Black Expressive Culture Narrative Stage: The Scanner Boys; The Grand Masters of Funk 06/30/84
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Speaker 1: Can I ask you a question?
Speaker 2: Hey, we got, we got the last member of the group up here, Wildstyle. [[Audience applause]]
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{SPEAKER name="Speaker 2"] Have Wildstyle do it.
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{Speaker name=" Speaker 1"] Okay, were going to have Wildstyle do a move or two. Before
Speaker 1: [[Crosstalk]] Give it up Wildstyle. [[/Crosstalk]]
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Speaker 2: Have Wildstyle do a move or two.
Speaker 1: Okay, we're gonna do have Wildstyle do a move or two.
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Before we do that, I want to ask you a question. Do you people live in DC? [[responses and cheers]]
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For the ones who live in DC, would you act like you live in DC? When I say DC, you say [[yelling]] yeah! [[/yelling]][[responses and cheers from crowd]]
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Let's go DC! [[responses and cheers from crowd]] You know what, I don't think any of these people over here live in DC.
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Cause they looked at me like I'm crazy- [[someone in the crowd yelling]] Huh? [[someone in the crowd yelling again]] Great.
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Alright, we're gonna have Wild, we're gonna have Wildstyle demonstrate the animation crab for you.
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Since he's late, we're gonna try to work him. He's getting a little mad over there. Let me get some music Graham with some slid please, thank you.
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And we might have to Hip Hop Ken get down here and give him a bridge to go under. [[hiphop music playing]]
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This is the human crab.
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The crab just went under the bridge in Philadelphia.
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Alright, he's going to transform himself from a crab to a monkey. Yes, a monkey. He can do it! Let's go! [[yelling]] Monkey! [[/yelling]][[yelling]] Monkey! [[/yelling]] Alright! Here he comes.
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His animation moves are very superior in Philadelphia.
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Alright, let's hear it for Wildstyle! [[hiphop music stops playing]] Alright, one more question.
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Speaker 1: There are a lot of girls that are learning to breakdance in Philadelphia.
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Some are good, some are really good. Some are great poppers I know one popper, Tuesday Tony.
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Umm these are girls, they're really great, but they kind of stop because a lot of guys are like, a lot of girls got on them about popping, y'know.
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But I think if they were good, they would be here. They were good, and they were then, they would be here today. Because they just stopped, okay?
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Any other questions?
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[SILENCE]
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Okay, and also I want you to know we do have scanner girls, they do oriental pop. Wish I had trained them myself.
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They couldn't make it here today, but next time maybe I'll try to get them up.
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Um, he wants to know if describe the tic.
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Okay, a tic is like this, its like your hand comes first, your hand, elbow, shoulder, your head, and then bring it down to your chest, mid area here, and then you bring it back to your knees, okay?
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Imma do it real fast for you.
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[SILENCE]
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[APPLAUSE]
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That's the tic. Question?
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[Audience member] Who started breakdancing?
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Who started breakdancing?
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Somebody tell me because I don't know. [LAUGHS]
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Really, it started in New York, and some of the moves are from Africa, from uh Europe, they're all over, you put all your moves into one, you combine them, and you call it breakdancing.
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I wish I really knew who started breakdancing, cause I would compliment 'em.
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Speaker 2: The thing about breakdancing is that if you really begin to break apart the moves, as we've tried to begin to do here on the stage, you find that a lot of the individual moves date way back.
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One of the performers here with us at the festival is a fellow named Willy Ashcan Jones. He's appearing on the main stage as a comic.
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In the 1930's, Willy was a Lindy Hopper in New York City. Now, the Lindy Hop was another street dance at that time, especially among the black population of the early thirties.
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It was also an acrobatic dance, a dance that had a lot of flips in it, a lot of spins on the floor.
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When Lind-- when Willy first saw the Scatter Boys up on stage doing their breakdancing, the first thing he did was come over and say, "Man, I used to do the same stuff to swing music."
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Just, he put it together differently, he used selected moves from an entire repertoire, a whole set of moves, which are traditional in the African-American community,
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and it's from this set of moves that certain ones are drawn and put together in certain ways over time, so that--
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Maybe, in the 1930s, a selected group of moves were put together to make a dance called the Lindy.
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Then, in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, you had a whole series of popular and vernacular dances being drawn from that same set of moves which are traditional to the community,
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so that when you finally come to the late seventies, in New York City, you have the acrobatic form that we call breaking.
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And, again, that is a selected set of moves that are pulled out, put together in a certain way, and there's the dance.
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Speaker 1: Okay um, we're gonna closeout. Before we close out, I'm gonna, I want to tell you that we also we do bar mitzfers.
