100 Round Pianos

OK, I know I am tragically UN-hip. I don't even know if they call the folks who play the turntables in hip-hop DJs or something else. But, I had an insight about their art a little while back and wanted to share it with y'all.

First, let me start by telling you about one of the most musically fulfilling experiences I've ever had. In 1999 or early 2000, I got to participate in an improvised music game called "Cobra", created by John Zorn. In Cobra, one person acts as the director and is given a series of cards with symbols that relate to different ways of improvising music. Sometimes a group of 2 musicians (or vocalists) are directed to play a "blues" theme. Other times, they are told to immitate what a previous group just played. The Cobra group I sang with included a couple of guitarists, some horn players, a drummer or two and a guy on keyboard, as well as me, a vocalist and another man who set up his records and turntables and played them! I have to say the most intuitive musician of the group was the DJ and, according to a lot of people, he wasn't even a musician. I must beg to differ.

After pondering that musical afternoon for a number of years, I saw a film at the Experience Music Project's annual Pop Music Conference. The 15-minute movie documented an improv session between legendary jazz drummers of the 1940's and '50's and current masters of the hip hop turntable. The rhythms were mesmerizing. It was at that moment that I had my "insight" into the nature of the DJ's art:

Think of each record DJs play as a seperate piano. On a piano, the 88 notes already exist. No production of wind or bending of strings is required. The artistry occurs when the player combines the existing notes in inumerable ways, creating music. With the DJ's records, think of each groove on each record as a single note or a pre-existing sound source. The DJ, through countless hours of listening and practice, knows precicely where each phrase, riff or beat is on each seperate record. He masterfully combines and manipulates them in order to create a new piece of music.

As has been noted by Cornell West and countless others, because funding for music was eliminated in the public schools, the rappers and hip-hoppers resorted to the only instruments they had, the records in their parents basement.

Even an old fart like me can appreciate the invention and musicality of that.