The process of ‘collective creation’ in the composition of UK hip-hop turntable team routines

Abstract

This article looks at the compositional processes of hip-hop teams based in the UK, focusing on those that have emerged from the practice of creating team ‘routines’. Turntable teams, such as the Scratch Perverts, the Mixologists and the DMU Crew, do not create their original compositions from within the Western art tradition of an independent artist creating work in isolation, which is then communicated to performers through staff notation. Instead, turntable teams compose and perform as a collective to create original compositions from existing records, and in doing so have developed innovative compositional strategies.To be able to analyse and discuss the creative processes of hip-hop turntable teams it has been necessary to construct my own model framework to enable me to identify similar patterns in the creative processes of the teams discussed. In the article, I discuss and analyse one routine from each of the three teams using this framework, focusing on the emergent process of ‘collective creation’. The article concludes by establishing a number of characteristics of the compositional processes used by UK turntable teams. Until now, scholarship has neglected the music of hip-hop. Previous work on hip-hop music has been concerned with either sociological or cultural and historical aspects. This article offers a new approach to hip-hop scholarship because it focuses on the actual music of turntable teams and the emergent processes that have developed to create it.

Vintage Innovation: How to Improve the Service Characteristics and Costumer Effectiveness of Products Becoming Obsolete

“…Many of these turntablists will insist on only using the Technics SL-1200 series turntables" [32]. Ability in using turntables is critical for young DJs and rappers in order to receive the appreciation of the other members of their community, and in time, to become themselves respected community members [33]. The Disco Mix Club DJ World Championship, the oldest and most important international contest for DJs turntablists (the first edition was in 1985, they continue at the time of writing in 2011), is one example of how the traditional technological skills of turntablists are both revered and celebrated within this community.…”

Sophy Smith: Hip-Hop Turntablism, Creativity and Collaboration. Burlington, VT, and Farnham: Ashgate, 2013. ISBN: 978-1-4094-4337-7

“…This leads to a useful process-based model as well as a method in which to address the compositional components of a hip-hop turntablist music performance. Smith’s analysis, an elaboration of an article that previously appeared in this journal (Smith 2007) ultimately establishes the strength of the study, refining an informed understanding of hip-hop turntablism as a specific musical practice. Perhaps, at the next opportunity, insights could be addressed to a turntablist readership and to the expanding field of DJ scholars.…”

“…Smith's analysis, an elaboration of an article that previously appeared in this journal (Smith 2007) ultimately establishes the strength of the study, refining an informed understanding of hip-hop turntablism as a specific musical practice. This leads to a useful process-based model as well as a method in which to address the compositional components of a hip-hop turntablist music performance.…”

The role of vintage communities of practice in technological change

“…Turnablism is the "art of creating music via turntables" (Smith, 2000). Ability in using analogue turntables is critical for young DJs and rappers in order to receive the appreciation of the other members of the community and to become themselves real community members (Smith, 2007). Thus, the social acceptance and appreciation that a proper use of turntables (along with an in depth musical knowledge) gives to DJs turntablists contributed to the rise of a "turntables culture" within the DJs worldwide community over time (Souvigner, 2003) and minimized the risk of technological substitution within the sub-community.…”