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We do anything weddings. We have done bar mitzfers. We have done concerts for the best, Patti LaBelle, um, Treacherous Three.
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We've done all kinds, Captain Sky. I don't know if any of you heard of, he's from Philadelphia. Okay?
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I want you to know that Scannner boys love you and we would like to salute you, okay? Hold your questions. One more question.
[SILENCE]
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She says she thinks I'm fresh, oh my goodness! Yeah, come on! Thank you. Scanner boys!
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Speaker 2: I'll take the mic.
Speaker 1: Five, six, what's wrong?
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See they like to play jokes on me. Come on, let's go.
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Alright, before we give you salute, I'm gonna introduce you to the crew again. I'm gonna tell you from, I'm gonna tell you something that I drafted every one of these from other groups. These were the best in their groups.
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This is Wildstyle from the Starjammers. 25 Starjammers.
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This is Shalamar from Shockwave.
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This is Dave the Renegade from Short Circuit.
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And this is Hip Hop Ken from the Furious Rockers.
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Alright, scanner boys, five, six, seven, eight! To you, city of Philadelphia.
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Speaker 1: Let's have a big hand for the Scanner Boys and do not leave. Please don't leave because the next workshop is going to be real related.
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We're going to do a workshop on rapping and DJ turntable spinning.
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We've got the DJ for the Scanner Boys, Grand Wizard Sly, here, and the Grand Masters of Funk from Philadelphia.
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The rapper's money man and Parry P and Cosmic Kev at the Wheels of Steel.
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It's going to take us just a very few minutes as we pull the turntables on the stage so they won't get it wet. And then we'll go ahead and go on into the workshop.
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[[audience background chatter]]
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Rapping. How many out there know what rapping is?
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Oh, c'mon, hold up your hands. Y'all don't know much, huh?
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One, two, three, four, I can count them on two hands. Well, we're going to have to educate a lot of people.
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The four with me here on the stage here at the Narrative Workshop Stage for the Black Expressive Culture from Philadelphia section of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival is over on my right, Grand Wizard Sly, DJ with the Scanner Boys.
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And over on my left, the remarkable trio called the Grand Masters of Funk.
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We have the rappers, Parry P and Money Man, and Cosmic Kev over on the turntables, or as they're called in the community, "The Wheels of Steel."
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What we're going to do to start off the workshop is talk a little bit about rapping, and have some different examples of the different kinds of raps.
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If the rain cuts out finally, if it stops, we'll be able to use the turntables and go ahead and show the different types of working the tables: blending, mixing, scratching, etc.
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But, what we'll start off with is talking about rap. Now rapping is basically the art of rhyming to music.
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Of coming up with either impromptu rhymes or with rhymes that you've written out in advance and you say or chant over a musical track.
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The art of rhyming, the whole tradition of rhyming, is one that's had a long, long role in the black community.
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Certainly, way back in the 1800s, there was a tradition, a tradition of poetry telling.
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Not the sort of poetry that we associate with schools and with written word, but of, of rhyming out in the, out in the farm in the rural areas of making up stories through rhyme of telling experiences in rhyme.
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There was a whole tradition which still exists very strongly in especially in Europe and North of rhymes called toasts.
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Toasts are not the standard little one or two-line ditties that you say before you take a drink, rather, in the African American Community, a toast is a rhyme, is a poem, which can easily stretch from 150 to 500 lines.
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It's something which you've never seen written down but you learn in the parties, you learn on the street, you memorize, and you improvise bit by bit building around the traditional storyline.
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The toast had been passed down, certainly, since the late 1800s.
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A correlate tradition - a tradition right along side that has been the tradition of of poetry. Street poetry, or poetry which is non-profane like the toasts are and is based more in experience.
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It was really coming out of this whole tradition of rhyming that developed in the 1970s, at least in this country, in a big way, an art form called rapping.
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Perry - let's see.. can we get you a mic? You've got a mic. Why don't you uh - explain what a rap is and then maybe give us a general example of a rap, before we get onto different styles?
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Parry P: A rap is words put together in a wrapping form, where they make - they make a rhyme like as you say - you can say, "Popcorn and horn and the beat goes on,"
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It all rhymes, and when you rhyme, you have music. And then you go from there, and you keep goin' with the flow, like, you just, a constant flow of music and, uh, rhyming that comes outta your head.
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Parry P: Outta my head, anyway. [[laughter]]
Speaker 1: Right.
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Speaker 1: Now different people make up raps in different ways. Could you talk a little bit about that?
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Parry P: Well, there's people that rap slow, people that rap fast, people that can't rap, people that try. [[laughter]]
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I use different voices sometimes in my rap. Uh, there's - there's "street raps", about where you live. They call it um, message raps.
