Somewhat average if not insulting on certain levels....
Matthew Jaworski | 08/09/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This dvd/vhs is a subpar at best. The fact that someone on here stated," that after the old school(pre-83)Djin started dyin out?!" Its obvious the director didnt really know anything about djin until he saw Qbert at one of these turntablist venues. The fact that you give the pioneers Bambaataa,Kool Herc,Dxt,Theodore,and Jazzy Jay a meager 20 minutes let alone ommit Grandmaster Flash,Charlie Chase,Whiz kid, Scratch on Galaxy, Knights of the Turntables, to name a few is ridiculous! How the hell can you skip dam near 10 years of Djin and go right to Qbert! Wheres the Mixmaster Ice scratch? Howie Tee? Marly Marl?,the Kday mix show Djs?(Julio G,Dr.Dre,Joe Cooley,Aladdin or Uncle Jams Army?( keith Cooley, Dj Pooh,etc..) Oh my God,one the most influencial scratches ever was the Transformer scratch! and that was given as a out take not seen in film with Cashmoney and Jazzy Jeff, like it wasnt important enough or revelant to todays turntablist. Being from the west coast, there is no mention of Joe Cooley at all for his fast rabid scratch style L.A. was known for,even Miami(Dj Mann,Magic Mike,Ghetto style djs)didnt get any love. This is a very inovative period (1984-1990)that is extremly relevant to today,as far as scratchin is concern. Its startin to play like how rap music is viewed today,with the thought of Run Dmc being old school and nothin happen before that.
Scratchin was creative and innovative before 1991 ya'll. One more thing ,"BODY TRICKS", have ALWAYS been part of dj routines,wheres Dj Scratch on here?! check your history and do not follow every little thing that is stated to you as fact on this Dvd cause its not especially from some people who have been doing this for 3-4 years claiming to be old school but have no crates!! only those battle break records! come on!! come correct! This is NOT the complete history of scratchin in my opinion not by a long shot! If your gonna have Dj shadow(dj/producer)talkin about break beats and crate diggin,then you have to have at least prince paul,or pete rock,or marly marl, or especially mantronix on here. This dvd is probably suited for rave/college kids who like soo many are fad jockers, into it one day, out of it the next day."
Good documentary, but came up short in the trenches..
maze | 05/13/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is a good documentary and I can appreciate that it was done since none of the pioneers put one out(like Crazy legz did for Freshest Kids). This documentary is more towards the general audience that don't have any knowledge of DJ'in or hip hop. But us old school guys won't get much out of it.
It focused more on the current DJ's rather than the history. They could have given the pioneers in NY alot more time, and then included the pioneers from California, and Miami. Starting off in L.A. with Joe Cooley, Dr Dre., Uncle Jamms ARmy, Unknown DJ etc. Then move up to Northern California would have been nice to see something about Cameron Paul, the IMAGINE Battles, then they could have brought in QBert. Qbert was on here, but there was no mention of the IMAGINE battles in the San Francisco bay area during the 1980's, im sure these battles where part of Q-Bert's inspirations. Back to Miami, they could have shown Gigilo Tony, MC ADE, Magic Mike, etc. these DJ's from the 80's especially had a huge influence on scratching. They could have easily included a small portion showing the rise of Freestyle music. The last section of the documentary, could have then focused on the DJ's of today.
Overall, its decent, but falls short on a history lesson and us old schoolers wont' get much out of it."
Captures the spirit of Scratch DJ'ing
David Gregory | Bay Area, CA | 05/07/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This was a great film for me for the main reason that my wife understood me much more after watching the film. She understood why I would hold such reverence to my vinyl collection and why I could be so passionate about music... all kinds of music. Scratch brings you right into the mind of DJ's and why they fall in love with the turntable and spends countless hours with them. If you interest in Hip Hop, you will find this movie very informative and entertaining. A must see for aspiring DJ's."
Good but i feel the 3 star guy
Parrish V Adams | Chicago, IL USA | 01/25/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I am not a hater as the one reviewer so eloquently put it! but i think what the one reviewer who gave it only 3 stars.. feels that the early Black pioneers of that era were left out, which if not for them, this scratch DVD would not exist. but you know that's how it goes..the same happened to techno and house music, but overall the DVD is entertaining."