Black Expressive Culture Narrative Stage: Horace "Spoons" Williams; The Grand Masters of Funk 07/01/84

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Speaker 2: festival. What he's going to be doing for us today is telling us about this alternate tradition of poetry, and reciting for us some of the poems–again, poems which are not, poems made to be written down, but rather poems made to be recited. I'm going to open the workshop by talking a little with Spoons and asking a few questions about his background and then we'll go right in to some of the poetry. Spoons–maybe the best way to start, you're looking so dapper up here today, is to go ahead and give away a fews secrets and tell people how old you are and where you're from, where you came up?

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{Horace "Spoons" Williams} Well, I'm 74 years old, and I was born in a place called Newberry, South Carolina. This is where I-uh did a lot of work, this is why I'm here. I-I just got tired of working in the cotton fields so much, plowing in the fields so much; and also got tired of being whooped or whipped, whatever the proper phrase is, because I didn't want to work any longer [[motor noises in background]] in the cotton fields or the corn fields or whatever fields behind the master, if you understand what I'm saying.

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So I left at an early age, I'd say about 13 or 14 and I worked my way north. And believe me it was somewhat a struggle to do so, because there were times when I had to dive in little ditches on the side of the road, you know, and every light that I seen was fatal, this is what I thought, because I was always thinking in no other terms but fright.

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Interviewer: Coming up, Spoons, there in the plantation in South Carolina, how often did you hear other people recite poems or toasts?

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Horace "Spoons" Williams: Well, the times that you would hear most toasts would be like, uh, in the afternoon when you leave the fields.

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Then all the farmhand had gathered round, like on Friday nights, and have Friday night fish fries.

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And you rest can rest assured of the fact that most of the children were in bed and um, well, there was only certain ways that you could, you know, recite poetry.

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You wouldn't do it when, uh, there was a lot of ladies around, you wouldn't do it when there were a lot of children around.

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So like, men usually get to themselves and recite uh, uh toasts. But um, poems, anyone could sit around and listen to poems.

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Because when you tell a poem it's, it's nice to listen to.

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And in a sense of speaking, and then there are those who would automatically get away from you because poems are usually based on true facts.

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And this is how, at least this is how I'd write mine.

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Interviewer: Perhaps it's better now rather than talking more about the poems to give an example.

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Uh, why don't you do one of the pieces, Spoons? Maybe 'Black man talks to God' to start with?

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Horace "Spoons" Williams: Alright, this is one of the poems that, um, I never wanted to recite.

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[[PAUSE]]

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Because I was afraid of what, uh, the action might have been after reciting it.

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And when I first recited it to Mr. Glandons [?] Senior he insist upon me reciting it to the public. 'Black man talks to God'. [END]

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Horace "Spoons" Williams: My God, we are down here in a part of your world where all men are supposed to be free.

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But oh Father God, torture is being used by the steel toes on shoes.

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And a noose is a swinging in the tree.

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Downhill, Father, woods is dangerous to walk in daytime or night because the shadows of death is nearby.

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And the ropes in the trees is just wait in the breeze, because a black man must surely soon die.

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Your old father was shot in the night field, man he was afraid [??]].

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And the being of [[hounds?]] is sure death.

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Yes, it's a lynchin' mob to do a job.

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But first, they'll amuse themselves.

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So with the wives and the daughters they'll get their full, while the husbands are tied to their bed, to be found the next day in a very crude way.

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The husbands and their families are dead.

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And oh Father, we are all hungry for just a little knowledge.

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But I ignorously try to prolong, and it just ain't no justice yet for the black men house and can't he help but be wronged!

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You see they closed most of the schools to us down here and we pay taxes, but afraid to vote.

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Now, Father, what is that great constitution, that the so called white men wrote.

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No, they don't want us educated, but they will sell us whiskey, wine, beer and gin.

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And they will try to destroy our character and treat black women just like men.

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But My God, you just let a white women say she's been insulted.

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You know they'll hang the first black man they see.

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They will cut off his fingers for trophies and drag his dead body through the streets.