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Parry: There's rap, we call hip hop, where they be talkin' about this is fresh, this is cool, everything is nice, and things like that.
Interviewer: Maybe what we should do, for thos- those out there who haven't heard of rap, 'specially who haven't heard one other than on, the radio or recording, give- give us an example of, just a general rap, before we go into your style.
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Parry: Alright, a general rap. Now, everybody if you wanna see, the brother, whose became of the poetry, I said the rhymes I say they are so big so listen to the number one MC of the year. Say 84 and I've just begun, because my rhyme's so strong and i'm on the one. And when you hear me rhyming, you'll be amazed, because the rhymes I say, I'll put ya all in a daze. [[clapping]]
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Interviewer: Perry has earned the reputation as- in Philadelphia as, perhaps, as the city's finest rapper, both for his, remarkable ability to just, impromptu, come up with rhymes like that, and his ability to change his voice. Let's talk about a few, of the styles of rap, the different styles, and, maybe give a few examples of some of those. Uh, maybe we should start with a message rap, since that's one that people have probably heard through the records.
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Parry: Well, a message rap is like, a message rap, you would say, you have a friend, that he's down, you wanna rap about him, you might say, one of my friends, Joe, had nowhere, to go, no money, no cash, not even dough. He's a little guy, just sitting around, all he wanna do is just walk downtown, not having anything to do in the world. He ain't got the money, don't got a girl, can't get on the bus, can't go nowhere, but nobody knows and no one cares. [[clapping]]
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Interviewer: Now I think a lot of people out there, when they hear you say that, think, well, that's something he probably worked out, and wrote down, and then kept in his mind, and, when called on it, came out with it. Explain exactly what you just did with that rap.
Parry: Sheot,I don't even know nobody named Joe [[laughing]].
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Interviewer: The, uh, the skill that Parry has is, is, somewhat rare among rappers. Nowadays, a lot of rappers will write their raps in advance, and, preform, the sa-, generally, the same rap time after time after time that you hear them on the stage. With rappers like Parry, who work really in a different style, every time they get on stage, they're coming out with something completely different, it's all, off the top of the head, it's, all, obviously, a skill, which has been honed into a real fine art. We heard that a message rap, there are a lot of other types of raps, some of the raps are defined according to tempo; there's a slow rap and a speed rap, for example. Now, Perry here is a superb speed rapper, saying the words so fast, that, at many points it's really difficult to understand what it was he's saying or, more often, has said. Could ya give us an example of just a piece of a speed rap.
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Parry: All right, you might say something like, if flakes are in the nation to rock the population, I'm a motivator, dominator,heartbreaker boom shaker got the power, never sour, always ready to devour, in an hour, break it down, I never quit, I don't stop, because you know the soul shocked, rock a body like an MC that you will agree, and when I rock home, I'm acting like a 1, 2, 3. [[clapping]]
Interviewer: Now, someone in the audience said, "say what?" [[laughing]]
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Interviewer: Now if I was to ask that same question to Perry. And say, what did you just say?
Parry: I'd say, I'm the motivator, dominator, heartbreaker, boom shaker?, got the power, never sour, always ready to devour, in an hour, break it down I don't quit I'm in this life this or in a tower, I can't remember it now! 'Cause see, I just made it up! [[laughs]]
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Interviewer: What about other types of rap, Money Man, can we get you in to do a, a bit of rap here for us, and tell us about your style, your style of rap is rather different from Parry's.
Money Man: Yes, um, mine is basically previously writing stuff to get ideas, and then adding my own to it as I go along, getting the flow as the party goes with it.
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Interviewer: So, where do you draw your ideas from then, when- when you get up, behind the microphone at a party, you don't, improvise completely off the top of your head, right?
Money Man: No, you can listen to the, if the, if the music is loud, you can rap about how loud the music is, how good the sound is, you could look at somebody, and look at their clothes, and rap about that, or you could rap about yourself, what you have on, or- what yo- what's your age, your zodiac sign, and all types of stuff off your head.
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Interviewer: How about writing raps, do you do any of that?
Money Man: Yes, um, I first started writing raps when I first started to get ideas, you know, 'cause a lot of times, when you come to the stage, or perform, you don't know what to say right off hand.
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Interviewer: Could you give us an example of your rap, so we could get an idea-
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Money Man: Um-
Interviewer: How about a slow rap, and can we get a, a rhythm out of Parry [[laughing]]. Ha, yeah. This man- is also known as the human beat box, when you watch him on stage.
Parry: No I'm not! [[laughing]] I'm not the real human beat box, there is a human beat box though.
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Parry P: Rap off of this one.
