Nothing wrong with using mixers or maschine or something to trigger samples if digital deejaying is your thing. He also had a sample there that was already cut up, but whatever. It's 2014 and a lot of the old purist rules are out the window. He definitely did his thing. Clean execution, good set. Pretty wack beats and samples IMO tho.
The thing is, that the turntable is a really clumsy instrument. That's why a lot of the old sets are so sloppy. You have to practise craaaaaazy hours to get to that level and it's still musically unlistenable. I think turntablism, or whatever you want to call it, was pretty much taken to its technical limit with Q-Bert and that type of stuff. Then people like D-Styles, Mike Boo and Ricci Rucker did their musical stuff with effect pedals and the sort. That kind of made the scratch solo wanking look dumb and people started to do more compositional stuff with scratching. Then I think a lot of cats just came to the conclusion that it's just easier to learn to play keys, use drum maschines or use the computer to get better results, than banging your head on the wall trying to play the saxophone on a turntable or something and that killed the scene.
There seems to be a bit of a revitalisation in the scratch scene and I think that's great. I think the new Rane mixer with the cupoint buttons looks butt-ugly, but If it inspires these guys to do creative sets more power tothem. I think it's great to see OG dudes like Craze take the stuff further, and if that comes with embracing new technology and breaking "perceived" rules so be it. Also there's nothing inherently wrong with pushing buttons. One could argue that's what playing an instrument is. The point was that "real deejaying" is live.
Personally I'd rather watch/listen to a techno vinyl set or a dj playing reggae 7" or something than watch scratch videos all day but I still enjoy checking this stuff out. The cats out the bag with this digital deejaying technology, so why not use it. Anyone can be a deejay buy buying serato (or more likely a controller nowadays) and torrenting a top-100 list, but you can still stand out if you dedicate yourself, practise and have respect for the craft. That doesn't mean everyone needs to be a scratch deejay, but it's just ridiculous what some of these EDM deejays and new jacks get away with. And I think the point was that there's a difference.
J Craze calls out EDM DJs
