This post ain’t for you fly by night hip-hop heads. It’s for those of us that love the sound of vinyl being dragged under the pennyweight of turntable needles. I’m talking the love of seeing a DJ take a famous vocal phrase by big name rapper X and manipulate it ‘til it’s a totally different work of art. What I’m talking about is
beat juggling,
transforming,
and battle routines
which is a world of hip-hop not for the faint of ear. All the mash up of sweet melody, noise and chaos, rolled into a messy mosh of tightly perfected cuts and scratches can only be executed by those with the title, turntablist.
DJ Rob Swift is a turntablist, one of virtue and high standing with a strong disregard for wackness and lack of creativity. His place as leader of the Mighty X-Men battle DJ crew screams volumes as they collectively saved East Coast turntable bragging rights in the mid to late 90s.
As a crew they all did work, but for solo projects Rob Swift always took a jazz musician’s approach to making albums. His deep prodding of particular grooves would be designed to break through the preset exterior your mind held onto from years of radio tune brainwashing. Slow tempo, laser sharp and mentally challenging scratch arrangements boggled even sea
