Man claims ownership of moving records backwards and forwards in a specific fashion; nerds worldwide laugh and point

[DJ Rock Well]

You're a gentleman as always!

 

It doesn't excuse me, but for the past year and half the charity I've been working for have been loosely promising me Ableton training but nothing's happened. I've finally got a new project manager who did seem to listen when I explained this to him, but our current project is almost over and the future's looking shaky on the funding front.

[djdiggla]

 

 

Obviously what people do with their turntables is up to them and obviously I'm guilty of going down the battle route for a few years rather than putting out my own music too, but it would have been interesting to see more people go down the scratch music route. CSG crew, Teeko, Brace, C2C and 9oclock to name a few have really done that and each have their own style and way of writing and performing their music, but it'd be dope to see more.

 

This, massively. I've been guilty of not recording enough too. I've contributed a handful of scratch tracks and that's about it. It's something I'd really like to encourage a lot more people to do, but what's the best way of doing it? I've thought about maybe doing a scratch production battle on here, but maybe that isn't the best format to get the maximum number of folk involved.

 

 

I personally would rather hear battle/showcase sets than scratch production. With a few exceptions it doesn't appeal to me like it once did.

[Steve]

That's so fucking true man - I'd almost forgotten that! My collection of files from back in those days was 90% comprised of RealMedia format!

loi, yep. The bit rate on them was super low. Sometimes as low as 32 Kbps.

 

When Asis first started, there was a streaming mix on there by Fuse One and I couldn't figure out how to save it as a file, so I hit play and then recorded it on tape.

[Jam Burglar]

That's really interesting shit, man - I totally never realised that his association with Ruck was connected to D's parting with Thud Rumble (I always figured it was royalties-related, like it appeared to be with Flare).

 

For whatever it's worth, you don't come across as siding with him at all, JB. In amongst all the other shit that surrounds any discussion about him, there has to be an acknowledgement that the Ruck is clearly one of the best to ever do it. I generally assume that goes without saying, but it's also very much worth saying, too, just to make sure nobody gets it twisted.

 

At the time when Asis was around and before, he was doing things that very few people were capable of. The thing is, though, I was very fortunate, at that time, to live within half an hour of one of the few people in the world who was without question his equal on the cut and who also happened to be one of the most humble, approachable and genuinely good people I've ever met or could ever hope to meet (RIP Dave Dee Swift). That probably had some bearing on how much or little I was prepared to listen to Ruck's bullshit.

 

Irrespective of that, though, the thing is - all that stuff is very relevant to the Ruck as he was back then, but who he is these days is a very different thing. Whereas before he was involved in trying to build the scene, spread knowledge and encourage others to increase their skills, all he seems interested in now is being outside of it yet still firing shots. That's entirely his prerogative, of course, but people would have taken a lot more notice of the Ruck who was running the OX label than they are this dude who calls himself Scratchgod whilst making electrosynth pop records.

 

It's dope you mentioned Dee Swift because he was the answer to aliaS back in the day. The piklz site was total chaos, early internet, mud slinging, everyone was using multiple aliases and Dee was like the white knight who could actually step to all the Rotten Apples of the world. It was funny back then and now all that's just considered played out trolling. Also, the internet scratch scene was HEAVILY USA centered and there was a lot of culture clash in the late 90s early 2000s. You guys from the UK don't take boasting the same way as we do in the US. Motherfuckers can't do anything in sports these days without pausing and doing the Thriller dance or some shit. I mean, hip hop is also kind of founded on that shit.

 

Anyway, from my perspective Nicks came out of left field with the shit he was doing and nobody was even really expecting it. You could see a that monolithic "ahhh" movement divide directly after Nicks started dropping files (this was the very late 90s, maybe very early 2000s). Now, he doesn't get all the credit by a long shot but it's easy to underestimate the musicality be injected into the scene if you didn't see the shift. At that time, all that was being talked about/posted was the next new clickity-clack shit. Ric was like "fuck that, its music". And it was not just with "scratch music" but with the scratches themselves taking a turn towards musicality. Everything became more musically oriented when before it was almost 100% technically oriented. You could litterally hear the effect it had on lots and lots of DJs. D-Styles, Mike Boo, Excess, Toadstyle, and others pushed everything in that new direction and we're still seeing the effects of that now. I can see how if you weren't into it back then you could miss that. It seems really obvious now, but at that time in the late 90s it was almost like everyone had forgotten the 80s and were just scratching robots.

