Chik Chik Wah, Chik Chik Wah

The title of this post is a feeble attempt at spelling out what the scratch solo of Herbie Hancock's "Rock It" sounds like to me. That song really exploded on the scene back in good ol' 1983, where it blew minds, feet and eventually the turntable business. I remember being extremely weirded out by that video. Let's face it, I was about 6 or 7 at the time and the video was quite the acid trip. I didn't know what an acid trip was, mind you, but fuck, I knew something was not right with that video. Perverted mannequins, a robotic ostrich (?), a bunch of back and forth video editing, a robot hand smacking a mannequin head at the dinner table, just creepy props galore and that sound....that awesome sound.....chikachikachikachikachikachika. The scratch. How cool was that sound?!?! I was just floored when I realized that it wasn't an instrument, but a turntable! Shit was fresh, I thought it was an alien invasion, and apparently I wasn't alone.



Scratch is really one of my favorite music documentaries. I've seen it several times and just recently gave it another spin. I should've paired this with my "Planet B-Boy" post from a couple of weeks ago, but fuck it, I never think ahead and you pay the price by not having two companion documentaries to watch at the same time....I'm sorry and get over it. This is just one of those gems that if you love documentaries you should've definitely already seen or at least heard of it. It's a film from 2001 directed by Doug Pray. The reason I love this movie so much is kind of hard to explain. First of all, it gets me all weepy and nostalgic for the days of spinning on my back and wearing bad clothes. Secondly, the Deejays (or is it djays...djs?) highlighted are really the pioneers in hip-hop, electronic music and beyond, so this film helps to serve as a history lesson on the world of turntablism (as the kids with expensive sneakers like to say). And finally, the soundtrack and archive footage from back in the day let you know that this filmmaker really knew his subject matter. You get plenty of interviews and stories of how this appliance that was meant to entertain your abuelas and abuelos while they sat around has now become a total giant in the music world, competing with guitars and drums as the instrument of choice for the kids of the world. How the fuck did this happen?! People like to shake their asses man, plain and simple. And those people have short attention spans. Plain and simple.

But while people continued to shake their asses, turntablists like QBert and Mixmaster Mike (who replaced DJ Hurricane in the Beastie Boys) were trying to talk to aliens with the only tools they had; you guessed it, record players. I should say that these two guys in particular basically described the art of deejaying as just that; talking to aliens. It's kind of funny when you hear them philosophise on this theory, but what do you expect when your talking to guys who used to be in a group called "The Invisibl Skratch Piklz"?

Then there's DJ Shadow, one of the first artists of this genre that I was ever introduced to and still listen to even now. His segment is one of the most memorable in the film, the camera follows him into his secret world....an old Mom and Pop record store where he has been buying records for years upon years, in fact it's the record store pictured on his first album cover. The thing that might get your dick hard if you're into vinyl and like to collect all kinds of records is when he goes into the basement of this place. It is literally a record collector's wet dream, a place where you can probably spend weeks going through stuff and not even cover a fraction of what's down there. Stacked from floor to ceiling, asthmatics will start to freak out just thinking of the amount of dust in that place, but damn is it an awesome sight. Check out the asthmatic greatness below.



As a whole, this doc really lets you into the secret club of these gifted musicians working with two turntables. It's a refreshing (even now, 8 years later) look into hip hop and beyond, taking the focus off of the flashy emcee, no gangsta rap here, no stupid egos, just a bunch of nerds using technology to continue pushing the boundaries of what has become the biggest youth movements this world has seen in a long time. As you will hear most of the interview subjects say, Grand Mixer DST, the man behind the iconic scratching in Hancock's "Rock it", got it started, but what you hear and see in this movie, is far from the chik chik wah, chik chik wah.



...aaaaannd, if by some fucking horrible unfortunate act of circumstance, you have no idea who Herbie Hancock is or what "Rock It" sounds like, here is the video and song that dropped jaws and panties all over the world: