UCLA scratch show

Grandwizzard Theodore, DJ Z-Trip, and Mixmaster Mike performed for free at Ackerman Grand Ballroom on Friday. I was lucky enough to get tickets to the show and went with Josh, Laura, and Dee. The show was simply amazing and I would have paid at least $40 for admission.

Grandwizzard Theodore

Grandwizzard Theodore is famous for inventing the “scrach” sound that defines DJ culture. He created the sound back in the 80s during the era of Grandmaster Flash. Theodore is from New York and he traveled all the way out to UCLA just for the show. In my opinion, his set was not as polished as Z-Trip’s or Mixmaster Mike’s, but it had its moments. There was this one song he played about twenty minutes into the set that had a crazy bassline on it. The bass would pulse for about three seconds and your entire chest would vibrate. Unfortunately, I don’t know the name of the song. He various hip hop songs for about an hour and then Z-Trip took the stage. It was a privilege to see Grandwizzard Theodore perform live, since he is a legend to the turntable community.

Z-Trip

The man of the night was definitely Z-Trip. This guy blew me away. The night back from the concert I wrote a review of his set on his official forums but I’ll recap my thoughts here as well. Z-Trip has a unique style of dj’ing that I had never experienced. He combines hard rock with hip hop basslines creating fusion songs that are unorthodox but surprisingly cool. My favorite example from the UCLA set was when he played Oasis’s “Wonderwall” over Jurassic 5’s “Quality Control.” Some of the hard rock songs he threw into the mix were “Back in Black,” “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and a Tool. I bought both of his CD’s after the show and have been listening to them almost non-stop ever since.

He has played with DJ Shadow in San Francisco, who is probably my favorite DJ of all. Z-Trip is definitely the guy to watch right now and is getting a lot critical praise from reviewers. He has new CD in the works and it should surface by next year at the latest. At the show, the MC announced that Z-Trip won the URB Magazine DJ of the Year award and I can testify that he has earned it.

Mixmaster Mike

Most people know Mixmaster Mike as the DJ of the Beastie Boys. However, he earned his reputation in the DJ community from the Invisibl Skratch Piklz. The Skratch Piklz are a rotating group of DJ’s and was founded by DJ Q-Bert, Mixmaster Mike, and DJ Disk in 1996. Mismaster Mike is a legend for his speed and he blew me away at the show. His hands fly so fast when he is mixing that they become a blur and you get lost in watching him crossfade. It was truly a sight to behold. Mike threw in a couple of Beastie Boys songs to appease the mainstream crowd but he varied his set up a lot, throwing in a nice mix of Sean Paul’s “Get Busy” in the beginning.