On April 8, 2007, a group of hiphop scratch DJs from around Orlando gathered for a new event called Revolutions. This was a night dedicated to the turntablist, or DJs that use the turntable as a musical instrument by scratching and beat juggling. The event, organized by DJ SPS, was held at Push Play Cafe off of Alafaya Trail near UCF with hopes of boosting the Orlando DJ community.
During the first hour, DJs mixed records to warm up the crowd. 4 turntables were set up in a V-formation, giving the audience a solid look view of the action. DJ Casper from Tampa spun classics from KRS-1 to Eazy E. After about 30 minutes, Nonsense records DJ Rod 1 took over with an eclectic mix of underground hiphop and funk breaks from the '70s.
The second hour, the highlight of the night, was the turntablist showcase. DJs Mike Delight and DJ SPS spun for 10 minutes each doing scratch routines and manipulating records on beat. Delight, a veteran in the DJ scene from the Bronx and US DMC finalist in 1993, now resides in Daytona. He took doubles of "Funky Beat" by Whodini, "Lose Control" by X:144 and DJ SPS, and even flipped a Led Zeppelin record. His scratching included a tone scratch over electro funk b-boy classic, "Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)" by Hashim while toning the Batman theme over it using the pitch slide of the turntable. He then proceeded to experiment with a crazy concept: Lifting up the turntable, he physically moved the whole apparatus around to create a unique wobbling audio effect.
Next up was SPS, who holds the title for Universal Zulu Nation DJ Battle up in New York for 2006 and was a DMC US finalist for 2 years running. SPS, who actually mentored under Mike Delight, mixed beat juggling with scratches, which is no easy task. He juggled everything from Bubba Sparxx, Gangstarr, and Kraftwerk, to *Idioteque* by Radiohead. Toggling between walking his juggles, polyrhythms, and double timing his records, he created a drum and bass/jungle pattern. In layman's terms, it was a very dope performance.
After the turntablists showcase came the scratch session. DJ Dolo got on the tables, mixing beats with 2 turntables as the other two turntables were occupied with 2 other DJs for each table. As Dolo mixed the instrumental beats, DJs took turns scratching solos on an open turntable. DJs that got up to scratch were SPS, Mike Delight, DJ Energ, Y-Not, K-Razor, Dialekt, Stranger, Kasper, and DJ Rod 1. A female DJ, DJ Julez, pulled out flares, chirps, and transformer scratches, proving that she could go head to head with any male DJ in the crowd. Needless to say, everyone was bugging out. Midway through, I took the mic and added some beat boxing to the mix. This made room for 3 DJs to scratch, allowing one person to scratch rhythm, another to handle the bass, the third to solo. K-razor then took over scratching drums on the tables while the others scratched phrases and sound effects.
These days, with a media that only spotlights the rapper, it is a very rare occasion to see true scratch DJs. Luckily, Revolutions will be a monthly event, giving Orlando a chance to get familiar with this, the first element of hip hop. Orlando can look forward to more turntable shows to come, hopefully making way for the hip hop turntable revolution.
Story by guest writer Rubox Cube