3 A.M.
Matthew Harrison
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Smith and Skip who? Bastid takes all the fame
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Terminator X yellin' with his hands/ Damn almighty rulin ready to jam/ But his cuts drive against the belt/ Sheet...he's bad by his damn self/ Yeah, his one job cold threatens the crowd/ The loud sound pound to make brothers proud. "Terminator X to the Edge Of Panic," from Public Enemy's 1998 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
"I saw old footage of Public Enemy on VHS, the Fear of a Black Planet tour ... and you've got Terminator X on stage with this humongous X and this crazy drum kit thing, and he's in the centre of the stage on top of a huge platform with his massive shades and he's running the show from up there with Flavor-flav and Chuck D running around the stage like maniacs," recalls Paul Murphy a.k.a. Skratch Bastid in a recent phone call from Montreal.
"Terminator X will never be regarded as at the forefront of turntablism, but his presence as a DJ was strong," he adds.
A renowned turntablist himself, Bastid has a whack of scratch titles under his belt-he boasts three straight Halifax DJ Olympics titles, came second at last year's DMC nationals, and placed second at the Scribble Jam DJ Championship in Cincinnati, Ohio for two years running.
He's just finished a Canadian tour promoting the newly released album Taking Care of Business, a project he produced along with emcees John Smith and Pip Skid. So why are we talking about Terminator X?
Because P.E. and Skratch Bastid share the same idea about hip-hop: bring back
the DJ. As Bastid points out, Terminator X was very much the focal point of P.E., but since the early '90s, the hip-hop DJ has taken back seat to emcees. With Taking Care of Business, Bastid has reclaimed that position. The album is an old-school throwback, a refreshing combination of Bastid's quick change-ups, cuts, and old school break-beats put to the verbal skills of emcees John Smith and Pip Skid.
But aren't they just another Beastie Boys? I put the question to Bastid. He tells me he gets that a lot but insists they didn't draw on them for inspiration.
He then starts rummaging through his record collection: Naz, Outcast, Pete Rock (playing in Ottawa at Babylon, Saturday June 25) and ... he pulls out the Beastie Boys Anthology.
Taking Care Of Business is out and is available at Vertigo Records (193 Rideau Street).
XXXDespite solid shows from DL Incognito, Godbless, K-Spot, Kanswer, and DJ Dave C, attendance at the 2nd Annual Ottawa Hip-hop Award show at Barrymore's last Friday was hugely underrepresented.
Most notable among the awards was Brokenbridge for Best Group of the Year, Life's A Collection Of Experiences by DL Incognito won Best Album of the Year and International Artist of the Year went to Belly.
3am@ottawaxpress.ca
They aren't black and I don't think they are from Compton, but the Beastie Boys never failed to light my fire. Terminator X got me interested in hip-hop (rap?). 1989 was a classic. I can't escape the old adage 'after a while it all sounds the same'. Sure there are ever more violent and explicit lyrics but the beats don't seem to evolve and that I think will be the saving grace of scratch.
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Skeleton James
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{3 votes}
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How many times have DJ's tried to take it back to the old-school?
There's a reason why they call it the "old-school" because it is old. It is no longer the new thing.
Dj's shouldnt be pushing themseklves to follow up acts from a decade (or more) ago. They should be pushing themselves to push the DJ world, and start new trends.
Yes it's fun listening to old school every now and then, but thats why I have P.E c.d's to listen to.
I don't want to go out and spend $20-someodd for someone to sound like he should have made the c.d 8 years ago.
And Congrats to BrokenBridge for getting the award. That will definately help them out in the comming year as they try to push themselves into a larger market.
Now, if only more people could have seen who brokenbridge was.
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Jeremy King
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{29 votes}
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| Want to get more attention for next year's Ottawa Hip-hop Award? |
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Make sure that local hero Tom Green is a nominee next year. The album he's promoting now that he's a rapper again qualifies him for an award, and there's nothing this city and its fans love more than seeing him do...whatever it is that makes him such a media darling. His inevitably big win will teach the local MCs and DJs a valuable lesson - the true path to Ottawa hiphop fame is to come up short in the U.S. TV and movie industries; divorcing a famous actress however is optional.
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Andrew Franklin
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{11 votes}
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Terminator X had a presence but that's about it...And when you're doing the kind of work he was doing I think that presence is all you need...That's what differentiates a great entertainer from a boring guy next door!!
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Lise Auger
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{9 votes}
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