The Elemental Session: Wheels of Steel

Friday night, @NuuElementz hosted it's third Elemental Session: Wheels of Steel, the education of the DJ.

A diverse group of people from all over Tallahassee gathered together to be educated and to discuss the significance of the most important element of hip-hop, the DJ.

President of Nuu Elementz, Tallahassee native Lance Farmer known as @JetLifeLidz, opened up the educational and entertaining presentation on the history of the DJ.

The letter's DJ stand for disk jockey who mixes recorded music for an audience. Several types of DJ's are found on the radio, at the club or is mobile.

http://www.pitt.edu/~kaz44/anything.html

Hip-hop DJs use multiple turntables to back up one or more song and perform scratches to create percussive sounds.

DJ Francis Grasso popularized beat matching and developed slip-cuing, creating a continuous flow of music. Grasso was the first DJ outside of radio broadcasting to require headphones as part of his setup. Grasso passed away on March 2001. However, the techniques he pioneered remain the foundation of what is heard in a modern nightclub.

http://ped111251.tripod.com/francis.htm

Clive Campbell  AKA @DJ Kool Herc, the Father of Hip-hop, is credited with originating hip-hop music in the early 1970s. Herc developed a technique of mixing two identical records to extend the instrumental segment. His announcements throughout the music helped lead rhymed spoken words support what became rapping. DJs like Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash were influenced from Herc's style.

DJ Grand Wizard Theodore discovered the scratching technique when he accidentally touched the needle and realized it made a cool scratching sound. Every form of music has at one time or another used the scratching sound in its music. Wizard Theodore explains the origin in the documentary, Scratch.

"The first DJ I consciously heard was DJ Canon," said @Rob_Yhung.

SS is short for Scratchenstein, the name he used when he was a hip-hop scratch DJ. He got his big break DJing at the big British raves of the early 1990s. Since then, he has gone on to DJ world wide.

"DJ SS used to come on the radio all the time," said @Back_Pack_Beatz.

"Like Jedi in Star Wars fighting against evil, enduring strenuous training, accepting a life-long commitment to obtaining the knowledge of the universe and being heard but never seen, the hip-hop DJ has very much the same destiny." described Grandmixer DXT about the underrated commitment of a DJ.

DJs are more important than ever. Many DJs have become international superstars and have changed the music industry forever.

http://www.magneticmag.com/2012/07/theres-more-to-picking-a-great-dj-name-than-you-might-think/

A great DJ can take the energy of a room from a one to a 20 in a set. A DJ not only has to be proficient in music, but also has to be able to read the crowd.

Due to the advancement of technology, many people are calling themselves DJs. However, DJing is a structured form of art and study. Most DJs are technologically savvy, have the skill to take apart and put back together a turntable quickly while under pressure, and must hold a musicologist's knowledge of names, dates, tunes and styles of music.

During the discussion it was established that DJ mixes are what brings awareness to a song.

"I heard most of Gucci Mane songs through DJ Spinatik mixes," said Vice President of Nuu Elementz, Vanity Duran (@vanitynosin) from Tampa.

You have a canvas of art, without color, there is no art. Without a DJs tools, there is no music, related Rob metaphorically. "DJ is a form of art, without turntables and music there is no DJ."

http://satisfyingretirement.blogspot.com/2010/12/start-with-blank-canvas.html

It requires a vast amount of knowledge to control music.

If DJing was a form of art, much of the audience agreed that it would be graffiti. "You can put anything together," said Lance.

"It'd be sculpted. You got the slab and you break it down," said @mkkenny13. 

DJing even plays a major role in the fashion model industry. Many models started off their glamorous career as a DJ.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/15/fashion/djs-make-the-music-to-move-fashion-shows.html?_r=0

Some DJs started off DJig after having breaking records, mixtapes and winning competitions when they were younger.

BET honored the 50 most influential DJs paying homage to all the legendary DJs of hip-hop history.

"DJ E-Zone did a mix on Micheal Jackson after he passed away. It had me tear up," said @NikeSmilez.

Shout out to all of the DJs listed about, DJ Screw, Mix Master Mike, Micheal Wattz, A-Trak, Jam Master Jay, Jazzy Jeff, DJ Trawe, DJ Lou, DJ Premier, DJ Mustard, DJ Lidz, and all DJs contributing to the music industry.

 Shout out to @CK_Lakers, @RaspyRapz, @gustavobyrdz, @knik_94, @mkkenny13, @frankreefa, @nikesmilez and @back_pack_beatz.

