Essay on Disk Jockeys

To record this album an EMI console, a 16-track tape machine, a Fairchild limiters, and an EMT plate reverb were used. There were also up to five or six tape machines doing various delays, reverb delays, ect. at one time. Alan remembers “on the mix having to

DJs have one simple task: make people dance. Or that's what it used to be.

This strip is bolted to a running track made out of laminated wood. In most coasters, the car

It exhibits many famous DJs and groups from that time. Freestyle MCing is shown with rare footage of one of the godfathers of hip-hop, Grandmaster Flash, pulling off an awesome scratch-mix set. During this time it was not uncommon for scenes such as the ones in the movie to occur in black discos. Robert Ford, Jr. presents this idea in “Jive Talking N.Y. DJs Rapping Away in Black Discos”, by saying that “rapping DJs reminiscent of early r&b radio jocks … are making an impressive comeback here – not in radio but in black discos where a jivey rap commands as much attention as the hottest new disk” (43).

An innovator in a sense, DJ Kool Herc founded Hip Hop by the early 70’s. MC’s, DJ’s, breakdancing, graffiti and music encompass the five pillars of Hip Hop. Modern inversions interpret these pillars in many different ways. Prevalent through all major cities, graffiti evolved to the murals on the side of buildings, and the creative aspect of music videos. Artists have visions interpreted in the way they decide to imagine their visuals. Breakdancing has become the advance dance crazes that sweep the nations. People in Japan are hitting the “Nae-Nae” because of Hip Hop’s mass globalization. MC’s are the talk show host and commentators of award shows and hosts of events and red carpet specials: media. Dispersion of Hip Hop through channels that connect Blacks across different scopes happens through the media. Modern day DJ’s introduce the new music with sets that keep nightclubs jumping from dawn to dusk. Displaying the

Normally at a rave, a DJ "spins" to create the music that the ravers hear. The act of spinning is the art of mixing songs together using different pitches, different speeds, and an equalizer to create an ever-flowing, ever-changing wall of sound. In effect, artists record techno songs, which are then reinterpreted and mixed with other techno songs, creating a spontaneous new song.

a. DJ Kool Herc originated the idea of extending beats and isolating beats by using two record players.

Hip hop music was much different music from the one heard on the radio. These disk jockeys were innovating a style that was popular in Jamaica.

When a record is being played on a record player it sits on a small spinning plate called the turntable. A rod in the center of the turntable keeps the record in place. The turntable is also covered with rubber or felt to prevent scratching. The stylus or needle is suspended over the vinyl by the tone arm. The stylus is usually made from a stiff material like steel or diamond. The stylus rests on top of the record and rides through grooves like a car on the road. As it does this, it picks up vibration. These vibrations are fed to wires inside the cartridge of the tone arm as sound waves. The cartridge converts the sound waves into electronic signals which travel to the amplifier. The amplifier, then makes the signal louder before they are finally converted back to sound waves and blasted through the speaker. As the use of the vinyl record declined so did the use of the record player, but a piece of it still lives on

Kool DJ Herc opened the door to the world for many up and comers such as Grandmaster Flash. DJ Grandmaster Flash and his group the Furious Five were hip-hop, greatest innovators, transcending the genres’ party music origins to explore the full scope of its lyrical and sonic horizons. Grandmaster Flash, born Joseph Saddler, began spinning records as a team growing up in the Bronx. By age 19, while attending technical school courses in electronics during the day, he was also d-jaying on a local disco circuit. Over time he developed a series of groundbreaking techniques including “cutting” (moving between tracks exactly on beat), “back spinning” (manually turning records to repeat brief snippets of sound), and “phasing” (manipulating turntable speeds). In short Grandmaster Flash created the basic vocabulary, which DJ’s continue to follow even today (Brewster and Broughton, 2000).

Today’s hip hop have changed as where the DJ was once is now the producer as the key music maker, and the park was once is now a studio.

In 1949, RCA introduced the 45 RPM single vinyl record. The LP prevailed for as the format used for albums and collections of songs, while the 45 RPM records dominated releases of single songs. During the 1950’s, Top 40 or Contemporary Hits, a format of the top hits on the Billboard Magazine best selling charts, became one of the most popular radio formats, and DJ gravitated toward the 45 RPM singles. The were less expensive than the LP’s and and they appealed to a younger audience. This movement toward a younger audience was helped in 1954 by the introduction of the pocket transistor radio by Regency.

In 1983, Run- DMC released “Sucker M.C”, which was a song about the group getting discovered, and how bad it was to be considered a “Sucker M.C”, meaning a bad rapper. “Sucker M.C” was important to hip-hop, for the fact that it separated the then new rappers, from the old. Up until this point, artist were using turntables, and used a technique called scratching to make their beats they would rap to. Run-

In 1987, once again, two boys from Chicago, DJ Pierre and Marshall Jefferson, knew that something had to be done so they have decided to create a new sound by using Roland TB 303 bass synthesizer (the instrument that has appeared in the 1983 in disco via Alexander Robotnick). It was a sound which when emitted from the machine swirl it stabs across House music 4/4 beat and that was completely overpowering the listeners.

ways, often depending on the style of music that they are producing, their preferred method of