Source: Johnny Nunez/Getty
Bronx-bred hip-hop will always make the East Coast a cultural hotbed, especially when discussing the mainstay of DJing. Even in its roots with the late New York club king Francis Grasso, credited as the godfather of beatmatching and club fusion during the 1960s, the origins for any disc jockey will always trace back to the Atlantic coast .
Source: Peter Kramer/Getty
Source: Peter Noble/Getty
Source: Al Pereira/Getty
Source: Al Pereira/Getty
Source: PYMCA/Avalon/Getty
East Coast DJs have had a place in the culture since the beginning, starting with that 1973 Community Room party at 1520 Sedgwick Ave hosted by the “Father of Hip-Hop” himself, DJ Kool Herc. Through his invention of the “break,” rap culture was upgraded in ways that gave the b-boys and b-girls at the helm of the movement something to move around. One b-boy in particular, GrandMixer DXT, went on to mix things up even more as the first DJ to use a turntable as a musical instrument. The classic 1983 film Wild style perfectly portrays this era in hip-hop to a tee.
Source: Chris Carroll/Getty
Source: Ron Galella/Getty
Source: Images Press / Getty
Source: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty
Source: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty
Source: Al Pereira/Getty
From there, pioneers like Grandmaster Flash, DJ Grand Wizard Theodore, Kool DJ Red Alert and DJ Scratch each created key techniques for the craft – record scratches, punch lines, breaking the radio barrier and even defining of what a mix is. part of the plan. As we moved from the late 80s into the 1990s, a proverbial gold rush of East Coast DJs entered the conversation and pushed the genre further. DJs are influencing the music industry in a huge way at this point, with legends like DJ Jazzy Jeff, the late Jam Master Jay, DJ Polo, Eric B., Pete Rock and DJ Spinderella each lending their skills on the turntables to Billboard hits by Will Smith, Run-DMC, Kool G Rap, Rakim, CL Smooth and Salt-N-Pepa, respectively.
Source: Al Pereira/Getty
Source: Al Pereira/Getty
Source: Julia Beverly/Getty
Solo stars also found a way to showcase the DJ in their own way: Mister Cee took his own track to Big Daddy Kane's debut album, Kid Capri lent heavily to the chorus of the late Big L's debut single, Swizz Beatz gave DMX the “anthem This started his very short career and the DJ Clark Kent recently passed away helped Dana Dane go gold on his debut LP. Others entered the game as artists themselves, notably with DJ Premier and the Gang Starr legacy. Red Alert's reign on the radio led to other impressive DJs following suit, such as DJ Chuck Chillout and the inescapable bomb effects of Funkmaster Flex. DJ Stretch Armstrong took it a step further and brought college radio into the conversation during his days at Columbia University.
Source: PYMCA/Avalon/Getty
Source: Johnny Nunez/Getty
Source: Patrick McMullan/Getty
Source: Al Pereira/Getty
Similarly, Scratch's successors took the mixtape era to new heights: DJ Clue, DJ Green Lantern, DJ Whoo Kid, Statik Selektah, Tony Touch, and the late DJ Kay Slay all had a string of tapes that held the streets in suffocation. . In fact, the work each of these guys did in the early to mid 2000s made them the new age legends for those shaping their East Coast DJ careers today.
Source: James Devaney/Getty
Source: Johnny Nunez/Getty
Source: Johnny Nunez/Getty
Source: Chris Weeks/Getty
Source: Jun Sato/Getty
Source: Johnny Nunez/Getty
With an influx of up-and-coming East Coast DJs getting into the game today, from Austin Millz from Harlem and Jam Master Jay's son, TJ Mizell, carries the legacy of both his father and the borough of Queens to the DMV DJ B-Hen and the Suzi Analogue siren, the art of mixing is in good hands.
They don't call it the Beast Coast for nothing!
Source: Clive Mason – Formula 1 / Getty
Source: John Sciulli/Getty
Source: Craig Barritt/Getty
Source: Dave Bennett/Getty
Enjoy this special Hip-Hop History Month salute to East Coast DJs with a selection of music below inspired by the mixmasters mentioned above:
Kool Herc
GrandMixer DXT
DJ Grand Wizard Theodore
Grandmaster Flash
Kool DJ Red Alert
DJ Scratch
DJ Chuck Chillout
DJ Jazzy Jeff
DJ Jam Master Jay
Spiderella
Mr. Cee
Capri child
DJ Clark Kent
DJ Premier
DJ Polo
Swizz Beatz
Funkmaster Flex
DJ Stretch Armstrong
DJ Kay Slay
DJ Clue
DJ Green Lantern
DJ Whoo Kid
Tony Touch
Austin Mills
B- Hen
Suzi Analogue
TJ Mizell
Hip-Hop History Month: A Tribute to East Coast DJs Who Set The Standard
originally published on
blackamericaweb.com