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Horace "Spoons" Williams: Sure they'll hang any ole innocent black man,

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and will laugh at his mother's tears, and only because he's been accused of a crime,

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that the white man committed for years.

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Oh Father God, they tie us to stakes down here and they tear our flesh with their whips

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and we're fed like hogs and shot down like dogs.

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And they dare us to part our lips. And we work in their fields everyday for pennies, from dawn to dusk,

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but when the days are over, not even thanks is given us.

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Oh Father God, our people are being hung and our churches are being bombed.

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And high shares for dogs are being paid to use black jacks and lead on our people

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head, but for this no arrest will be made.

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If so, what's the use - they'll just turn them aloose.

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And will pin golden medals on their chest.

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And then they will hire some others because those other brave brothers will be sent out of town for a rest.

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My Father God, the grass turned red, from the blacks who are dead and their bodies can find no rest.

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Until the vultures have gone leaving only the bones and the hurt in black mothers' breast.

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Oh Father God, you know we're made to fight in all their wars and they teach us to shoot their guns,

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but as soon as they have won a victory you know our voices then begun.

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Because the same soldiers that we fought beside to bring them a victory,

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Oh Father God, they're some of the same who hide behind sheets, and destroy our family.

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Oooh, you know they seem to forget about those days and nights when bullets zoomed about our heads,

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and we all smoked from the same cigarette and we ate off the same piece of bread.

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Now, Father God - you know that I believe in you - but I just don't think it's fair

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for us to have to fight like hell down here, then do the same damn thing up there.

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[END]

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So Father God, I want you to hear me, and please, Father, consider this black boy's prayer. And build a high neon sign in heaven stating that you'll have no discrimination up there. Thank you. [[applause]]

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Spoons, perhaps we should say a few words on the nature of that - that poem itself. How long ago was it that you put that together?

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Well, let me exactly think with you. The poem was written I'd say when I was about...oh about 15 years old. And like I say, I was afraid to recite this poem. Numbers of times I've had an opportunity to do so. But I was afraid of what the circumstances might have been after reciting it. You are the one that stopped and said, "Go ahead and say it Spoon, Say it" And uh, it's a pleasure to say it. But behind that, I would like to leave this thought in everyone's mind. I have never been prejudiced, but I've always been fast. You know. On the feet, running and ducking, and dodging and hiding. I had to be fast in order to survive.

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Uh, If I may, I would like to recite another poem to you. It's of a different character. This has to do with my experience during the Second World War. The title of this poem is, My Saddest Experience.

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You know, the saddest experience that I've ever had It was on one Christmas day A mother with three of her small children went kneeling down to pray And near them, was her dying infant, and I, a soldier, stood by. I could hear the deadly sounds of bombs as they dropped down from the sky. My god, I heard that mother say, But this be none our fault, yet here lie dying is my infant baby who had not yet learned to walk. And he bore no homes against any nations. He knew nothing of a command. A baby bottle was all he held in his tiny hands.

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And then my tears came streaming down, but not because of fate. but because those words that mother spoke, I knew so well was right. For every child from his mother's womb be that mother's greatest delight And Man has no right to take up blessings and teach it to kill or fight. Well, slowly, I moved towards that heartbroken mother, But her words pierced me through and through. "Away with you, young soldier," she said," for you are a killer, too!"

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And that hurt me so, you will never know Because at one time, oh, I was so proud. I tell you I sported my medals for all to see. I was a hero to the crowds. But what really made it hurt so bad was all my glory and my great pride, I tell you It left my heart a burning hell, I had won them through a baby that died.

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Oh, then I picked that dead baby up and held it in my arms again to hear that mother say "Yes, soldier, you have to kill my son".

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Well, an old building that was once a church had been all but blown down and I wandered there to say a prayer and what was left of a cross I found. And on that broken bit of cross was a part of the Christ Childs arm and the side of his holy body which the wheel was thrown.

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Oh gently ever so gently, I laid the dead baby down and I raised the broken cross above my head and I tried so hard to ask for forgiveness but "My God!" was all I said, for I knew of no other to call that could ease all of these [pains [??]] I had.

