MR DIBBS
Crew Affiliation: 1200 Hobos
Titles Held: N/A
In His Crate: Anything by Billie Holiday, Paranoid
by Black Sabbath, "Sluggo Gets His Smile Fixed"
(a dental hygiene record)
Base Of Operations: Cincinnati, OH
Why don't you tell me how you got into DJing? From
B-boying. I saw DFT in concert, some shit from
London, on video, and I had seen Flash scratch
before that but I didn't really comprehend it. But
when I saw DFT it all clicked and I went from
there. When was that? '82 or '83. Tell me about your
crew. We're all stupid, for one. Everybody has their
own individual drug habit. There's like 27 of us
now: 13 DJs, a handful of graf writers, a few B-
boys, and maybe ten MCs. The base of it is still
DJs, but we got the MCs and all that now. Do you
hold any DJ titles? I battled God last year. Who won?
I took an L on that one, but it was really close. He
had some heavy shit up his sleeve. He had the
records. That's probably the only big battle you've
heard about. Some of the other Hobos battle, like
J-Storm and Sure Shot, they do all the ITF and
DMC shit. How do you define yourself? I'm some-
where in between. I am half composer, half con-
tortionist. I can do things to myself. But that's off
the subject. I'm really flexible. I never have to
leave the room, literally. I've got everything I need.
Food, sex, and turntables. I never leave the house.
Who inspires you to do your thing? All the usual peo-
ple. Mike, definitely. Q-Bert...in general, everybody.
But a lot of shit like Portishead, Shadow, and this
little gimpy kid that sits on the corner out here. You
know how a cake comes in a plastic box? Well he
just smashes the cake around all day with his good
limbs. He's really inspiring. What if I was to chop off
your hands and you couldn't scratch? What would you
do? I'd get prosthetic limbs. I bet I could DJ with
my feet if I had to. But that's not gonna happen,
'cause I'm bigger than you and I'm a hick. You just
don't want it. Ever seen Deliverance? If you don't
want to make those pig noises, you better back up.
What's in the future for you and turntablism, five
years down the line? I'll probably be scoring pornos
by then. It'd be dope. Think about it-a porno
with beats. I got another EP coming out, called
The Thirtieth Song, and then I got an album after
that. Then there are like four more battle records.
And I just joined this "Start The Violence" move-
ment; my man Six Two started it up. It only works
at major label rap events. I miss the violence that
was so great in the '80s. I wanna go in a show and
get my ass beat.
MINDED
DJ CRAZE
Crew Affiliation: Allies, Crash Dummies
Titles Held: 1998 DMC World Champion, 1998 ITF
scratch world champion
In His Crate: Illadelph Halflife by The Roots,
Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star,
Wave Twisters by Q-Bert
How long you been DJing? I've been spinning
for six and a half years. How did you start? My
brother used to throw parties and he had
equipment. He always used to tell me not to
touch the turntables, and of course like every
little brother does, I touched the turntables.
And I kept fucking with them and one day I
showed him that I could scratch, and he was
buggin', so he bought me some turntables,
and that was it. Where are you from? I'm
Nicaraguan, but I've lived most of my life in
Miami. How do you keep progressing in terms of
turntablism? Do you practice every day? Hell
yeah. That's my life right there. I wake up and
scratch every day. I always practice and try.
to come up with new shit. It's fun. It's just
like skating. Can you tell me about your crew?
The Allies. That's Techmaster from Miami,
Turntable Crash Dummies from New York,
and now we inducted A-Trak as part of the
crew. He's from Canada. What separates your
crew from other turntablism crews out there?
The Allies are a new crew. We're all a bunch
of new jacks, but we're all dope. We can all
cut and beat juggle. There are a lot of crews
that can only cut, and there are a lot of crews
that can only beat juggle. You gotta be good
in everything to be a part of our shit. We're
just all the new kids. That's why we got A-
Trak. We're the new generation of badasses.
What's your favorite record of all time?
Illadelph Halflife. The Roots. What's your
inspiration in terms of turntablism? The Piklz,
the X-Men, and the Allies. We're fucking it up
right now. What's the future of turntablism? In
the next couple of years it's gonna blow up.
