Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the Hip-Hop DJ

350 Pages·2012·3.359 MB·English

by  Mark Katz

Groove Music
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Groove Music
The Art and Culture of the Hip-Hop DJ
MARK KATZ
1
1

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Copyright © 2012 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Katz, Mark, 1970–
Groove music : the art and culture of the hip-hop DJ / Mark Katz.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-19-533111-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-19-533112-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Turntablism. 2. Rap (Music)—History and criticism. 3. Turntablists. I. Title.
ML3531.K37 2012
782.421649—dc23 2011031319
Publication for this book was supported by the Gustave Reese Endowment of the American
Musicological Society.

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For Beth and Anna, and all the DJs.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First, I must thank a ll hip-hop DJs. I thank you for your artistry, for sweeping
dancers onto their feet and for transfi xing audiences with your virtuosity.
I thank you for your alchemy, for creating musical gold by mixing bits and
pieces of song and sound in just the right measure. I thank you for your wisdom,
for sharing your vast knowledge of music. Th is book is about you, and it is
for you.
I mention many DJs in G roove Music , and I will start here by naming those
I have been fortunate enough to interact with directly, whether by interviewing
them, corresponding with them, hanging out with them, or all of the above.
Some of these DJs are internationally famous, some are of more local renown,
some come from the great cities of the United States, Europe, and Asia, and some
from around the area known as the Research Triangle in North Carolina where
I live. So let me take a deep breath, and say: A-Minor, A-Trak, Aladdin, Apollo,
B-Side, Baby Dee, Afrika Bambaataa, Billy Jam, Bro-Rabb, Cash Money,
Craze, Cutmaster Swift , Disco Wiz, Doc Rice, Food Stamp, GrandWizzard
Th eodore, Grandmixer DXT, Hapa, ie.MERG, Immortal, J.Dayz, Pete DJ Jones,
Ken-One, Kid Koala, Killa-Jewel, King Britt, Kuttin Kandi, Kutzu, Maseo,
Miyajima, Mista Donut, Neil Armstrong, 9th Wonder, P, Pone, Qbert, Quest,
Radar, Revolution, Rhettmatic, Ivan “Doc” Rodriguez, Johnny “Juice” Rosado,
Sarasa, Shadow, Shortkut, SK, SPCLGST, Steinski, Steve Dee, Swamp, Rob Swift ,
Ta-Shi, Tigerstyle, Trife, and Tyra from Saigon — I thank you for sharing your
insights with me. Th ere would be no Groove Music without you.
As central as DJs are to Groove Music , there are many others whose expertise
informed and aided my work as well. I have been assisted by artists, fi lmmakers,
and photographers; battle organizers, promoters, and entrepreneurs; engineers,
producers, and a variety of other music industry professionals; scholars and
journalists; archivists and librarians; and musicians of every stripe. (Some of
these people — and damn them for being so multitalented — are DJs as well.)
viii Acknowledgments
Th ank you, then, to Charlie Ahearn, Michael Beinhorn, Andrew Bernal, Lauren
Bernofsky, Martin Bisi, Kool Lady Blue, Ann Marie Boyle, Laurent Burte,
Michael Cannady, John Carluccio, Jeff Chang, Joe Conzo, Brian Cross, Cristina
DiGiacomo, Phil Ford, Rayvon Fouché, Kim Francis, Fab 5 Freddy, Laurent
Fintoni, Nicole Havey, Ellie Hisama, Catherine Hughes, Akitsugu Kawamoto,
Adam Krims, Johan Kugelberg, Bill Laswell, Tim Lawrence, Stephen Levitin,
Steve Macatee, Wayne Marshall, Robert Adam Mayer, Sally McLintock, Felicia
Miyakawa, Mark Naison, Tony Prince, Katherine Reagan, Miriam Rezaei, Travis
Rimando, Zane Ritt, Martin Scherzinger, Joe Schloss, Troy Smith, Jeremy
Storch, Dave Tompkins, Roger Trilling, Oliver Wang, Tachelle Wilkes, Kimberly
Williams, Raúl Yañez, Christie Z-Pabon, and Bernard Zekri.
In these days of blogging and self-publishing, it might seem that authors no
longer need help to get their ideas to readers. All I can say is that Groove Music
is a much better book for having been published by Oxford University Press.
I must fi rst thank my editor Suzanne Ryan. It only took me about two minutes to
know that we would work well together. Cornering her at a conference, I pitched
my idea for this book and then asked, a bit nervously, “So, do you think you might
be interested?” She looked at me like I was an idiot, and responded, “Uh, yeah .”
Th at was more than six years ago, and since then she has helped me in so many
ways, whether by pushing me to “lose the bowtie” when I indulged in too much
