Herbie Hancock on the Cleveland Show:

I recently watched the Cleveland Show’s “Birth of a Salesman” and besides being hilarious, it paid respects to the great Herbie Hancock. Before I wanted to write anything about it, I came across Brandon’s posting on the hulu website which is exactly what I was going to say, put into much better words.

“I love that Cleveland Show highlighted Herbie Hancock and one of my favorite songs of all time. “Rockit” is one of the most influential songs ever recorded. Grand Mixer DXT spawned a whole generation of future DJs with this performance at the 84 Grammys, including Q-Bert, MixMasterMike, Cut Chemist, Z-Trip, etc. etc. etc. It was that performance of “Rock It” that stole the show on a night when Michael Jackson won seven awards (if you watch that performance, at the very end, you can see Michael and Brooke Shields in the front row, joining the crowd in a standing ovation). Speaking as a turntablist, pounds of respect to the Cleveland Show.”

Mista B shows off his skills at Skratchpad up in the Yay Area! (That would be the Bay Area, California for the non West Coasters)

Roc Raida, one our favorite DJ’s passed away today — we had the great opportunity to meet, greet and interview him last year. He was hospitalized after an accident but very few details about the accident were provided about the whereabouts and his condition.

Here’s an exceprt from hiphopdx website

At 37 years old, Roc Raida won numerous ITF and DMC championships for his turntable skills. Although he is remembered for his jovial character away from the decks, Raida was an innovator in cut-throat deejay battles that often involved incorporating competitor’s names into his mixes. Raida’s also known for his agile spin-moves, and often making acrobatic cuts on the turntable, through legs, over the shoulder, and using his mouth to cut the fader.

Through his AdiarCor imprint, Roc Raida released over half a dozen CDs and DVDs, that were both mixtapes, documentaries and instructionals for aspiring deejays. His mixtapes, including Crossfaderz, and WHAT! 187 FM are also remembered for their comedic interludes, often making mock commercials for malt liquors, car services and Jamaican nightclubs.

On records, Raida was present for The X-Ecutioners’ 2002 album Built From Scratch [click to read], released on Loud/Sony Records. Previously, the deejay crew was infamously recruited by Rick Rubin for his Def American imprint, but failed to reach an agreement.

With his scratching abilities, Roc Raida worked on dozens of classic albums. Highlights include O.C.’s Word…Life, Big Pun’s Capital Punishment, Buckshot Lefonque’s self-titled debut and Immortal Technique’s two Revolutionary [click to read] volumes. As a producer, Roc Raida worked with numerous members of D.I.T.C. and Smif N’ Wessun.

Family has issued a statement “Anthony Williams p/k to the world as The Legendary Grandmaster Roc Raida has passed away unexpectedly today September 19 2009. He is survived by his wife, three lovely daughters, mother and friends. Raida was recently in an mixed martial arts accident, something that he has been practicing for several years. Although he had under gone two surgeries with great success, was released to an inpatient physical therapy facility and was in great spirits the past few days. This morning he started to have complications and passed. The family asks for privacy at this time.”

RIP

Mista B is always up to no good and we give you a feature presentation of his documentary while competing in the DMC 2009 USA Finals. Nobody does it better than Mista-B. Watch the entire thing, it’s worth it! (Especially the guy at the end dancing his ass off….)

Our boy Mista-B caught in the act at Amoeba Music San Francisco copping some records and dropping off his latest CD SonicSoulSpace. Undoubtedly, he was pimping our Exclusive DMC Transit tee (which we do not sell anymore).

He’ll be back in New York in a couple weeks to compete in the USA DMC finals, attempting to win his way to the International DMC finalists competition.

Here’s the entry that Amoeba Records put together for Mista-B.  http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2009/07/jamoeblog/amoeba-music-hip-hop-weekly-round-up-07-17-09.html

Put one down for the bay area!  If you don’t remember, here’s a video we did with Mista-B last year at Knitting Factory giving a shoutout to Misses-T.

DJ Kentaro needs little introduction. Winning the DMC World DJ Final at the age of 20 speaks volumes about his talent and skill at the decks. Some photographers caught him on his tour in Shenzen China where he kept the crowd on their feet till 6 in the morninnn (as snoop dogg would say).   He’s part of the record label, Ninja Tune (thanks Silami) He’s been featured in various magazines, publications, and television.

You only spend half a grand on vinyl banner if it’s DJ Kentaro.

To be completely honest, it’s hard for us to keep track of what he’s up to especially since we don’t have a full time translator but knowing he’s at the top of his game is good enough for us.

RAISE UP!