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And then I thought about the blameless ones who had no place to hide from the mass destruction that was made by man and the horrible ways to die and the millions of guns and those deadly bombs being rained down from the sky.

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Well, then a gentle hand rest upon my shoulder. The mother had come here. Well, I turned about and looked into a smile instead of tears.

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"Oh pray with me young soldier", she said. "For you have a mother too, and please try in your heart to forgive me for ever blaming you, for somewhere out there in distant lands many mothers lives in fear and there are nights they can find no rest and their pillows are soaked" -

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well then you know, the other children she called to uh and she kinda cuddled in in her arms, and looked up and said, you know, god has been real good to me, for some mothers had just one son, oh then I tell you the burdens lifted from my heart Because, brothers I have none, and a sister who died in childs birth . My mother has only one. But I never will forget that day. for its rooted within my heart. the dying day of an infant babe and the birthday of our god.

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Its important to emphasize again that the poetry we're hearing from spoons is traditional in style is part of a broader tradition of rhyming and of poetry recitation within the African american community. the poems of this nature which are simply called poems there's no other designation given them are usually based as you heard in experience. There's things that happened to spoons, things that he felt that he went through that he saw, spoons you know its always hard that in stages like this to overcome the stereotypes of poetry and what it is and where you learned and things maybe if you can tell a little bit about the education that you had and where you really came to be doing poetry whether it was from school or whether it was from learning from other people

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Horace "Spoons" Williams: During my stay...at the place that I was born...I had very little chance of going to school.

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I had people who were in my family that was, um, disabled, and, uh, I had people in my family that, uh, like a lot of people, were not concerned about work...so particularly that type of work.

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So there was a numerous amount of them who left the south at an early age like I did, and came north.

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But so far as schooling is concerned, I think I have about a 4th grade education.

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I served, uh, about 7 years in the service, and I was very enthused about learning, and a numerous amount of time I heard, uh, various debates pretending to say things that I thought was--well, had a meaning to them.

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But I could never comment on them because I knew nothing about them.

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However, as I began to venture here and there, some of the things I've heard debated upon I found the answer to.

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And then later on I could speak on them.

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But so far as, uh, being able to say that I finished high school, that would be a lie, because I didn't.

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But I'm always eager to learn.

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I believe at this present time, that my education came from, uh, people like the audience, and, uh, thank God, doing my stint in the service.

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Interviewer: So the poetry of experience, a poetry rooted in experience and a poetry which dwells on themes from experience

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Horace "Spoons" Williams: [[CUTS IN]] Right.
Interviewer: is also a poetry learned in experience.

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It's not a poetry of schools. It's not a poetry of the great halls.

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It's not a poetry of books. Rather, it's a poetry of the house, the street, the club, the party.

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Spoons, maybe, the most appropriate way to close out the workshop is to open up the floor for questions and we'll see if there are any out there, and then...

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depending on how much time we have after that we'll try another poem. Okay?

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Are there any questions for "Spoons" Williams from anyone in the audience?

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[[SILENCE]]

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Horace "Spoons" Williams: Feel free to ask any questions that you may have in mind, and uh, alright man.

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[[SILENT BACKGROUND VOICE]]

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Interviewer: The question was she noted that the poems--the poems dwell--uh, the poems that we've heard so far today dwell around themes which are painful,

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and she wondered whether or not poems were ever used to celebrate joy?

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Horace "Spoons" Williams: Listen ma'am, I think there is only about two ways that I can answer that,

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and one would be a negative way and one the other one would be a positive.

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You see, there are times once you get away from anything, I don't care what it is,

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if you have a pain in your stomach, you can think about how bad it hurt,

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and then, once you're relieved of that pain, you can think about what a blessing it is to be relieved of it.

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So this coincide with the same thing, if this is the proper word to use.

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What I'm trying to state is this: it's a pleasure to have left. You understand?

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And then it's a greater pleasure to talk about what you had to leave from.

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Speaker 2: Is that enough questions?

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Speaker 1: It's also real important to note that the poetry is only one small part of "Spoons'" vast repertoire.

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He's also a songwriter. He puts many of his poems to music, and a number of those find their expression in novelty songs.