We're gonna start doing stadium shows, and
when the crews all start getting musical and
theatrical, we're gonna do whole shows, not
just like ten-minute routines. Acutally having
a whole show down pat with a little storyline.
A whole hip-hop show. Any last words? Big
shout-out to the Allies. And I got an album
coming out that I did two turntable tracks for.
It's on the Zoo York label; that's the first.
thing they're putting out. It's real dope..
Check it.
DJ Crew notables
X-Men. Steve D, Rob Swift, Roc Raider, Mr
Sinister, Total Eclipse, and Diamond Jay
Invisibl Skratch Piklz. Q-Bert, Mix Master Mike,
Shortkut, Apollo, DJ Disk, D-Styles, Yogafrog, DJ
Flare, and A-Trak
Beat Junkies. J Rocc, Babu, Melo D, Rhettmatic,
Shortkut, and D-Styles
Fifth Platoon. Do Boy, Roli Rho, Vin Roc, Kuttin
Kandy, Neil Armstrong, and Daddy Dog
Supernatural Turntable Artists. Swift Roc, Deus,
and Relm
Crash Dummies. Develop, Craze, Spectacular, IXL,
and J-Smoke
TurnStyles. Lil Jazz, Oscar the Grouch, D Scratch
Scratch Perverts. Tony Vegas, Prime Cuts, Thing
Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters. Quest, Marz, Cue,
Eddie Def
Supermen. Plasticman, Daddy Rich, DJ Scratch,
Tone B Nimble, Supreme
Major DJ Battles
DMC. USA and World, 12 years and going, annual.
ITF. USA and World, in its second year, annual,
breaks down battling into three categories:
scratching, beat juggling, and team routines (two
or more DJs at once).
DJ UDUBZ Picks
Top 5 Turntablist Uideos
1. First Annual ITF 1996 World Championships
Tape 1: Witness the historical team battle by the
X-Men vs Invisibl Skratch Piklz.
Tape 2: Amazing individual battles by the
X-Men vs the Piklz.
2
2. DMC 1995-1996 Mixing Finals: Featuring DJ
Swamp, Melo D, Babu, Mista Sinista. Special
guest X-Men.
3. Turntable TV 6.0. Starring Q-Bert and Yogafrog.
Witness battles, practice sessions, and displays
by A-Trak, Mix Master Mike, Roli Rho, Vin Roc,
Cut Chemist w/ Shortkut, and much more.
4. Turntable Wizardry 2: Incredible individual
showcases and team routine by the World
Famous Beat Junkies.
5. Invisibl Skratch Piklz vs Da Klamz uv Deth: Can't
get enough Piklz? Check out very nice solo rou-
tines and the team routine that is considered to
be the best ever.
Top 5 Scratch Tool Records
1. Superduckbreaks
2. Needle Thrashers #1
3. Bionic Booger Breaks
4. Black Market Snuff Brake #1
5. Marshmellow Breaks
Top 5 Turntablist Compilations
1. X-ecutioners Xpressions
2. Q-Bert Wave Twisters
3. Mix Master Mike Anti-Theft Device
4. Wild Stylus feat. DJ Babu and Rhettmatic
5. Rob Swift, Soulful Fruit
THE MUSKA
Crew Affiliation: Shorty's posse
Titles Held: N/A
In His Crate: Timeless by Goldie, Parliament,
old soul albums
Base Of Operations: Huntington Beach, CA
How long you been DJing? I've been involved
with it for a long-ass time, but I never actu-
ally got a pair of turntables until about a
year ago. But I've been scratching with my
friends since back in the day and just hang-
ing out with my friend Dave in Arizona who
has turntables. But then I was on the road for
a long time and I wasn't able to have a place
of my own to get tables. Now that I have
one, I got some. My main deal, although I
scratch and mix, is production of music. And
I sample off records and a little scratching.
