Turntablature: Notation, Legitimization, and the Art of the Hip-hop DJ

By Felicia M. Miyakawa

In the beginning was the DJ, hip-hop's creative force and prime mover. Hip-hop music as it was experienced live in the 1970s was about the DJ's abilities to move a crowd and think up new technological and musical thrills. The commercial success of The sugarhill gang's "rapper's Delight" in 1979 fueled a demand for MCs and for rap, but not for what had actually been happening in the streets: collages of breakbeats from multiple records put together by DJs to "rock" a party. While MCs and "crews" such as Kurtis blow, The Funky Four plus one more, spoonie gee, the Treacherous Three, and sequence began securing record contracts, DJs continued to quietly do what they were already doing: rocking (playing at) parties and clubs and stretching the technological boundaries of the turntable.