Hosted by Ralph McDaniels, Video Music Box was an hour long music video show that aired on public television. I remember racing home from High School every weekday to watch music videos on channel 31 while I did homework.

One weekday in March of 1990, #VMB aired excerpts of the East Coast DMC Battle. Images of a cat in a ski mask (#PlazticMan) and a white tee obliterating LL Cool J's "Rock The Bells" are embedded deep in my limbic system. But it was the light skinned kid rockin' a Superman shirt and old school side burns that had me like "Whaaaaaaa? I gotta learn how to do that!". His name was #SteveDee and watching him take Whodini's "Friends" and make an entirely new beat out of the record brought to life the incredible potential a human being has behind a pair of Technic 1200 turntables.

The Internet didn't exist back then so I couldn't turn to a youtube tutorial for an instructional step by step video of how Steve was doing that. What's more, Technology wasn't as advanced as it is today. Today, mixers are designed with the capability to internally "mimic your fader movements". All it takes is a press of a button and presto, your audience can hear "1 click, 2 click, 3 click, 4 click" #Flare scratches without you physically having to learn and master the L/R hand coordination it takes to perform such a scratch. This, to me, is a complete distortion of reality but I digress...

I eventually taught myself Steve's "Friends" pattern along with everything else I saw him and the other DJs do on #VMB that particular episode. And yeah it took months for me to decode the mysticism behind these advanced patterns of fader-record movements being executed by these talented Battle DJs but looking back, I now realize I was all the better for it.

There have been vast technological advances in the 28 years since March 1990. Long gone are the days of DJ competitions featuring a simple 2200 Gemini mixer with no adjustable fader curve on stage. Mixers today are high tech devices that will literally scratch for you. Here's the thing tho. The gratification today's DJ seeks from learning the latest "quadruple fader reverse clover flare orbit" scratch is luring them into TECHNOLOGICAL TRAPS that are wrecking their own personal potential and the sustainment of true, authentic DJ culture.

It's no coincidence the majority of aspiring "Turntablist" and battle DJs in 2018 cannot figure out the "Beat Juggles" Steve is doing in this video on their own. Unless DJs find the courage to reshape the relationship they have with technology that makes it easy for them to DJ, they will continue to spiral down a never ending vortex of wackness.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this post are strictly mine, and they do not reflect in any way those of the crews, groups or friends to which I am affiliated.

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