such as Mix Master Mike, Yoga Frog, A-Trak and D-Styles would join. The Invisibl Skratch Piklz were the most famous DJ crew during the 90's, arguably keeping turntablism alive into the new millenium where it would finally be celebrated as a musical artform.
Turntablism has been around for over 25 years, whe-wa-whe-where have you been? Since the beginning of turntablism the status of musician for turntablists has been heavily argued, but with artists such as Qbert, Kid Koala, Yoga Frog and Mixmaster Mike it is hard to deny that they are musicians and that two turntables and a mixer are musical instruments.
During the 1970s Kool Herc, a Jamaican DJ, moved to New York City. In New York reggae was not as popular as funk so Kool Herc was forced to adapt. Soon Kool Herc realized that the breakbeat, which is the faster cut of a song, was more popular and that if he mixed only the breakbeats of songs he could keep a dance party bumping all night long. Soon the style was widespread throughout the underground hip-hop scene.
Grandmaster Flash invented cutting and mixing which allowed for extended play of especially popular cuts by putting the same record on both turntables. Grand Wizard Theodore, who's mentor was Grandmaster Flash, took the final progression that would result in the culture called turntablism by inventing needle-dropping and scratching.
Scratching is the manual back-and-forth rotation of a record which creates the wika-wika effect. Needle dropping allows DJs to sample a specific point on a record with minimal or no cueing.
Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizard Theodore may have been the pioneers of turntablism, but today's turntablists have perfected the art. DJ Qbert is arguably the best turntablist in the world. Qbert has been known to manipulate a vocal sample until it has been distorted to imitate a breakbeat, rendering the original vocal track unrecognizable.
Beginning his career in the late 80's Qbert joined the world-famous break-dancing squad, the Rock Steady Crew. In the 90's, along with DJ Shortkut and DJ Disc he founded the Invisibl Skratch Piklz. Later DJs such as Mix Master Mike, Yoga Frog, A-Trak and D-Styles would join. The Invisibl Skratch Piklz were the most famous DJ crew during the 90's, arguably keeping turntablism alive into the new millenium where it would finally be celebrated as a musical artform.
posted by Sassmo at 12:28 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home