A B R I E F H I S T O R Y O F T H E

By Skeme Richards (The

With the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop in full swing, we’ve mainly seen the MC being celebrated within a culture that is comprised of 4 elements which isn’t surprising considering that the rapper has become commonplace with what people associated with Hip Hop. But make no mistake, without the DJ, who is the backbone of this culture, there would be no Hip Hop nor the MC as we know it. So, keeping within the theme of the 50th Anniversary, I think it’s time that we shed the spotlight on the DJ and most importantly the music that has played an important role in not only playing on two turntables but also sampling and creating new production and songs. Hearing much of this music brings back fond memories for many of us which became staples in collectors’ crates. Whether it was hearing songs like Juice “Catch A Groove” at a block party or seeing Grandmaster Flash in his kitchen rocking doubles of The Headhunters “God Make Me Funky” then transitioning into Bob James’ “Mardi Gras”, searching for the perfect beat was always a thing. Starting out with DJ’s who had the ear and knew exactly what would rock the spot, whether it was a popular disco 12” with a break or something more obscure but equally as funky, digging played a major part in what separated a great DJ who had personal crates versus everyone else. There’s an art to digging and not everyone possesses that gift of being able to break records and turn them into anthems and sought out pieces of gold. In the early days, DJ’s would wash off or black out certain record labels so that the competition wouldn’t be able to recognize what they were playing and would leave them visiting record shops with only a memory of how a song went in hopes that shop owners could identify it. Being elite in your field brought accolades and eventually titles like “King of Diggin’” (which is held by Japan’s DJ Muro) but within any industry, there’s always someone there to make things easier while capitalizing off of it’s popularity which brings us to the Compilation LP

Call it what you like, it was the gift for many while being the curse for others, these compilations we’re basically bootleg recordings that featured songs that DJ’s in the Bronx where already playing and compiled them onto one LP which made it easier for everyone to have those songs. These early bootleg recordings slightly shook things up but never enough to truly disrupt those who dug deeper than the average. For years there has always been debates about the impact that these compilations made. On one side of the coin you will hear from those upholding a standard say that “it’s giving away all of the secrets” while on the flip side of the coin you’ll hear that these comps are tools that teach the art of digging. But what did those who ran the labels say? Did they even care or was it all about the profit at the end of the day? Remember, these were all unauthorized pressings of copyrighted material that helped to shape the sound of a global phenomena called Hip Hop. As the saying goes, “Hip Hop didn’t invent anything, but Hip Hop reinvented everything” which couldn’t be anymore true.

The most popular in the genre of compilation albums and favorite amongst DJ’s and producers for its variety, “deeper digs” and lengthy catalog is without a doubt, the Ultimate Breaks & Beats series founded by the legendary Breakbeat Lenny R I P (Lenny Roberts) and Breakbeat Lou (Louis Flores) who was responsible for doing remix work as well as other duties for the label This series separated itself from others quickly with better sound quality as well as captivating graffiti art covers done by Gabriel E Rajman then later by Kev Harris aka TM7 beginning with volume SBR-512 UBB lasted an incredible 25 issue run and has been influential for a lot of production in Hip Hop and beyond

OG PRESS: You’ve been around the Martial Arts genre along time, what were some of the earliest ones you remember seeing and at which theaters?

JOHNNYRAY: My stepfather took my mother and I to the movies when he first began dating her and one of the common places he took her was 42nd Street Times Square. Those of us from New York called it “The Deuce” which was short for Forty-deuce. The Deuce contained nine theaters on one block playing double and triple feature kung fu movies. My introduction to the Deuce began as early as 1973 when I was in fact, only 3 years old I remember seeing Enter the Dragon but only remembering the “hand man” afterward. I more clearly remember seeing The Exorcist at that time because my mother kept yanking on my arm. Since this early age I grew up constantly going to the Deuce to see movies, most of which were kung fu movies and most of those were the Shaw Brothers produced films.