academese in the manuscript, meeting DJs with me, brainstorming with me over
meals, or giving me just the right amount of slack at just the right time. Th anks,
too, must go to Adam Cohen, Gail Cooper, Anindita Sengupta, Norm Hirschy,
Katie Hellier, Natalie Johnson, and Niko Pfund for their professionalism, thought-
fulness, and enthusiasm. I suspect that they all did more for me than I realize.
Although this next group of people is not connected to OUP, I also consider
them part of my editorial team. Many people have read parts of this book in
draft form, but I owe a special thanks to two who read the whole thing and
gave me invaluable feedback: Christie Z-Pabon and Travis Rimando. Christie, a
widely admired hip-hop promoter, publicist, and activist, is also one of the most
careful and scrupulous critics I could want. She pulled me back when I wan-
dered onto thin ice, checked my facts, and off ered her valuable perspective
throughout the process. Travis, also known as DJ Pone, has a deep knowledge
of battle history, DJ equipment, and really all things turntablistic, and constantly
proved himself to be a most perceptive, thoughtful reader. Th ey deserve a tre-
mendous amount of credit. Also working diligently behind the scenes were sev-
eral UNC graduate students— W ill Boone, Dan Guberman, Brian Jones, and
Tim Miller — who helped me greatly by transcribing interviews, doing research,
and assisting in a variety of other ways.
I wrote this book while teaching at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, and I am grateful to many colleagues, administrators, and staff members
Acknowledgments ix
for their support, including Bill Andrews, Tim Carter, Annegret Fauser, David
Garcia, George Huntley, Jim Ketch, Dick Langston, Cary Levine, Carrie
Monette, John Nádas, Don Oehler, Terry Rhodes, Sarah Sharma, Diane
Steinhaus, Phil Vandermeer, Ken Weiss, and Susan Williams. I also owe a great
deal to the literally hundreds of students who read parts of Groove Music in
draft form, including those in my classes, Th e Art and Culture of the DJ,
Capturing Sound, and Introduction to Rock. Special thanks go to the members
of my seminar, Music, Technology, and Culture, who off ered valuable feedback
on nearly the whole manuscript: Karen Atkins, Chris Dahlie, Ryan Ebright, Ben
Haas, Brian Jones, Erin Maher, Vanessa Pelletier, Chris Reali, and Kristen
Turner.
C rucial institutional support also came from the National Science Foundation.
In 2006, I was fortunate to receive, along with Rayvon Fouché, the National
Science Foundation Award SES-0526095 for the project “A Comparative
Investigation of Technological Transformation and Musical Expression.” Th e
award provided me with a semester’s leave and funded a number of research
trips, making it possible for me to interview many DJs in person and to visit
several DJ academies.
Th e sound of scratching and looped breaks did not pervade my house when
I was growing up, and I’m sure that my family never expected me to write a
book about hip-hop. But no one in my family has ever questioned why I would
do such a thing; to the contrary, they have been tremendously supportive.
Th ank you to my parents, Evelyn and Warren Katz; to my sister and brothers,
Cheryl Anders, Ian Katz, and Michael Katz; and to my aunts, uncles, cousins,
nephews, nieces, and in-laws: your love and support means so much to me.
I especially want to thank my parents who, a few years ago, indulged me by let-
ting me read a part of G roove Music to them. Th eir genuine interest and enthu-
siasm buoyed me, and gave me hope that there may be a general audience for
this book.
I hope no one will begrudge me for saying that among all those I need to
thank, there are two who deserve it most: my wife, Beth Jakub, and my daugh-
ter, Anna Katz. Beth, if I could fi nd a nice word that rhymes with your name, I’d
write a rapturous poem in your honor. It would be but a small token of my
thanks for the more than twenty years you’ve been a part of my life, infl uencing
me in the most positive ways as a person and as a scholar. It would the tiniest
compensation for the suff ering caused to you by the all-consuming project we
semi-jokingly referred to as Groove Music: Ruining Family Vacations Since 2006 .
In lieu of that poem, I simply say, I love you and I owe you. Anna, you haven’t
yet read Groove Music, and that’s okay, even though you’re almost eight and can
read just fi ne. Come to think of it, your mere existence oft en discouraged me
from working on the book, since I’d always rather spend time with you than