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Now on the stage, uh, earlier today, he performed a song called, "We're Going to Have a Party," which is definitely a celebratory and humorous piece.

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There are a number of, a number of other songs that he performs, which you'll hear him perform later today on the main stage, which fall in that category.

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"Spoons," maybe, maybe to close, what about doing one of the novelty songs as a poem? Maybe, like, something like "Disable Mable" or one of those, as a recitation?

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So many of these started as poems, and then later he put to music. So, if we could give you one of those, maybe that'll be the fullest answer to the question.

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Speaker 2: Well, alright, I think this would be a pleasure, because listen, uh, you know, you see a lot of things occur in your lifetime, and uh, you want to write about it.

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So instead of using the name of the individuals that you see, you pick animals or what have you.

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Now, uh, it's a poem and it's also a song, but I'll try to recite it to you.

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Uh, the one, uh, "Disable Mable." Believe me, that was a gal named Mable they thought disabled, and one named Minnie Moo.

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Well, they had an argument about a handsome gent, whose name was Binnie Boo.

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Now Minnie Moo told Binnie Boo about Disable Mable, that they were no friends, not even kin, although they did live like next-door neighbors.

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Now Minnie Boo - Minnie Moo told Binnie Boo about her, Disable Mable...uh, let me get through this again.

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The reason why I'm doing this, I'm trying to stress the points.

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Now, there was a gal named Mable they thought disabled, and one named Minnie Moo.

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They had an argument, listen, about a handsome gent whose name was Binnie Boo. Again.

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Now Minnie Moo told Binnie Boo about Disable Mable.

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She said, "We ain't no kin, we're not even friends, we are just next door neighbors.

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Now Binnie Boo, I'm a-warning you, man, don't you ever try to get slick,

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and let me ever catch you messin' around with that disable chick."

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He said, "I love you, and only you, and honey, they'll never be another.

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Can't you see that she's old enough to be my mother?"

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Well, old Binnie Boo got slick one night and went out and he bought some gin,

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and he knocked upon old Mable's door, and she smiled, and let him in.

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Well, they was drinkin' mash and tellin' a whole lot of trash when a knock come upon the door,

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and there was a shotgun blast and the sound of glass as it splattered all over the floor.

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Binnie jumped over the table and said, "Bye, bye Mable" and man was he runnin' fast.

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But Binnie Boo was not fast enough because Mable pulled on past.

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Well now, she had but one leg but she was using a peg, and gee, that girl could run,

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and there'll never be a bullet to catch her that they shoot from a gun.

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She said, "Get along Mable," ya know, thank you.

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Now if you'd like me to sing that part...you would like me to sing that part? Huh?

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Interviewer: I'll tell you what, since we're running out of time, maybe I could ask you, Spoons, later today when you're on the main stage to use that--use that as a song.

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Horace "Spoons" Williams: All right. Right over here, ladies and gentlemen.

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[[OVERLAPPING]]
Interviewer: Yeah, we--so--
Horace "Spoons" Williams: And I promise you, not only that song, another song. I'll be looking forward to all of you over there. Okay?

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Interviewer: Let's have a big hand please for Horace "Spoons" Williams from Philadelphia.

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Horace "Spoons" Williams: Thank you. Thank you and an honor.

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You're a beautiful audience. Thank you.

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Speaker 1: Now, we're going to take a little break here as we set some equipment up.

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Those--a lot of you might want to stay around, we're going to be doing a workshop with the DJs and the rappers of The Grandmasters of Funk, from Mount Airy, Philadelphia,

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and with the DJ for the breakdancing group The Scanner Boys, Grandwizard Sly.

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As soon as we get the tables, we're gonna move them up onto the stage here, then we're going to demonstrate: what exactly goes into mixing?

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How do you use those two turntables to create the sounds?

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And what exactly is the artistry that goes into mixing the DJ work and blending?

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We're also going to be speaking with two rappers from The Grandmasters of Funk, Perry P and Money Man.

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Giving examples of the different styles of rap, and having them talk about rapping as an artform.

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So if you could just bare with us, it'll take us four, five minutes, and we'll be ready to go.