The first ones that would be ingrained into me were Five Masters of Shaolin and Shaolin Challenges Ninja (aka Challenge of the Ninja). Because of my age being approximately five years younger than most of the old-school cats, my introduction (at the very impressionable age of 10 years old) was to mostly Shaw Brother films and specifically those of the latter 70s whereas most of my contemporaries were introduced to the genre by Bruce Lee. Although Enter the Dragon actually was my first martial arts film, I was too young to remember it enough for it to have a profound effect on me.

So let’s take a dive into the history of just a few of these compilations that helped to shape DJ’ing, digging and sample culture over the years that have become crate essentials and tools that have divided us just as much as connecting us through the love of music. Bootleg record culture has always been a thing and although the main focus will be some of the most infamous compilation LP’s that made the biggest Dsgcxccchfgchvhbknpkbihv jhbjiuv u yvuvycfyhvhvhygv let’s take a dive into the history of just a few of these compilations that helped to shape DJ’ing, digging and sample culture over the years that have become crate essentials and tools that have divided us just as much as connecting us through the love of music. Bootleg record culture has always been a thing and although the main focus will be some of the most infamous compilation LP’s that made the biggest Dsgcxccchfgchvhbknpkbihv jhbjiuv u yvuvycfyhvhvhygv

We met through SCVTTERBRVIN‘s brother Odessa Kane so we’ve been in the trenches rocking with each other from day one. We’re from the same crew masters of the universe & grew up in the same neighborhood in Southeast San Diego skyline Paradise Hills. Seeing where he’s taken his craft as a battle emcee to where he’s dropping consistent dope content with his own movement is meant to be. We came up creating and sharing with each other “oh did you hear this break oh did you hear that one ooh peep this!” we even had a proto live production crew Organic Robots we did two shows where we brought out our gear smashed pads straight up crushed them shows with nasty lofi dirty drums it was ill. As a producer emcee I think it could hard making Beats for another producer MC because it’s got to be phenomenal there’s got to be something they couldn’t do themselves or just a whole Nother flavor even if it’s something they could do themselves you have to bring something to the table A sound that complement their art. I would have to say the process for this record this project it started a couple years ago I was coming off of finishing rituals resilience for I Self Devine and I was really in my bag so I sent Scatterbrain a couple tracks a track called alert and another track and he crushed it I sent some other beats didn’t really hear back from me so I was like they was dope but I was like yeah if you if the home is no rhyme or anything you do you know it you don’t feel no way you know what I’m saying So I just kept sending them beat packs and then I sent him this one B pack and he did like three tracks off of it and I was like yo we got a EP and I send them off some more elastic beats and a few that I was saving for like some super special occasions and this was the occasion I was saving those beats for.

OG PRESS: What do you both draw inspiration from musically?

SCVTTERBRVIN: Being outside interacting with people, looking at graffiti, watching basketball and reading holy books. When it comes to writing I got inspired by Aldous Huxley, Hunter S. Thompson, Nas and MF DOOM. Looking at artwork by Heironymus Bosch, MC Escher and Salvador Dali has influenced me a lot when it comes to thinking outside the box. John Carpenter and David Lynch are some of my favorite filmmakers. Watching all the Star Wars movies and shows with my kids has been inspiring for me lately too. Shout out to George Lucas. Also, the graffiti writer Cap One is a big inspiration as well. His appearance in the movie Style Wars when he was crossing out everybody's graffiti always gets me hyped. I want to bring that type of energy to the microphone.

ORKO ELOHEIM: I draw a lot from nature water the color spectrum elements geodesic rocks and the excitement I get from creating a manipulating sound from bass cosmic tones from a ritual and a tradition I’ve created through making my heart the whole ritual of gathering sounds in layering them out and create in textures patterns It’s like painting with sound. And even though I’ve moved from the city life to a more simpler life in the Midwest I still carry that energy with me I still carry energy of San Diego Los Angeles The Bay North Philadelphia Brooklyn all the places I’ve live for long amounts of time live in me the fact music and sound art is so expansive there’s always something to learn it keeps me engaged Don’t be afraid to master your instruments or max out on everything it can do take them apart and modify them learn how to make them sound their best or the worst on purpose I spend hours making noise not being afraid to create from a different approach then sample and compose that. We all have the same equipment, but I hit the pads with the velocity of my life’s experience