The first time I was introduced to DJ’ing was at my friend’s 13th birthday party and Mix Master Mike was DJ’ing. The way he was scratching records blew my mind. I was into graffiti during that time and Hip Hop was starting to play a bigger role in my life.

Fast forward six years later. It was the Fourth of July and my friend Chris just moved back to Sacramento from living in Chicago. I remember that night well. Chris brought his DJ set up with him, two Technics 1200′s and an 06 Vestax mixer. He hopped on the tables and I was amazed at what he was doing and how musical it sounded.

It took that one night for my brother and I to catch that itch….. for us to scratch that is (good one Dave). Chris taught us the basics, “baby scratches”, first. With baby scratches, you have to move the record back and forth to get a consistent sound. After you learn that, you add the beat and learn how to scratch with the beat. After learning the basics, soon came late night sessions, getting blazed and scratching till the sun came up.

We started to meet other DJ’s in Sacramento with the same passion. We would study Turntable TV (Invisibl Skratch Piklz) , DMC and ITF battle videos. Scratching became a daily fix for me.

Scratching was invited by Grand Wizard Theodore when he accidentally started moving the record back and forth. This technique was furthered by DJ’s like Grandmaster Flash who developed the technique and started to showcase was scratching was. Scratching was pushed into the mainstream by Grand Mixer DXT, with his scratches on the song “Rockit” by Herbie Hancock.

Although it was eventually pushed out of the limelight, there was still a subculture of DJ’s who pushed the limits of the art form. DJ Jazzy Jeff developed transforming and the chirp scratch. DJ Premier was pioneer to me for phrase scratching. The DMC’s gave a platform for DJ’s to compete and battle each other. Groups like the Invsbl Skratch Piklz, The Beat Junkies, The X-Ecutioners revolutionized the way the world looked at turntablism. These groups pushed turntablism to heights no one knew it would and developed it into a worldwide phenomenon. In fact, in Japan, the turntable outsells the electric guitar.

Scratching got put on the back burner as I got older and started to work more and focusing on school. I started to focus on mixing at weddings, house parties and bars. However, there is still a huge community of DJ’s around the world that keep this art form alive. Unlike back in the day, there is an array of tutorials on Youtube that are helpful for any up and coming DJ. I’m just glad there are people out that that help each other out and teach one another this skill. DJ’s like D-Styles, Ricci Rucker, Melo D, just to name a few, are still doing their thing. When I watch them on Youtube I’m amazed at how far they’ve gone.

Who would have thought moving a record back and forth would have developed into something so musical?