 

I'm very big on giving credit where it's due though. If anything has progressed in the last 10-years it's battling. Ritchie deserves daps for his contributions.

 

Flare was a beast. He could also be a dick when he wanted to. It doesn't change the fact that he changed the landscape of scratching forever.

 

QBert did all sorts of fucked up shit on the boards back in the day. I think he figured out he couldn't afford to do that anymore as he got more established and Ric would call him "fake humble".

 

And yo Rockwell, that's right, Dave and Short did an interview for Turntable Radio and danced around the issue to an extent, but Dave said Q and Yoga didn't like the fact that he was associated with the Ruck and he didn't want to be restricted so he bounced. I'm SURE money was also an issue. Notice how the Clifford's Mustache 12" came out on Thud but Phantaz came out on Beat Junkie Sound. Short bounced at the same time. Yoga supposendly put all the backing behind Q and D and Short felt like they weren't getting the credit they deserved. They've obviously smoothed all that over.

 

Steve makes a point though about the difference in size now. I would say 2005 was the tail end of things in the US. If you went back to 1998-2000 or so EVERYBODY seemed to be picking up turntables. 15 years ago I would meet another DJ and instantly feel the need to take that person out because it seemed like everybody was jumping on the bandwagon and fake. By early 2000 a lot of DJs weren't even touring the US anymore and went straight to Europe. These days when I meet somebody who cuts it's like "ok you scratch, lets get up!" I'm not sure scratching/battle DJing can afford to infight like we used to. It's almost like we need to stick together to prevent extinction.

 

I can see how if you weren't watching all that go down, you can look back and see things differently. We lost a ton of info to the ages I'm sure. Back in the 90s Q was getting credit for being the first to use effects pedals with turntables and that's totally wrong. And what about Doc Rice? That guy was the first one I can think of to do a tutorial on scatch technique. Before that it was either listen and figure it out or you had to know somebody.

[DJ Rock Well]

I actully took this photo as a response to the djworx article, but I thought this might be the place to reveal my pre-Ruck ultra-pitch record

 

 

 

16 2/3 rpm bitches!

[Guest Symatic]

yeah thats funny cos that skratchworx article appeared only minutes before i started googling for 16rpm records.... i wanted some random jazz tings

 

i used to cut on my dad's deck that had a 16rpm function

 

 

thread totally derailed..........

[DJ Rock Well]

If only Change the Beat had been originally issued on a 16rpm record, that would've really put the cat among the pigeons!

[Guest petesasqwax]

fucking LOL at the original ultrapitch records! That shit is hilarious

 

Damn, JB - crazy memories there. I can't believe I'd forgotten about Doc Rice and Turntablism 101 until right now! WTF - where is that guy? He deserves massive props.

It's funny you saying that about 2000 - it seemed like Scratchcon was the tipping point for a lot of people. It was a kind of plateau, but it also sparked the beginning of the end for a lot of people. As much as people like Radar introduced the first scratch 12" to come with sheet music, other people were pushing it into areas it really didn't belong (and getting nuff people riding their nuts, regardless). I'm not about to get into name calling, so I'll just leave this here:

 

CLICK

 

To be continued (I just need to go do some taxiing of my kids to various places...)

[Deft]

When push comes to shove - who here has ltd edition gold turntables and mixer. I paid my dues in my 9-5, dropping innovative spreadsheets that my colleagues couldn't understand to amass a credit limit which allowed me to buy them. Ruck ain't got nothing on that kind of next level.

[Acts_One]

Just learned a TON of scratch history in this thread! Thanks guys!

[RUCKAZOIDBERG]

WHERE'S MY FACEPLATE?

[Vet]

Jam Burglar is really on point with everything he's been saying. Like I been saying if you diss Ric and deny the impact the guy has had in so many ways you are denying the true history of the advancement of scratching.

