Turntablism, or the art of hip-hop DJ’ing, seems to be a thing of the past. True, the DMC Championships still happen once a year, and the top skratch DJs still tour profitably. But for the casual fan who loved Deep Concentration back in the 90s — or worse, were too young to remember it — they’ll probably raise an arched eyebrow when the term is mentioned. Meanwhile, plenty of onetime turntablists have switched to CDJs and mixing club tracks, sometimes with the same improvisational techniques they applied to turntablism, but more often not.
As the art of DJ’ing evolves, Rob Swift, Total Eclipse and Precision, onetime members of pioneering New York crew the X-ecutioners, have banded together to form Ill Insanity. “ILL INSANITY is the ending and beginning of something that started 18 years ago,” says Rob Swift in a press release on the group’s MySpace page. “No matter what, people will always remember what the X-ecutioners contributed to Hip Hop. Therefore, comparing whatever we do now, as ILL INSANITY, to back then.” He adds, “That was then and this is now… without change there’s no progress.”
Ill Insanity have been spreading the word via a series of gigs in the New York area as well as Europe. They’ll release their debut, Ground Xero, on February 12.
“There’s a whole new generation of music fans we need to introduce Turntablism to” says Total Eclipse, “and once again we’re taking it upon ourselves to lead the way!”
www.myspace.com/illinsanitydjs