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[[beatboxing]]
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Money Man: [[beatboxing in the background]] I'm from the bottom to the middle, most definitely,
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I'm the MC rapper with the quality,
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'Cause I'm the metro politician stone to the bone
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The king of the rap, of the microphone,
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'Cause I'm the M to the O the N - E - Y,
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The cool MC that you can't deny,
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Kickin' out the rhythm that'll put you in a groove
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Rockin' on the mic just to make you move, ayo,
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Parry P: [[beatboxing]]
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[[applause]]
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Interviewer: Moneyman.
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[[applause]]
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Interviewer: Now, a real important part of the scene in Philadelphia - the rap scene - has become the use of a wide variety of different voices, and certainly, the master in Philadelphia of that is Parry P.
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Parry, perhaps what you could do is give us a few examples of the different voices you use in rap and then explain to us how you came to use them.
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Just give us maybe one or two, explain how you came to develop those, and then give us a few more. To show the range.
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Parry P: [[high pitched voice]] Well, I don't know where I got this one. It just came to me.
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[[distorted voice]] And this one is an inter-planetary alert. You are now in tune.
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[[deep voice]] I am Phillip. I can not really feel the full.
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[[distorted voice]] May the force be with you.
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[[high pitched voice]] Live and in concert
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[[smooth voice]] On W.D.A.S.F.M.
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[[applause]]
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Interviewer: How did you come about to work with the different voices?
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Parry P: Watchin' a lot of cartoons. [[laughter]]
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Well, I - I was sittin' in my room one day, and I seen - started watching cartoons, started using voices.
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And my mother was like, "Turn the TV down!"
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I said, "There's nobody - I'm using these voices. She said "that boy is crazy". She called up all ya know how people get on the phone and the mother father things "Let me tell you 'bout my son though up there [[??]] making all this noise [[laughter]] using all these voices and she thought I was outta my mind, but she has never seen me do it and perform it."
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Interviewer: Right. Could you give us some of the voices in the course of a rap?
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Parry P.: Uh huh. This is the time. Can you really feel the beat I say and when I get on the rockin' mic just this way and when I rhyme I never quit because you know that I got to be it. My name is Parry P. as you all know, I'm the brother they call the gigolo and when I rock on the mic I never really go so [[?]] everybody listen to the number one MC it got to be me describe me Parry P. I wanna rock on the rhythm I shock the beat it like a [[??]] I can jam it on make you rock all the rhythm till you the morning low, jam on it, jam on it, j-j-j-j-j-jam on it
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[[applause]]
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[[Background Conversations]]
Interviewer: A question that's often asked at the workshop and we might as well precede by talking about it is where to do you rap?
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Parry: [[laughs]] Everywhere
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Interviewer: [[interrupts]] There are a lot of people now who've never heard this kind of music except on the radio and, I think it's kind of a surprise to some to hear ya'll doing what you're doing.
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Where do you do it and then, maybe, give the audience an idea about how common this is. How many rap teams are there in Philadelphia?
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Money Man: Umm it's about, 500 different DJ group and it's about 2-3000 rappers in the whole city of Philadelphia. And out of that thousands, there's only a good ten that can rap.
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Interviewer: Where do you all perform at?
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Money Man: Umm hotels, parks, ballrooms, Bar Mitzvahs, proms, umm gradua-- every type of party, any type of party. As far as doing parties in the city of Philadelphia we do all the parties.
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Mostly, every time you look around we doing a party at the ballroom. If we not at the ballroom we doing a prom. If it's not a prom it's a graduation. It's not a graduation, it's just a disco. It's like, you know, every weekend we are booked up.
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Interviewer: Before we-- Let's see, is it still raining out there? No. Alright.
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Okay, then in a little while we're going to go on to talk to some of the DJ's. Before we do, though, let's see if there are a few questions from the audience about rapping. So either Money Man or Perry P, up here on the stage.
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Money Man: [[guess?]] [[whisper]] Ask your questions
Interviewer: Do ya'all know? There you go, right there. Parry, how old are both of you?
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Parry: I'm nineteen.
Money Man: Nineteen.
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Interviewer: Both are nineteen. Is that the only we question we got out of all that? [[Speaker 2 laughs]] Oh, come on ya'll.
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Parry: Yes, there was a lot of competitions in Philadelphia, which I am sorry for the other guys, you know. [[laughs]]
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Interviewer: Rapping is definitely a competitive form. The whole complex of rapping, DJ turntable mixing, breaking and popping, graffiti writing. It's all part of a piece.
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It's a cultural whole that you can't really take pieces out of. And when--
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Parry: [[interrupts]] Like this piece. Oh, excuse me. Go ahead.