 

Having said that...anyone who was on TTNN back in the day have the audio of the Turbo Scratch I revealed on the boards back then?

 

P.s. personalitiy asides, I wish more people were as progressive as Ric has been...it really feels as tho a lot of the 'scene' has really got stuck on old styles and very few have pushed boundaries....why is that?

[kebzer]

It's a very difficult thing to accept the contribution of someone in a hobby/culture/artform so small like ours, without taking into consideration their character quality. I'm almost convinced by you that Rucker could have helped this scene to progress even more, but I refuse out of personal beliefs to support and acknoledge people who simply cannot behave in a good manner. Talking shit towards everyone (and usually behind their backs or remotely via a PC) is not hiphop culture, that's plain street bumb/ e-thug attitude. Disk & Flare might talked loudly last year against Q, but they contained themselves towards that person only, which happened to be their peer too.

 

Nevertheless though, it's always the question of "whatever means necessary". I guess everyone had to put up with a bumb, cause he was actually contributing at the same time, and that probably happened for a few years back in ASIS and Funkshitup. But he is not helping or contributing any further since years, so there's no reason to play along anymore. The same goes for others like Yogafrog. It's time for masks to fall and for the rest to move forward.

[djdiggla]

WHERE'S MY FACEPLATE?

Why not Ruckzoidberg?

[Jam Burglar]

WHERE'S MY FACEPLATE?

 

Dunno but I got free passes.

[JHouse]

I seriously miss the days of TTNN/Skratchcon, namely the daily drama and disses. It was kinda lame errrybody was hacking on each other, but it was pure comedy...most of the time. Glad there are still several heads around from those days, like Broke, Sigma, and of course Jam Burglar.

 

And yeah, for those that don't get the "where's my faceplate?" question. Sticky Rucker done started a side business customizing faceplates for peoples mixers, however, he seldom followed through, so people were consistently hitting him up on the forums looking for said faceplate. Shit was a daily occurrence, for the most part. And didn't Mighty Jawbone, Ricci's alleged girlfriend, start making them too, but similarly didn't come through? Damn, Ricci still owes for faceplates, records, and time wasted reading his winded pathetic posts.

[Deft]

Ah yeah that Junebugg thing rings a bell. I'd forgotten all about faceplate-gate. What about "the step" - a socialist utopia of dj equipment gear distribution. I liked the idea, I have to say - though I guess the true profit margins at retail level on most gear is not that great anyway.

[Jam Burglar]

Anybody here remember the Cubical Crew? It was all us working shmucks in the cubicals trying to kill time at work. I think DJ Day might have been down with that.

 

My favorite TTNN memory was getting about a dozen DJs and signing up for the white supremacist forums to fuck with them. Everybody might have been slinging mud at each other but we came together for that one.

 

Honorable mention goes to Roc Raida pouring Power Aid on Megacuts for talking smack to him at a show. Hahaaaa!

[Guest Symatic]

jam is your avatar paul daniels or the dude out of twin peaks? i can never decide

[JHouse]

My favorite TTNN memory was getting about a dozen DJs and signing up for the white supremacist forums to fuck with them. Everybody might have been slinging mud at each other but we came together for that one.

 

Honorable mention goes to Roc Raida pouring Power Aid on Megacuts for talking smack to him at a show. Hahaaaa!

Haha, and Mandy Moore's website.

 

BTW, didn't know the Roc Raida/Mega Cuts issue was legit, but looks like It's Been Confirmed.

[Guest petesasqwax]

Fucking LOL at IBC.

[ruftone]

incase yall missed this bit fun

 

just after all the long facebook nonsense - this came into my head - it was longer but i just uploaded 15 second version to my instagram a few days back

 

much love to all you dudes

 

[Guest Symatic]

funny how ritchies facebook account suddenly got disabled just after all this shit eh?

 

dope vid man! awesome use of the 'ruckus' sample

[Jam Burglar]

jam is your avatar paul daniels or the dude out of twin peaks? i can never decide

 

Haha. It's the Twin Peaks guy. It makes more sense animated

[Guest Symatic]

yeah i remember seeing the animated one maybe on skratchworx? or maybe we used to have animated avatars here and they stopped? fuck knows