Shout out to the Nuu Elementz team @sundaedip4ya, @vanitynosin, @JetLifeLidz, @18UntoldStories, and @Rob_Yhung.

The Elemental Session: Spray Can Kidz

The memebers of Nuu Elementz and friends held its second elemental discussion this past Friday on the topic of the first element of hip-hop, graffiti.

The dictionary term for graffiti means writing or drawings on public walls or services.

The term graffiti has been used since the ancient times in Greece and Rome. The first known example of graffiti is in ancient Greece Ephesus, modern day Turkey. Figure drawings can also be found in the catacombs of Rome.

Ancient graffiti (in red) is covered by tourists' markings inside Rome's Colosseum.

Today, many see graffiti as vandalism or scribbles on the wall. But graffiti is an art. It is an expression.

Graffiti was used to express political statements, or to use as an art canvas.

In the 60s, a big wave of graffiti spread opposing the Vietnam War. Black Panther advocates tagged 'Free Huey' on the walls and against former President Nixon.

Graffiti on a campus wall of the City College of New York reads 'Free Huey', a reference to Black Panther leader Huey Newton (1969)

In the 70s, graffiti was used to warn people of gang territory.

"My mom let me draw on the walls in my room. I chose the colors for my walls," said Rob Drake (@Rob_Yhung) from Miami, who was 11 years old at the time. "I picked yellow and wrote over it with a black sharpie." He said his mother influenced him with a lot of art. "I wrote my calendar, to-do lists, poetry, everything on my wall."

Jocelyn Brantley (@18UntoldStories) from Harttford, Conn. started appreciating graffiti more when she noticed the art park in Tallahassee.

Railroad Square Park in Tallahassee, Fla.

Elon Matthews (@LonSoCal) grew up in Los Angeles. "When you drive through the neighborhoods, you'll see a lot of different writings." He said that if a gang tagged a wall, it signified that somebody is going to die. "Gangs took force."

Patrice Washington from Orlando said if she could write graffiti right now, she would draw a sunflower. "I love sunflowers. I'll draw it to match my personality."

Jimmy Dickson photo.

Candy Churchill (@Pr1s5yHippie) from Chicago said she would use graffiti to write on court houses in order to bring awareness on certain topics.

There are many differences between east coast graffiti and west coast graffiti. In the east coast, graffiti is more animated with many colors. In the west coast, graffiti is strictly defined.
Both coast writings have to do with gang affiliation.

Writer, Bloch ESE writing West coast style.

Graffiti shows different messages of oppression, community voice, and history. Murals in different areas where urban communities will allow you to remember the people who have come through that neighborhood.

Graffiti is a way to communicate ideas.

"A group of African American students participated in mass graffiti to announce the racism issues going on at their school," said Candy.

You will notice graffiti because it is easy to pick up on. Graffiti is used more for an artistic expression than a criminal act.

Rose Marshall from Tallahassee, Fla. said on the way to the beach in Pensacola there is a bridge filled with graffiti that people are allowed to tag. "It's been there for 50 years or so."

Graffiti is usually seen in urban areas but it has expanded to the suburbs as well. The green electric boxes are usually always tagged with graffiti. "I've seen graffiti on monorails in Miami," said Quint Wilson (@_QTarantino) from Miami.

Jocelyn said the most interesting place she has seen graffiti was on the floor.

You will notice graffiti in places difficult to reach. Elon said that the artists use a grapeline seat. "You strap yourself to the seat and use your upper body strength to go over the water under a bridge and write."

Graffiti depends on social change.

"Our parents generation couldn't do what we can. We're rebellious, they weren't allowed to be," said Rick Moore (@RickiRich) from Toronto.

Graffiti has come a long way from its original roots. Below are a few writings around Tallahassee.

Graffti takes over National Railroad Museum

A new exhibit opened up at the National Railroad Museum in Greenbay, Wisconsin.

greenbaytour.blogspot.com

"From Big Boys to Boxcars: The Good & Bad of Railroad Graffiti" allows the museum to showcase professional photographs of railroad graffiti. 

The exhibit explores graffiti both as art an vandalism in a social and historical context.

postcresent.com

Graffiti originated in ancient times and is one of the four elements of hip-hop. 

The art form is somewhat controversial in modern life and railroading.

The museum is home to a Union Pacific Railroad Big Boy whose world famous name derive from graffiti.

yorkpress.co.uk

The executive director of the museum, Jacqueline D. Frank hopes the community will use the exhibit as a place to examine the fine art photography and to use as a basis of social discourse about graffiti's role in the community.