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"Mixology", some would call it, and rapping--the art of "rapology", both terms from the community.

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We're going to be talking today with members of the DJ and rap team The Grandmasters of Funk, first,

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from Mount Airy, North Carolina--oh Mount--what--Mount Airy North Carolina? Mount Airy, Philadelphia! [[laughs]]

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Mount Airy, North Carolina is over there on the grand generations stage.

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I'll introduce the three members to you first: over at the tables, the grandmaster here, working the wheels of steel is Cosmic Kev.

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Speaker 1: In the yellow shirt, the rapper MoneyMan.

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[[applause]]

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And next to MoneyMan, the rapper and graffiti artist who did the scanner-boy piece behind us that we'll be using on the main stage in later performances, Perry P.

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[[applause, cough]]

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On my right we have the DJ for the scanner boys, Grand Wizard Slide. [[applause]]

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[[inaudible]]

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What we'll be doing today is quite different from what you normally find at a folk live festival, particularly at this folk live festival.

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Traditionally, festivals of this sort have looked towards cultural expressions of the past.

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Cultural expressions which dealt with very obvious traditions that have been passed on in the community,

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traditions which are still vital and still active in the community, but which have a clearly discernible base, in an earlier form.

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:11.000
The tradition that we're presenting today is a little different from that, at least the tradition of working the turntables. Here we are looking at a form of vernacular artistry,

00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:18.000
a form of artistry which has developed with the technology to meet a need,

00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:24.000
that need being of dance form and a rhyming form known as rapping.

00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:38.000
To accompany breakers, to accompany rappers, DJs begin to work with two turntables and to create an entire art built around the use of those turntables.

00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:45.000
An art which allows them not only to endlessly extend the music so that there never need be a break

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:47.000
when folks are dancing on the floor,

00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:53.000
but also allows them to create their own music by using those turntables in a creative way,

00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:58.000
which allows them to use the turntables as instruments themselves.

00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:04.000
The basic equipment, and we'll start off by talking with the DJs about- about the art of DJ work,

00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:12.000
The basic equipment which they all have is two turntables, a mixer, and a pair of headphones.

00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:18.000
I'll start perhaps with you, Cosmic Kev, could you tell us about the equipment and why you need what you've got there?

00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:27.000
Cosmic Kev: Ok, reason why there's two turntables is, for the number one is reason is Mr. [[Glen?]] over here said, to make that the public has non-stop music.

00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:34.000
If you have one turntable, if you, uhm, have a record on, and it plays- when it gets finished playing you have to stop,

00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:39.000
take the needle off, and the public might by then sit down, you know.

00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:43.000
With two turntables you can keep records going while also,

00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:51.000
for- use for two turntables is, turntables are just like instruments to a musician, like turntables to DJs.

00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:58.000
You can make harmonizing sounds, you can create your own sound, excuse me. You can create your own sounds out of turntables.

00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:02.000
Alright, the reason for the mixer is the mixer is for each turntable.

00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:09.000
So, if you had, like- if you have two turntables, you know in the usual amp you can't plug two turntables in one input,

00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:16.000
so the reason why there's a mixer is because the mixer is for so you'll be able to plug two or more turntables up to it.

00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:24.510
Also, the mixer maintains the sounds to keep the public dancing, to keep both records on or off beat or the harmonizing sound you want to bring out.

00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:33.000
Speaker 1: Let's switch from one side to the other here, and let me ask a slide question about the use of 2 turntables.

00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:38.000
A lot of times when you see a DJ working with double turntables and you

00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:43.000
look at what's on the 2 turntables, you realize that he's got the same record on each.

00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:49.000
He's got 2 copies of the same disc, so that that record is on each turnable, and

00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:54.000
he's moving from turntable to turntable. Now, he's not waiting,

00:32:54.000 --> 00:33:00.000
as DJs with radio stations used to do and still for the most part do,

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.000
running a record through, waiting until that record ends, and then as it ends,

00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:09.000
segue-ing, lowering the volume on that one and increasing the volume on the other turntable.

