Elements 2007

The story of hip hop goes something like this.

Starting in the 70s, in New York, the art of being a Disc Jockey was changing. Instead of playing one song after another, the DJ would only play the break of the record which is the middle part of the song that is extra funky and percussive. An example of a break is the drum solo in James Brown's Funky Drummer. These breaks would be played one after to make a block or house party even more danceable. Over these proceedings a Master of Ceremonies would preside and eventually started putting simple rhymes to the breaks that the DJ was laying down. Eventually the MC’s rhymes or raps became more complex and rapping became a part of the culture of hip hop along with the elements of DJing, breakdancing and graffiti. In this modern age, many rappers don't use a DJ anymore and will just run their beats from a DAT or similar device. On the other side of the fence, DJs have furthered their craft, known as turntablism, without MC's (listen to QBert as the ultimate example). Whether by accident or design, the first night of the amazing Elements tour that played the Hobart Uni Bar recently mirrored this evolution, giving a firm nod to the old school tradition but also providing a glimpse into the future. In support and representing the locals were Hobart's Heads of State which consists of MCs Dundee, Mdusu and DJs Grotesque and Dameza.

As an example of the original block party DJ was, from England, DJ Format who mixed up a tight set of funky brass filled tracks from the 70s on two turntables. This slowly got the party started but then it was the Jungle Brothers turn to rock the house, minus one member: rapper Afrika Baby Bam. Their set was billed as a Soundsystem Set: where the DJ is the prime mover and the MC is there to support him. MC Mike Gee got the crowd involved straight off the bat with a call and response which brought everyone to the front. The interplay between DJ and MC was not tight. They stopped the music a few times to consult each other which resulted in an unclimactic set. Mike Gee also complained about the 26 hr plane flight, 2 minute sound check and bad Chinese food. Despite these factors they were great to watch and interact with. Next up were the Canadians rappers, Swollen Members, MCs Prevail and Mad Child, who rapped over a DAT. The crowd was firmly up to stage and Prevail worked the width of it with explosive energy, high fiving, call and responsing and finally stage diving. There were some Member fans in the audience, rapping back the lyrics which the crew took great delight in. The audience, so taken, called for an encore when they finished. Prevail came out and performed a blistering a cappella to huge applause.

Z-Trip is a DJ who is one of the pioneers of a style of turntablism called Mash Up. This, simplistically put, consists of playing two records over each other, often an acapella rap record over, in Z-Trip’s case, an old school rock track. He showed a penchant for Guns ‘n’ Roses, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC overlaying these guitar gods with such rappers as Public Enemy, Busta Rhymes and even added a local flavour with Adelaide’s Hilltop Hoods. In addition to the audio, the video of the two artists being combined were also projected on the wall behind him. He has an innate ability, one that should be a given as a DJ, to build the mood to get the crowd totally hyped and then take it down again, repeating this pattern at will. The musical highlight of the night was Z-Trip playing the climax from Rage Against the Machine’s 'Killing in the Name'. The crowd was moshing so hard, you would have been forgiven for thinking the band was actually playing.

Half the set was Z by himself and in the latter part he was either accompanied by a volatile drummer or the rapper Soup from the now defunct Jurassic 5. Soup was almost catatonic on stage, perhaps a symptom of the long flight. Z-Trip and the drummer gave a drum solo on the one kit and also traded fills between the Z’s sampler and the drums. With all three on stage they finished with a mash up of AC/DC’s TNT and then as an encore did their take of Men at Work’s Down Under, giving the crowd more sing-along material.

The first three acts suffered from first night jitters, some more so than others but Z-Trip seemed to have his set down tight. Not only is his technique on the turntables (and other devices) extraordinary but primarily it is entertaining and oh-so danceable: a tour-de-force in turntablism and music in general.

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