Interviewer: Like this piece behind.
00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:23.000
Parry: [[interrupts]]Like this piece right here. Me and Wild Style did it one the break dances from the Skander [Scanner] boys. We did this one right here. You know it's a form of the writing that they do in Philadelphia also in New York and some in California.
00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:33.000
interviewer: They whip that up here at the festival yesterday in between performances. So, it is a competitive form, just as the others are competitive forms in their own way.
00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:38.000
Parry: And in competition, most of the time in Philadelphia, it turns into embarrassment.
00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:52.000
Like somebody be rapping and they might start talking about your brother or this or that or what you wear and then, whoever loses just loses. Most of the time I never lose. I never lost. [[laughs]]
00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:55.000
Interviewer: Are there any other question out there? Right there.
00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:01.000
[[background talking, can faintly hear crowd asking questions]]
Speaker 1: What was that?
00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:10.000
Speaker 2: No, I don't, I--
Speaker 1: When do you practice?
Speaker 2: I really never practice. I've been rapping for, since, phew, a good 5 years.
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:12.000
Speaker 1: How about you Money Man?
00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:13.000
[unknown speaker} Three.
00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:20.000
Speaker 1: The answer was three. You need to get a mike, man. Any other questions? If not, we'll go onto the music here. One more question, right there.
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:28.000
[[inaudible]]
00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:31.000
Speaker 2: I think they're better on the--
00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:36.000
Speaker 1: The question was whether the rappers are better on the east or the west coast.
00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:46.000
Speaker 2: Really, really I say I don't like to say who's better and who's not better, and in my opinion everybody is good, cause there's just so much talent in the world.
00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:50.000
[[applause]]
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.000
Speaker 1: One more question, very insistent at the back of the stage, there. What?
00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:58.000
[[inaudible]]
00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:13.000
Speaker 2: I think it's, I think eventually it's going to turn into something as a new music type form because a lot of people are liking it and getting into it, young and old wanna see it performed. It's going to have its stay but eventually, like all things, it's going to come to an end.
00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:24.000
Speaker 1: Now a real important part of rapping, or I should say adjunct or rapping, of course, is the work of the DJs. Over here on both sides of me, I have 2 DJs.
00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:30.000
One, Grand Wizard Sly, who is the DJ with the scanner voice. The dance group that we've got here at the festival. [[applause in the background]]
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:40.000
The other side of Grand Masters of Funk, the partner of these two rappers, we have Cosmic Kev on the Wheels of Steel. [[applause in the background]]
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:58.000
We've got about 15 minutes to talk to them about what it is to work the tables, you know a lot of people when they go into clubs or they see rappers and see breakdancers work and know that somebody's over there with two turntables going and they don't really understand exactly what's going into those turntables.
00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:17.000
They see the record spinning, they see a record go on and they're thinking well maybe he runs that record through and lets that record go off and puts another one on. The fact is that what really happens with a good DJ is as much an art as the dancing or the rapping that goes along with it.
00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:40.000
It's an incredible amount of skill that goes into manipulating those turntables to get the exact sounds you want. There's an entire vocabulary built up to explain the ways to mix, to blend, to scratch the records. What we'll do now is first talk a little bit about the equipment, the basic equipment that a DJ must have and why he must have it.
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:52.000
And then we'll talk with both Sly and Kev and get some examples of the different types of things you do with the turntables. Kev, why don't you start by explaining what equipment a DJ must have.
00:26:52.000 --> 00:27:10.000
Speaker 3: Well, what equipment a DJ must have is two turntables. Well, you know, well, better meaning is two phonograms. Reason why because of two turn tables, a disk jockey makes sure that the public has nonstop music constantly, no matter what the conditions are or records are, supposed to have nonstop music.
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:24.000
If, if you have one turntable, and the record player's off, you have to take time out to take the record off and then put another one on, which is not nonstop music. You're supposed to have two turntables. Along with them two turntables, you're supposed to have a mixer.
00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:47.000
A mixer is for, when, for each side of the turntable, for each turntable you operate, it's for the mixed records, scratch mix, or any type of rhythm sound you want to, um, to come out your turntables. Your turntable is really supposed to be used as an instrument for the DJ, for him to make sounds come out and be pleasing to the public, and so forth, and so on.
00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:59.000
Speaker 1: Now, there are a couple different types of DJ. What Kev is is often called a mixologist. What, uh, we've got over here with Grand Wizard Sly, who'll need to have the mic turned on by the way--
00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:10.550
{unknown speaker} I'm right here, I'm right here, so.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay fine. Grand Wizard Sly is called a broadcaster, and I'll hand my mic to Sly and let him explain what the difference is.
