MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES PT.1

As mentioned in the first C.O.P. blog post, I consider myself to be a shapeshifter of sorts. My interest in activities, art, people, and personal style changes from year to year if not minute by minute. Sometimes my interests are recycled and sometimes I uncover something entirely new.

For part one of this ADD-ridden flux, I will start with exposing you to the Scratch DJ. I would have to say my interest in Hip Hop drifted solely to the DJ in 1995 when a lot of amazing things were happening with DJ crews in the San Francisco Bay area (Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters), on the East coast in New York (X-ecutioners), and in the U.K. (Scratch Perverts) that were grabbing my attention throughout the '90s. Q-Bert, Mix Master Mike, Short Kut, Apollo, Yoga Frog, D-Styles, Disk, Flare, and A-Trak make up the Skratch Piklz and they reigned in the '90s. Their skills influenced- and intimidated- other DJs to such a degree that Q-Bert and Mix Master Mike were asked to no longer participate in the DMC championships in order to give other DJs a fair chance at winning, granting them legendary God-like status. Meanwhile another DJ crew, The Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters, harbored one of my personal favorite DJs/producers Eddie Def. Eddie Def and his crew developed the first ever battle record Hamster Breaks vol. 1. Each track on Hamster Breaks vol. 1 was crafted to include continuous sampled words and phrases or looped beats intended for scratching and beat juggling. Eddie's style was a little sloppy and care free and he went on to produce a huge amount of solo drum machine driven projects. In the early '00s it seemed like 3 Eddie Def albums came out per year for a few years straight. Some of his output was lo-fi, minimal or even unfinished sounding, but I admired his aim and overall he influenced much of the early beat driven music I ended up making on my computer. There is something about scratching records that goes far beyond that abrasive back and forth 'wikky-wikky' sound everyone is familiar with. There are infinite sounds and techniques, and as seen in some of the videos below, an innovative DJ must have a mind that understands sonic architecture and complex combinations of patterns. I'll let these clips of scratch DJing at its finest speak for themselves. Oh yeah, and that DJ Swamp routine is one of the best routines ever!