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THAT SCRATCHING IS MAKING ME BIAAATCH
(Worldwide DJ Movement centered in the Yay Area)
by Billy Jam
......To list all the DJs who've contributed to the art form over the years would take too much space but ones that deserve mention include Funkmaster Flex, Charlie Chase, AJ Scratch, DJ Whiz, DJ Honda, DJ Krush, DJ Disk, Mind Motion and Pirate DJs, Doo Wop, Ron G, DJ Tat Money, DJ Pooh, Frankie Cutlass, Spinderella, DJ Pam The Funkstress, The Angel, DJ Cue, DJ Quest, DJ Red Alert, Magic Mike, Captain Sky, DJ Hollywood, DJ Mark the 45 King, The Automater, DJ Kool, Terminator X, Kut Master Kurt, and Q-Bert who David Paul described as "the Jimi Hendrix and the Eddie Van Halen of turntables."
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DJs KEEP VINYL ALIVE
by Billy Jam
WWW.VINYLEXCHANGE.COM
Included on DJ Cue's recommended new mix-tape, "Who's On First 1992-1999," are many wonderful moments from the Space Travelers/Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters' illustrious career including an interview back in '92 on Bobby Torres' "Video Fusion" TV show when the Hamsters' lineup included Cue, Eddie Def, Quest and also (surprise) QBert and Disk. During this interview Cue talked passionately of the "Keep Vinyl Alive" mantra that he and his partners believed in so much that they had just printed up thousands of stickers that boldly read the words: "KEEP VINYL ALIVE," 500 of which made it into the sleeves of their Hamster Breaks album.
"It was 1992 and Tower had just gotten rid of their vinyl section and all the other stores were quietly fading it out," recently recalled Cue. "There was nowhere for us DJs to buy wax anymore. It looked like vinyl was dead."
While Cue's grassroots campaign didn't reverse the trend at big chains like Tower it was instrumental in saving vinyl from extinction and in making its comeback at both retail and manufacturing. It also spotlighted a sentiment that won passionate support from DJs and those who soon after opened up such DJ-oriented record stores as Ultra Sounz in San Bruno (1993) and Zebra Records in San Francisco (1994). In 1994 DJ Cue himself opened up a record store, Cue's Hip Hop Shop in Daly City. Posted above the store marquee were the words: "KEEP VINYL ALIVE."
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SF WEEKLY
By Mark Athitakis
......But there's a downside to all this: Just as those big names on the movie soundtracks find musical barrel-scrapings to inflict on audiences, sometimes musicians don't bother to put their best foot forward, saving their best work for their own records. "I don't like the track," says DJ Cue of "Buggin Out," which he and the rest of the Space Travelers (DJs Eddie Def, Quest, and Marz) contributed to Deep Concentration 3. "But I didn't want to pull the track -- it's the first track all of us have been on."
"We know we're never going to make money on compilation tracks," he adds. "We do it mainly for the publicity, and that's what people should think about in terms of compilations. That's what I told people when I was putting together Cue's Hip Hop Shop: 'Look, this is just a promo thing.'"
The Space Travelers have pulled out of the opening date of the "2000 Deep Concentration 3 Tour" May 4 at the Justice League (call 440-0409), which will still showcase the Triple Threat DJs (Apollo, Shortkut, and Vinroc), L.A.'s People Under the Stairs, and Planet Asia. For the release of Everything That Glitters Isn't Gold, 75 Degrees, Foreign Legion, Various Blends, Lloyd Jones, and others will perform at the Cocodrie May 11 (call 986-6678).
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ASISPHONICS.COM
Cue brings it hard with volume 2 of the classic compliation Cue's Hip Hop Shop. If you've heard the first one, you might of noticed that it was more of a showcase. Volume 2 is like the original, except this time it is woven together by Joe Quixx' short beats throughout the album. The compilation almost comes together as one whole album where each track compliments the next one. One of the best things about the Cue's Hip Hop Shop series is the way he can gather up unknown talent and introduce them to us. I just recently heard of crews such as the S.W.O.T Team which hail from The Netherlands. Other artist new to my ears went by the names of Dick Gail, DJ Tyrannt and Selekt, The S.A.S and DJ Triste, Alfonso Murillo, the Liberation Army, not to mention a few others. I'm sure all of the artist have put in work before, but they all seem to make a larger debut on this compilation, and the whole things bangin'!
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TURNTABLELAB.COM-REVIEW
New from original Hamster Cue. This is the first tape we've heard from Cue, and it just amazes us how well the Hamsters mix tracks together. This is some H Y P E shhh. Cue goes hardcore with some heavy tracks. Hard hittin mixes of GZA, Big L (a cool tribute), Beatnuts, Juvenile, NORE, Jay-Z, also some old skool to keep you straight. And of course some notorious west coast skratchin. Side two starts with a historical interview with the Hamsters and Piklz back when the Hamsters released the first battle record. Then Cue rocks another hard set with Slick Rick, old Ice Cube and others.
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Beta Lounge, June 1st
"Everything off the top, it's all spontaneous," says DJ Cue. And then, "I hate DJs!".
"But it's better to be a scratch nerd than to be in a gang," responds DJ Quest.
A glimpse into the invisible war between Hip Hop and corporate DJ product reveals a number of truths:
1) Hip Hop DJs improvise.
Clones play only rehearsed routines.
2) Hip Hop DJs innovate. Clones bite styles.
3) Hip Hop DJs move the crowd. Clones make people stand and watch.
4) Hip Hop DJs know their history & dig deep for tracks. Clones play
the same 5 break records every damn time.
5) Hip Hop DJs support the culture. Clones run expensive DJ camps that
only nerds can afford.
Tonight, during their extended Beta Lounge set, Quest, Cue and an assortment of other DJs represented the Hip Hop side of things. Different styles of music, different techniques, different genders (!), and different nationalities mixed and matched together in a multi-faceted, community-based vibe. Any narrow definition of what makes a DJ just didn't play this evening, showing it's not just about skills. It's about the love of music and translating an obsession into a positive cultural force.
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Nu Skool
(FRENCH MAGAZINE)
....A cette occasion, s'illustrent les artistes phares de cette nouvelle tendance : les Invisibl Skratch Piklz (le jeune A-Trak, D-Styles, Yoga Frog et les déjà célèbres Shortkut, Q-Bert et Mixmaster Mike) ainsi que les Beat Junkies pour la côte Ouest ; les X-Men (Mr. Sinista, Roc Raida, Total Eclipse et Rob Swift) pour la Côte Est. D'autres ensembles moins illustres apparaissent, parmi lesquels les Supernatural Turntablist Artists, les 1200 Hobos, le 5th Platoon, les Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters (aujourd'hui les Space Travelers de DJ Cue). Les femmes ne sont pas en reste, avec DJ Snowhite et Kuttin Kandi, membre de 5th Platoon et d'un collectif exclusivement féminin, Anomolies.
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