00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:13.000
It's not that at all, that's too easy, that's not an artistic form, that's simply

00:33:13.000 --> 00:33:19.000
a very basic skill to be able to blend from 1 record, let it play all the way through,

00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:23.000
then let it blend into another and as you start that one at the beginning.

00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:27.000
Rather, when you've got 2 records of the same sort, of the same record,

00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:31.000
actually, the same song, the same piece recorded by the same artist,

00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:36.000
on those turntables, you move back and forth from one turntable to the other,

00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:42.000
using a piece of that song. Now, why is it that you would use the same record on each slide?

00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:49.000
Speaker 2: The reason for the same copy, the same copy of 2 records on each turntable is because

00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:55.000
sometimes when you buy a record only might have about 5 seconds in the record worth listening to, so

00:33:55.000 --> 00:34:00.000
with the 2 turntables you'll be able to move back and forth, keeping that same piece of the music going

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:05.000
and never missing a beat. And Cosmic Kev [[??]] is gonna give ya'll an example.

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:07.000
[SILENCE]

00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:12.000
Speaker 1: So what you're doing here, then, is you've got a short sequence of music,

00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:16.000
you're moving from 1 turntable, playing that sequence,

00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:22.000
then lowering the volume on that mixer, lowering the volume on that record on the mixer,

00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:25.000
while you increase the volume on the other mixer

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.000
to come up with that same piece that you just played on the first record.

00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:32.000
You've got the other turntable ready to go,

00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:38.000
and you're moving back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, creating an endless rhythm.

00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:43.000
The artistry, of course, comes in creating that rhythm so that the dancing audience

00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:47.000
never knows when you've moved from one to the other,

00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:53.000
and so that nobody is ever put off beat. So you're moving turntable to turntable, record to record,

00:34:53.000 --> 00:34:55.280
but you're never allowing yourself to miss a beat.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:01.000
Kev, you want to go ahead and give an example of this? [[music plays in Background]]

00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:14.000
I want you all to watch very closely. As he moves his hands from table to table and see who does this. Ok, now here's our basic piece.

00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:20.000
Now, it's on the other turntable. Same piece. Back to the first turntable.

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:32.000
And what he's doing is after that piece plays, when he queues it up on the other turn table, he takes that needle, pulls it back to the beginning of the segment that he wants to repeat.

00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:50.000
He's got the headphones up to one ear so that he can queue the records up. Now how many of ya'll, if you closed your eyes, could tell exactly when he moved from one turntable to the other turntable.

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:56.000
Back to the first turntable.

00:35:56.000 --> 00:36:00.000
There we go to the second.

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:14.000
Let's have a hand for "Cosmic Kev". [[applause]] Now that is the most basic form of mixing of this sort.

00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:18.000
Now we're going to show a little artistry and get a little complicated.

00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:22.000
There's another form of mixing, which is called speed mixing.

00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:29.000
Sly, could you tell us what speed mixing is, and then we'll have Kev try it again.

00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:33.000
Speaker 2: Speed mixing is a lot like what ya'll just saw.

00:36:33.000 --> 00:36:36.000
But, it's going to be done a little bit faster now.

00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:43.000
It's a lot the same, but it's just going to be a little bit faster.

00:36:43.000 --> 00:36:46.000
Speaker 1: Kev, before you actually start this,

00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:53.000
Do you often do the speed mixing when you've got a dancing audience or is that (--)

00:36:53.000 --> 00:36:55.000
Speaker 2: Well, there are two types of speed mixing.

00:36:55.000 --> 00:37:01.000
Alright, the first type that I will demonstrate, I'll do it a lot at, you know, parties, disco's, and so forth and so on.

00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:10.000
But, the second type is not really demonstrated so much, only, in contests and challenges and things like that.

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.000
But, it's not really done at a regular party or a regular disco.

00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:15.000
Speaker 1: Why not?

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:18.000
Speaker 2: Because for the second speed mixing that I will demonstrate,

00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:24.000
It has a tendency of throwing the people offbeat. It will throw the public off the beat.

00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:28.000
It's like, It's a repeating of the record but it's in a faster pace.