00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:20.000
Speaker 1: Well, the difference between a mixologist and a broadcast is, It's really a three-man set.
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:22.000
Ima use Michael Jackson for a coincidence.
00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:28.000
Like, when Michael Jackson write a record and he put it on the market to be sold, he pass it down to the broadcaster
00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:34.000
who broadcast it over the radio, and might do a little bit of mixing and blending with the record.
00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:40.000
Then it goes down to the cut master, Cosmic Kev, who put the real mixology to the record, and get,
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.000
and put it in all the clubs and everything to get everybody to buy the record
00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:49.000
So it's really a big difference 'tween a broadcaster and a, umm, mixologist.
00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:51.000
(Silence)
00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:58.000
Speaker 2: What I'd like to do, at this point then, is to ask each of the DJs to demonstrate a few of the different styles,
00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:03.000
and to explain the complexity of working with the double turntables.
00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:09.000
Perhaps the best way to start is to explain exactly why you need
00:29:09.000 --> 00:29:10.000
Speaker 1: Why to --
00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:12.000
Speaker 2: two turntables to work with?
00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:13.000
(Silence)
00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:17.000
Speaker 2: Sly, could you explain why you got two turntables, and especially,
00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:21.000
when you use the same record on both turntables, why it is that you do that?
00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:24.000
{Silence}
00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:32.000
Speaker 1: The reason two records be used on, we really need two of the same record is on the turntable is
00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:39.000
you might buy a record and they only got five seconds worth of music in it worth listenin' to.
00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:43.000
So, what you do is you switch from table to table to keep that beat steady goin'.
00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:44.000
{Silence}
00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:50.000
And then sometimes you might buy a record that just got some good words to it, but the music to it ain't worth nothin'.
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:55.000
Then you might buy a record that got good music, and the words ain't worth nothin'.
00:29:55.000 --> 00:30:00.000
So, you would take the music from one album, and put it to the words on the other one.
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:06.000
And do the same thing, when you turn it around and you pick up a 100% sound instead of just having that 50%.
00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:12.000
And another reason for both turntables like Cosmic Kev told ya'll that keep everybody on solid pace.
00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:13.000
Don't slow the party down.
00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:16.000
'Cuz we got that, only got one turntable.
00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:20.680
Then we got to stop, then change records and by the time we get another one on everybody bring the set down.
00:30:23.000 --> 00:31:04.000
Host: So if we've got, a segment of music, let's say a five second, sequence of music, in an entire record that's hot, that's good for dancing, what you can do, by putting that same record on each turntable, is repeat the music. Is go from one turntable to the other, to the first, to the second, to the first, to the second, repeating only that five second sequence. And timing it, such that the two go together, and the audience, or the dancing audience in most cases, never knows, that what you're doing is simply replaying five seconds of one, then the same five seconds on the other disk.
00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:30.000
Kev, would you like to give us an example of that? Doing, a short sequence - eh, he's talking there, with Money Man, [[laughs]]
Kevin: [Cosmic Kev] I thought you were talking to Sly.
Host: It's your turn now! Give us a short sequence from one, and the same piece from the other, and sort of go back and forth. Not speed mixing, we'll do that next.
00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:53.000
So what he'll be using here is, he's got two copies of the same record, he'll put one on each turn table, and Kev, what I'd like you to do first, is play, play a bit of the piece through, so, we hear more than just the part that will be repeated, and get an idea of what it is. Then, go back, start again, and use that one section again and again.
00:31:53.000 --> 00:32:07.000
Kevin: [Cosmic Kev] One two-
00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:25.000
[[music playing, repeatedly saying "it's time"]]
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.000
Host: Now, every time it says time, it's coming off of a different turntable.
00:32:29.000 --> 00:33:11.000
[[music playing, repeatedly saying "it's time"]]
00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:27.000
Kevin, could you turn one all the way down, and let's hear the other one from the it's time on, to get an idea of, what it would normally sound like.
Kevin: [Cosmic Kev] Want me to scratch it?
Host: Without scratching, just one turntable, let it play for a little while.
00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:42.000
[[music plays, phrase "it's time" does not repeat]]
00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:48.000
Okay, now go back and, do it to it just, do it again, repeating the first words again.
00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:52.000
[[music plays]]
00:33:52.000 --> 00:34:20.000
So he removes- he cuts the volume on one, has the other going, listens on the headphones while he picks the needle up, sets it back on the first record, gets it- queues it up to the right place, all the while listening in one ear through the headphones, until he's got it where he wants it. Lets the, lets the, piece play just long enough, until he wants to switch to the next turntable, and does the exact same process.
