| The sold out San Francisco, Fillmore Auditorium (approx. 1500 people) Feb.
20th, 2000 Future Primitive Sound Session, featuring DJs QBert, Quest, Nu
Mark, J-Rocc, Disk, Flare, Z-Trip, Rob Swift, & Mista Sinista, was a
landmark event in the evolution of turntablism as a fully
recognized/appreciated musical art form! To witness the packed house of
fans fully enjoy the DJs' (solo or teams) turntable manipulations as they
would any musical act (rock, jazz, etc.) was proof that the DJ as artist
has truly arrived! What makes this wide acceptance so remarkable is that it is all such a relatively recent phenomenon; and one that sparked my memory of 1992 (not that long ago!) when I had the Invisibl Skratch Piklz (then known as the West Coast Rock Steady Crew DJs) on my radio show doing a 20 minute turntable orchestration; something you'd think would attract compliments but instead sparked calls from disgruntled listeners complaining about "All that skratching noise" and demanding "How long is this gonna last?" and exasperatingly asking "Can they just play the whole record through for God's sake?" Surprisingly this wasn't on some commercial pop or rock station but on a college station (KUSF) and on a hip hop show of all things! An audience you'd expect to be appreciative or at least open-minded. So just eight years later to gaze out at the sea of appreciative turntablist fans clapping and hollering along to every move, such as Rob Swift wrecking "Rock The Bells" on the ones and twos or Z-Trip flipping Pharcyde's "Passin Me By" into a drum'n'bass mix or Nu Mark finger drumming on a record or QBert and Disk going back and forth in a mock turntable battle, was a momentous and moving occasion. What's also most noteworthy about turntablism as an art is that it is still in its developmental stages; somewhat like the early years of jazz. Hence we, as fans of this exciting new genre, are extremely fortunate to be witnessing the art form unfold and grow right before our very eyes. As QBert accurately noted in a recent interview, "DJ Flare and D-Styles make up new skratches every damn day!" No doubt in ten or twenty years from now we'll look back at today's turntablists as somewhat primitive in their practice of the art. Just like today when we watch the relatively simple turntable tricks in 1982's "Wild Style."
So where will the DJ as artist advance from here? I predict more and more new techniques being developed, especially with all the new features being unveiled in the latest turntable/mixer models. I also think that the DJ will be commonplace in all musical groups, not just hip hop, rock, jazz and electronica. And I predict that every music school will soon have fully credited turntablism courses. But what do you think? What do you predict is the future of the DJ? And when/where was the first time that you witnessed the DJ as artist being properly recognized for his/her art?. Hit me back with your predictions and memories at mailto:SkratchJam@aol.com and I'll print as many as possible in the next column, okay? for more info on the turntablist convention Skratchcom 2000 which is being held July ist in SF reach out to ISP at mailto:tiff@skratchpiklz.com or call 650-401-6900.
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