00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:30.000
It's so fast that you can't dance to it.

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:33.000
It's not really a rhythm.

00:37:33.000 --> 00:37:40.000
Speaker 1: So, what you've got then is two different forms of speed mixing. One which is used actually on the dance floor.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:42.000
The other which is for flash.

00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:48.000
The other which you use in a contest situation. In a demonstration situation, where you want to show your skill.

00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:51.900
But, you don't necessarily have to keep that precise beat.

00:37:54.000 --> 00:37:58.000
Speaker 1: okay the first type of demonstration that's remixing that I'll give you will be that

00:37:58.000 --> 00:38:02.000
I want to go for one turntable to the other. right.

00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:04.000
The word is going to go up.

00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:07.000
The rhythm is going to keep repeating itself. But, it's going to be on the beat.

00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:10.000
No matter what. It's going to you know keep going back and forth.

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:12.000
But it's going to keep on the beat.

00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:19.000
Now the second one that I will demonstrate is that it's going to go faster than the records playing.

00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:21.000
It's going to keep repeating itself over and over and over.

00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:29.000
Like you know a pause tape if anybody has a cassette deck out there.

00:38:29.000 --> 00:39:06.000
[[remixed music playing in Background]]

00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:09.000
Speaker 2: every time you hear that sound its once on the record.

00:39:09.000 --> 00:39:20.000
It's moving back. Record to record to record.

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:23.000
Notice it's never missing a beat there.

00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:27.000
Okay, now Cab lets go ahead and speed it up.

00:39:27.000 --> 00:39:50.000
[[music in background speeds up]]

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:52.000
Let's have a hand for Cosmic Cab!

00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:54.000
[[clapping]]

00:39:54.000 --> 00:40:00.000
[[people talking in background]]

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.000
[[Background music stops]] For those who are watching now, there are two things I want you to notice.

00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:08.000
First of all, when he's turning the table, the record on the turntable,

00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:11.000
He is using only one finger. He's not laying his whole hand on it.

00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:16.000
But, for speed, he's using one finger to turn that record backwards to the point where he wants it.

00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:19.000
Listening in the earphone then letting it go as soon as it's qued.

00:40:19.000 --> 00:40:25.000
The other hand is just as important to watch. The other hand is working the mixer.

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.000
One hand controlling those dials or rather controlling the levers.

00:40:29.000 --> 00:40:34.000
Pushing them up and down so that he's pulling one record off while he's pulling the other record on.

00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:35.000
And keeping the same beat.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:40.000
So, it's, He's basically got two hands doing entirely different things.

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:43.000
Working at entirely different rhythms while he's doing this.

00:40:43.000 --> 00:40:47.930
The two hands are not working together. They're working, if anything, against each other.

00:40:51.000 --> 00:41:02.000
Host: The forms of mixing we've seen so far are forms which have been popular in the vernacular in the, uh, black community now for a number of years.

00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:12.000
This style of mixing, these types of mixing, have been around for quite a while. What is coming more and more to the fore, at least in the recorded world

00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:18.000
what you're hearing more and more on commercial records, is the art called scratching.

00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:25.000
Now when people hear about scratching the first thing they think about is "Man, somebody's runnin' something across the record

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.000
they're scratching the record, or they're running the needle some way to get that- that strange sound, that different sound."

00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:37.000
Actually what scratching consists of is keeping the volume up on a record using your hand to turn the disk

00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:42.000
backwards or forwards at a speed greater than - if you're moving forwards -

00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:46.000
greater than it would normally be going, so that you create a particular sound.

00:41:46.000 --> 00:42:00.000
Now if you've got a record on one turntable, you can mix the record on the other one so that by moving it with your hand, you create an entire new set of rhythms, which you overlay on the rhythms of the record.

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:03.000
So basically what you're doing is creating polyrhythms.

00:42:03.000 --> 00:42:09.000
Letting one disc play while the other disc, you're adding scratches to it.

00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:16.000
Kev, I'd like- Kev is really one of the scratch masters of Philadelphia. He's built his reputation on scratching.

00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:20.000
Could you go ahead and give us an example of, of simple scratching first, without any mixing?