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:36.000
[[music plays]]
00:34:36.000 --> 00:35:42.000
Kev, could you show us an example of speed mixing, and before you do, give us an idea of what exactly that is.
Kevin: [Cosmic Kev] There's um, two forms of speed mixing. Speed mixing is the process of moving from one side of the turntable to the other, backspinning the record, turning the record around, making- when you let the record go, make sure it's on the pattern of the other record, the beat of the other record. You see, there's two forms, there's a slow speed mixing and there's a fast speed mixing. The slow speed mixing is to make sure you never get off the beat. There's a fast type of speed mixing which are really used in shows, battles, or competitions, where as though when you go fast you can make the record go faster than the pace it is, repeat itself to a real fast pace of speed. Now, I'm going to give you an example of a slow type of speed mixing, where as though, you're going to notice, every time I bring the word back in, when I turn the record around, it's going to be on beat, and in the second example I give you it's going to be, it's going to get off the beat but it's real fast, the words are going to go faster than the pace of the record.
00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:53.360
Host: So when you're getting off beat, that sort of speed mixing is more used for show, that gives you a little flash and is used a lot in competitions. Not as much for actual dancing, because you don't want to through the dancers off.
00:35:55.000 --> 00:36:16.000
[[background music]]
00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:41.000
Speaker 1: He is using one finger to turn the record itself, the disk its self backwards against the needle while the volume is turned all the way down when he has it qued right he quickly lets go of the turntable while with his other hand turns up the volume so it lets you hear those two words then immediately it's a switch to the other - other disk.
00:36:41.000 --> 00:37:11.000
Speaker 2: Now go faster Kev.
00:37:11.000 --> 00:37:20.000
Speaker 1: Let's have a hand for that. [[clapping]] [[background music fades]]
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:30.000
Speaker 1: A type of mixing which has become real popular recently is called scratching, scratching the record and Cosmic Kev here is a master of scratch in Philadelphia.
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:44.000
Speaker 1: Scratching is using the sound of the needle passing over record to create a rhythm it is not formally scratching the record taking the needle and moving it across the grooves--
00:37:44.000 --> 00:38:03.000
Speaker 1: --what it is is keeping the needle in the grooves but moving the disc itself either much faster - either much faster in a forward direction or in a backwards direction to create a certain sound and then you use that sound by manipulating your wrist and your fingers to create a rhythm which you overlay--
00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:07.000
Speaker 1: --on the soundtrack playing on the other disk.
00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:10.000
Speaker 1: Kev could you give us an example of that sort of scratching.
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:17.000
Speaker 2: Alright, we gonna show you these rhythm scratches that Kev does. First, Imma do it with my voice and then Kev is gonna do 'em.
00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:19.000
Speaker 1: Either talent of Perry P's here.
00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:37.000
Speaker 2: Alright, Kev do this one. [[vocalizing followed by scratching]]
00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:40.000
Speaker 2: There you go. [[clapping]]
00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:43.000
Speaker 1: Now, Kev could you put a record on and do scratching with a record--
00:38:43.000 --> 00:38:44.190
Speaker 1: --on the other table.
00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:58.000
Speaker 1: This is more the way you'll hear scratching done at a block party or at a club.
00:38:58.000 --> 00:39:17.000
[[scratching noises and music]]
00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:22.000
[[continues to talk over the music]]
Speaker 1: There's those moving from turntable to turntable--
00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:32.000
Speaker 1: --and using the other disk to create polyrhythms. Adding an entirely new rhythm onto the rhythm of the disk.
00:39:32.000 --> 00:40:06.000
[[scratching and music continues]]
00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:12.000
Speaker 1: Let's have a hand for Cosmic Kev, there at the turntable! [[music fades]] [[applause]]
00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:20.000
Speaker 1: Now the question that's most frequently asked when they hear a DJ, folks hear a DJ doing that, is does it hurt the record? Kev, can you give us an answer to that?
00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:30.000
Speaker 2: Okay. The reason why a lot of people think scratching is scratching the record, the record itself, the disk, which is not true.
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:43.000
Speaker 2: Scratching is the movement of your hand on the record, with your needle on hand moving it up and down at the rhythm of the other record while it's playing or at your own rhythm or the pace of yourself as the crowd is dancing.
00:40:43.000 --> 00:40:48.000
Speaker 2: If you scratch to not a rhythm or something, it sounds like a noise.
00:40:48.000 --> 00:41:03.000
Speaker 2: If you scratch, to a, a nice, you know, way the people are dancing or something like that, you know it sounds pleasing. If you notice every time I scratch, it's never off beat, when the record comes in, it's always on beat because I scratch to the other, the other side of the turntable.
