the heavy gang activity that most youth in inner city New York were victims and participants in at the time. While most clubs catered to an older crowd by playing Disco, Herc would cater to the younger crowd who had too much time on their hands and nothing to do.
"Kool Herc"
Using two turntables to isolate the drum beat (the break), Herc would switch from one record to another driving the crowd into a frenzy. It was this break beat Dj’ing that formed what we know now as
hip-hop. His early house parties at 1520 Sedgwick avenue influenced many of his Hercs contemporaries at the time like Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash to show their own skills on the 1’s and 2’s. Before you knew it, block parties in New York City at the time were full of young kids, doing new dances, and all under the command of these Djs. Clubs who were often nervous of younger crowds in their venues, were now allowing the likes of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5 to
“So many people who call themselves ‘hip-hop’ don’t know the real story of hip-hop. Hip-hop started out with the Dj. The Dj was the most important entity in hip-hop and now their pushed to the side...." play to packed out music halls for eager fans who came to see the emcees rhyme, but more importantly hear the Dj spin their favorite break beats. Back then, the Dj was the star of this new culture. As the culture grew, more elements would appear. Herc and his crew of dancers known as the Herculoids began to dance to the break beats that Herc would play. These dancers spawned other dancers and a new form a dance, break dancing. More emcees would begin to appear on the scene, many serving as no more than hype men for the Dj. New djs would also appear on the scene over to carve a name for themselves. Hip-Hop was as we know it today, was growing. While still in its infant stages, the young movement grew under the guidance of the Dj. Fast-forward to 2012 and hip-hop has changed in many ways. Today, emcees are hands down the face of hip-hop as more people relate to the person with the mic in their hand, than the Dj. Routinely, kids can run down their favorite rappers and speak about how they have their own dream to rap to the masses. Very few say that they want to Dj. The few who do pursue that path will be met with a slew of new rules and regulations that the early Djs didn’t have to face. “In the mixx: Djs doing work” studies how the role of Dj went from one of the most importance to one where it’s under the most scrutiny. Djs today, while still well received are met with much malign. Who can you blame for that? “In the mixx: Djs doing work” starts off tackling that question. “What is a Dj?” Over the span of 2 years, director and
producer criss-crossed the country filming interviews with some of the biggest figures in hip-hop for “In the mixx: Djs doing work.” Mehka felt like a documentary about Djs is needed for the hip-hop culture today. “So many people who call themselves ‘hip-hop’ don’t know the real story of hiphop. Hip-hop started out with the Dj. The Dj was the most important entity in hiphop and now their pushed to the side in my opinion,” said Mehka “People need to realize that without the Dj, we really don’t have hip-hop.” The documentary focuses on the early Djs like Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster DXT and others. Its goes on to cover the rise and fall of the mix tape Dj, how Djs helped spread the music from being centralized to the east coast to being global, how the Internet has helped or hurt the growth of Djs and the most important question of them all, ‘What makes someone a Dj.’ Speaking with prominent names in the Dj world like Dj Green Lantern, Greg Street and others, as well as artists, industry executives and journalists, “In the mixx: Djs doing work” explores the world of Djs, how they relate to hip-hop overall, and where is the culture going. “I feel like without understanding the importance of Djs, then we have a good chance of loosing the essence of what hip-hop is. It’s not so much about selling millions of records or videos on MTV. It’s not about just watching someone rap. It’s about the music. The guardian of the music and therefore the culture, is the Dj. Like it or not,” said Mehka.
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