but I'm getting into the actual production
with drum machines and keyboards and all
that jazz. So you're going to be coming out with
some kind of tape? Definitely. Right now I'm
working on a a CD and I'll probably distribute
them in skateboard shops around America
and the world. Hopefully in the next five or
six months I'll have it out. Do you think
there's a relationship between skating and
DJing? Is there a connection there? Not neces-
sarily, but it's music, and music and skate-
boarding go together. It's just a vibe, a
lifestyle. It's what we're all about. Not every-
one in skateboarding will be attracted to it,
but if people like the sort of music that you
can spin with and you can do stuff to on
turntables, you'll get into it. It's the culture.
it's been around, and that's what I've been.
around pretty much my whole life. I've just
gotten into it from being around it. What's
your favorite record of all time? Probably
Goldie Timeless. I like that one a lot..
When he's not ripping the cut on the
1200s, Chad Muska can be found
slicing and dicing smooth noseblunt
slides on propped-up picnic tables.
TTM-54 Performance Mixer
The Rane corporation
has made professional
sound equipment for
years. Usually they stick
to products for record-
ing studios, but now it
seems as if they're
planning on infiltrat-
world
ing the
DJing, specifically bat-
tle DJing, known as
turntablism. For those
unfamiliar with battle
of
of
mixers, the current industry leader is Vestax. They
make a whole line of products designed by the world-
famous Q-Bert and Shortkut from the Invisibl Skratch.
Piklz. The new TTM-54 Rane Performance mixer has
basically followed the same Vestax formula while mak-
ing a few changes and improvements.
same
Let's start with the crossfader. It's quick, clean, and has a
hamster switch like all mixers should. Cutoff time can be
adjusted with a crossfader curve knob that either gives you
ing.
a super tight cutoff for scratching, or slow mix for blend-
The other important quality of faders is their stamina,
which only time will tell how v long they'll last. It held up
fine for me, but I only used it for a few weeks.
The volumes are definitely dope; they offer three levels
of fade-out: slow, medium, and fast. This is similar to the
Vestax, but at least Rane had the sense to put them on the
outside. With a Vestax mixer you have to open the shit up
to get at the switch. And now for the first time on any
mixer, Rane provides a hamster switch on the volumes.
This allows you to f
to fade out on the way up or down. To me
it's just a new gimmick, but I'm sure some young DJ herb
with nothi
nothing else to do will find a way to freak it and get
so he can finally get laid.
props so he
The line.
switches can be
flipped around for different
angles, but they're way too short, stiff, and uncomfortable
to scratch with. They're also too close to the damn volume
faders and tend to get switched on and off by accident.
The balance controls are side to side faders which is a plus,
but they have the same flaws as the line switches so you
I can't really do anything new with them.
The bass and treble filters are excellent. It also has a
Leble
microphone input and effects loop inputs which I didn't
use because I'm a turntablist and I don't need that shit.
The headphone controls let
let you hear yourself scratch
before the crowd does; this is a vital feature in my opinion
that Vestax hasn't figured
out yet.
I know the Technics
mixer has scratch cueing, but I refuse to them credit.
to give
Any company stupid enough to make a battle mixer with-
out a hamster switch doesn't deserve my attention.
The Rane mixer is lightweight, sounds great, and is a
good size, just in between the Vestax 05 and 06. The
front panel design could've been cuter but it'll do.
There's no power button for some reason, so once it's
plugged in it's on like Naughty By Nature. At $650 retail,
it's not a bad deal and proves to be a viable option to the
Vestax line. Rane's new baby's popularity will depend on
how long the fader lasts, whether they make any
improvements, and most important, if the price comes
down to
more affordable level for my finicky DJ com-
rades. But healthy competition in the marketplace is
always appreciated; we can't let Vestax hold it down.
Peace out, ya'll, and my advice o the kids is this: scratch
and skate the days away while you're young, 'cause once
you get older it's all about the Benjis.
Reviewed by Charlie Bubbles, AKA DJ IM Press of the
mighty Mass Hysteria crew. Thanks to DJ Precyse of the
101 Crew, Ludikris, Boy Wonder, Norm, and Rude One for
their input on this article.
90 THRASHER
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