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:26.000
Just have one record play and scratching the other. And then maybe going back and forth with some scratching.

00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:35.000
[SILENCE]

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.000
All the DJ's, while he's searching for the record, you can always tell a DJ

00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:44.000
not only by the fact that their walking around with turntables but they've got boxes and boxes of records

00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:50.000
which they carry with them. And for the festival both the Grand Masters of Funk and Grand Wizard Sly here

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.000
brought up a total of maybe 4, 5 milk crates of albums.

00:42:54.000 --> 00:42:59.000
Only a tiny, tiny percentage of what they've got back in Philadelphia.

00:42:59.000 --> 00:43:07.000
[music; scratching]

00:43:07.000 --> 00:43:08.000
There's the scratch.

00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:52.000
[music and scratching continues]

00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:55.990
Let's have a hand for Cosmic Kev there for scratching.

00:44:02.000 --> 00:45:08.000
[speaker 1]: So what he was doing was going back and forth from turntable to turntable scratching each record, moving it backwards and forwards to overlay the rhythm on the other one until he got it queued to the point where he wanted it. Then he'd let that one go, change the volume control and move to the other disc doing the same thing. The group Grand Masters of Funk are not only great scratch artists but they do something which is a little bit different. The rapper Perry P here does a mouth scratch which is rather incredible. The scratch is become a popular sound on the dance floor now. It's hard to find a good scratch artist though, who can keep the rhythyms. So often when a DJ gets up there and starts scratching the record the rhythm, the beat goes off and the dancers are put off. However Kev is not only - not only has no problem with that but now works with a rapper who creates his own vocal scratches. Such that the two periodically will challenge each other. Perry, why don't you take the mic and give us an idea of what you can do here. Give us a little scratch.

00:45:08.000 --> 00:45:56.000
[speaker 2]: Ay Kev do this. [vocal scratching] [disc scratching] [vocal scratching] [disc scratching][vocal scratching] [disc scratching] That's it. [speaker 1]: Alright let's have a hand for the two. [applause] Now it's not all the time that you're mixing two copies of the same record. There's another art called blending. And in blending what you do is you have a different disc on each turntable. A different song by a different artist. And you either move from one to the other, back and forth. Always keeping the correct beat, never loosing a beat or you put both on at the same time. Getting them timed perfectly so that their beats match and turning the volume up all the way. Now the way that you match the rhythyms when you're doing this sort of blending is by using the pitch control on the turntable. Kev can you tell us what the pitch control is and exactly how it works. [speaker 3]: Okay the pitch control and turntable they either slows the record down at the beat that it usually be playing. The beats are like 220, 220 beats per second. You can drop it down to 19 beats per second through the pitch control. The pitch control either slows it down or speeds it up. Now if you have two records and - two different records, excuse me, and one record is faster then the record right here, with your pitch control you can speed this up to the speed of that one. To the exa - to match the exact beat on this record. And make it go the same - it make it come out the same sound and beat.

00:45:56.000 --> 00:47:05.620
[speaker 1]: Could you put on a one record and simply move the pitch control from slow up to fast. [speaker 3]: Oh Okay [speaker 1]: To give us an example of how that sounds and what sort of range you've got in changing the rhythm.

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:13.000
Sly: This would be a normal pace.

00:47:13.000 --> 00:47:19.000
Now I'mma slow it down.

00:47:19.000 --> 00:47:30.000
Now that's slowed down. Now I'mma speed it up.

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:35.000
Host: So it's working within that range that when blending, you can put together almost any two records.

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:40.000
Now it's important to note, also, that you don't only blend hip hop records.

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:48.000
Sly, could you give us an idea of the different types of records that you can blend or that you do blend when you're doing parties and programs?

00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:57.000
Sly: Well I blend, um just about any kind of music, um like, "Body Talk", "No Parking on the Dance Floor", just about anything

00:47:57.000 --> 00:48:03.000
but um, today I am going to do some hip hop, 'cause I've been doing casual music the last couple of days I was up here.

00:48:03.000 --> 00:48:11.520
Today I'm going to do Captain Rock.