1750 word music class

2/25/2021 Bands and the Role of the DJ: MUS 17 - Hip-Hop - Green [WI21]

https://canvas.ucsd.edu/courses/24336/pages/bands-and-the-role-of-the-dj?module_item_id=686061 1/3

Bands and the Role of the DJ

Session guitarist, Eddie Martinez. Played for Kurtis Blow, Run-D.M.C, and many others outside of Hip Hop.

We know that the DJs playing continuous breaks, pushing low-end frequencies was central to Hip Hop musical expression when it was an event-based practice. The techniques DJs used for making music did not translate to the studio when the opportunity to record songs arose in 1979. Bands took on the role of sound providers for the emcees.

The Shifting Role of the DJ

The early impresarios, like Sylvia Robinson, who invested in recording and marketing Hip Hop neither understood, nor valued the centrality of the DJ. Most of them were musicians from an earlier era of music making that used bands to record tracks for vocalists. The label executives for the independent companies Sugar Hill, Paul Winley Records, and Enjoy Records all used instrumentalists to replay the breaks they heard for the rappers on their labels, during the early 1980s. Professional studio musicians were also used for Kurtis Blows' (Walker) self- titled, major label debut album, on Mercury Records.

2/25/2021 Bands and the Role of the DJ: MUS 17 - Hip-Hop - Green [WI21]

https://canvas.ucsd.edu/courses/24336/pages/bands-and-the-role-of-the-dj?module_item_id=686061 2/3

Task: Listen to the song "The Breaks" (1980) by Kurtis Blow. This is an example of the band-based sound of the late 70s and early 80s.

Questions: Many followers of Hip Hop do not hold the sound of early band-based tracks in high esteem.

Describe the beat (track) ,not the lyrics, to the best of your ability. Does it matter that a band created this track and not a DJ?

Why or why not?

Meanwhile, Grandmaster Flash, who was leader of his group The Furious Five, was continually sidelined and marginalized in the Sugar Hill Records recording studio. Label head Sylvia Robinson disparaged him openly. In 1981, he was able to record a mix routine using three turntables. The result was the piece "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel." The achievement of recording this piece didn't change the mind of Robinson.

Question:

What well-known break is he using that you've already heard in this class? If you're not sure, look here. (https://www.whosampled.com/Grandmaster- Flash/The-Adventures-of-Grandmaster-Flash-on-the-Wheels-of-Steel/)

The BreaksThe Breaks

The Adventures of GrandmaThe Adventures of Grandma……

2/25/2021 Bands and the Role of the DJ: MUS 17 - Hip-Hop - Green [WI21]

https://canvas.ucsd.edu/courses/24336/pages/bands-and-the-role-of-the-dj?module_item_id=686061 3/3

In truth, when I was younger I erroneously thought the DJ was always responsible for making the beat, when he/she was part of a rap group (when raps groups were plentiful). You will find that this is true some of the time, but not always. If the DJ knows how to cut and scratch, many times they will be hired to record those specific sounds. In terms of who is responsible for making the beat, the song as a whole, and controlling how the song sounds, there are three primary roles: the producer, the beatmaker, and the audio/mixing engineer. In Hip Hop, these roles are not always well-defined, and often overlap.