00:41:03.000 --> 00:41:13.000
Speaker 2: Which you know- excuse me, the pace of the other turntable. If I scratch to my own rhythm then I'm gonna throw the public, myself, offbeat. It's not going to sound right.
00:41:13.000 --> 00:41:14.000
Speaker 2: It's going to sound like a noise.
00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:25.000
Speaker 2: There's different types of scratching. There's easy scratching, there's hard scratching, there's scratching that sounds like songs like you know Homes, Harmley scratches and stuff like that.
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:31.000
Speaker 2: What a lot of DJ's, they take scratching and they, you know [[misabuse?]] the thing.
00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:39.000
Speaker 2: Scratching is not scratching record only a variety of records don't, the only way the records will not scratch if you buy the right type of material--
00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:46.000
Speaker 2: --you take care of your records, you clean them every night or at the end of the week, you make sure that your needles are not, you know, not too much pressure on your record.
00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:51.000
Speaker 2: If you buy the right types of materials, your records and all your materials will never be damaged.
00:41:51.000 --> 00:41:58.000
Speaker 2: That is assured because most of the records I've had, I've had 'em for about 3, 4 years and I don't have a scratch on them.
00:41:58.000 --> 00:42:01.000
Speaker 2: And people say, "Well how do you scratch without getting them scratched?"
00:42:01.000 --> 00:42:09.000
Speaker 2: They've been thinking I've been putting my hand on the record, scratching the record, it's just the movement of the disc up and down at a steady pace of the other beat that's playing.
00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:13.000
Speaker 2: As you, you have to go along with the beat that's going along with the record.
00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:21.000
Speaker 1: Clearly, when you've got instances of rap groups and DJ's who are working professionally, you can't afford to scratch your record.
00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:28.000
Speaker 1: You've got to use those records, time after time after time so you've got to keep that record in good shape, so you're not going to develop--
00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:35.000
Speaker 1: --a whole system, a whole skill which is built around destroying the very disc from which you make your livelihood.
00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:34.930
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:42.000
Speaker 1: With his right hand, he's working the mixer
00:42:42.000 --> 00:42:47.000
What he's doing is when he's queuing up the record, he's he's turned the volume all the way down on that turn table.
00:42:47.000 --> 00:42:51.000
When he's got it queed just right he'll flip it back up, flip the other one down.
00:42:51.000 --> 00:43:03.000
When he's doing scratching, you only you're actually only hearing part of the scratch. The whole time his right hand is moving up and down with the volume controls so he's got both hands working at different rhythms.
00:43:03.000 --> 00:43:08.000
One controlling the turn tables the other the volume control knob on the mixer.
00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:12.000
The last type of mixing which I'd like to discuss is a form called blending.
00:43:12.000 --> 00:43:19.000
Now what we heard so far is putting two copies of the same record on the two different turn tables.
00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:29.000
Now what I'd like to do is ask both of our DJs to give us an example of blending where you put two completely different records
00:43:29.000 --> 00:43:34.000
on the two turn tables You put a record by one artist on one, a record by another artist on the other
00:43:34.000 --> 00:43:42.000
and this is sort of what you come up with. First we'll have Grand Wizard Slide [Sly] with the Scanner Boys give us an example of this.
00:43:42.000 --> 00:43:49.000
[[Music starts]]
00:43:49.000 --> 00:44:40.000
This is record one here.
00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:59.000
He's adding another record and while he's doing it he's speeding it up with his fingers to match the beat.
00:44:59.000 --> 00:45:08.050
Two different records both at full volume on the mixer
00:45:11.000 --> 00:45:15.000
I'm gonna ask Kev to do the same thing with a different set of songs to give it a slightly different sound.
00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:18.000
Her techniques for doing this are rather different.
00:45:18.000 --> 00:45:55.000
[instrumental]
00:45:55.000 --> 00:46:09.000
Kev, when you get a sec can you turn the volume down completely on beat, so that the people can hear each of the different records there?
00:46:09.000 --> 00:46:11.000
there's one
00:46:11.000 --> 00:46:16.000
there's the other
00:46:16.000 --> 00:46:31.000
and together
00:46:31.000 --> 00:46:55.000
see the other advantage of using the mixer in this case is real obvious. You can blend in certain portions of the record if you want to reserve part of a vocal, for example, which is blend the other record right out, just turn volume down. When you want it to mix together you just blend it right up.
00:46:55.000 --> 00:47:02.000
Okay, now we're gonna move back now. So Sly here, he's gonna try one more.
00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:07.000
let's have a hand for Cosmic Kev there and the Wheels of Steel.
00:47:07.000 --> 00:47:11.000
[[applause]]
00:47:11.000 --> 00:47:54.710
[[instrumental music]]
00:47:57.384
