The worst scratch solo in the world
As a person with limited scratching ability, I'm not one to talk much about other people's scratching, but this record deserves special mention-- the club version of T-Ski Valley's "The U.S.A. Is the Best" contains what is perhaps the worst scratch solo in recorded music.
T-Ski Valley: "The U.S.A. Is the Best" (Club Version) (Capo, 1983)
T-Ski Valley is best known for "Catch the Beat", his classic 1981 reworking of Taana Gardner's "Heartbeat". "Catch the Beat"'s arranger, Glen Adams, also produced "The U.S.A. Is the Best". Adams was a former keyboardist of Lee Perry's Upsetters who had relocated to the US and cut the minor disco classic "Just a Groove" (which, incidentally, was later versioned pretty well by T-Ski Valley).
The rhyming on the A-side of "The U.S.A. Is the Best" is a stiff and goofy rehash of some current events (the assassination attempt on John Paul II, the Beirut bombing, etc.) with a side of Reagan-era patriotism. The flip is billed as a "club version" but instead it's a dub-- all slinky bass, chorus chants and masterfully naive scratching.
The scratching appears intermittently throughout the club version but really starts to shine around the 6:30 mark, as someone slowly pushes a record back and forth without much regard for the beat and with none for the fader. Echo effects make it even trippier. The overall effect is not altogether bad, just weird and strangely engrossing.
T-Ski Valley: "The U.S.A. Is the Best" (Club Version) (Capo, 1983)
T-Ski Valley is best known for "Catch the Beat", his classic 1981 reworking of Taana Gardner's "Heartbeat". "Catch the Beat"'s arranger, Glen Adams, also produced "The U.S.A. Is the Best". Adams was a former keyboardist of Lee Perry's Upsetters who had relocated to the US and cut the minor disco classic "Just a Groove" (which, incidentally, was later versioned pretty well by T-Ski Valley).
The rhyming on the A-side of "The U.S.A. Is the Best" is a stiff and goofy rehash of some current events (the assassination attempt on John Paul II, the Beirut bombing, etc.) with a side of Reagan-era patriotism. The flip is billed as a "club version" but instead it's a dub-- all slinky bass, chorus chants and masterfully naive scratching.
The scratching appears intermittently throughout the club version but really starts to shine around the 6:30 mark, as someone slowly pushes a record back and forth without much regard for the beat and with none for the fader. Echo effects make it even trippier. The overall effect is not altogether bad, just weird and strangely engrossing.
posted by Matthew at
2:45 PM
6 Comments:
LOL. It sounds like someone practicing for the first time. My how hip hop has changed.
Classic! And a nice topic worthy of further discussion.
For every perfectly executed cut and scratch delivered by Cash Money, Jazzy Jeff, Spinbad, Barry B, Tat Money, Howie Tee, Mr Mixx, or Cutmaster DC (scandalously underrated imho), there was an equal or possibly even greater amount of skills-devoid wannabee DJs still struggling with their Realistic mixers who were recorded for posterity by various labels...
the example Mr Africa has chosen is textbook but for leftime achievement I would nominate Code Money....although the single most painful example that comes to mind might be the DJ in Michael Holman's "Graffiti Rock" show..."Don't try this on your father's stereo, alright? Only under hip hop supervision!"
Amateurish to be sure, but I've heard worse from Eric B., whose non-mastery seemed almost avant-garde at times.
aleph
Stands to reason that the cuts on "Eric B is Pres" and "My Melody" were by Marley Marl (as they're absolutely perfect for both tracks), but if I'm remembering this correctly, wasn't Rakim actually responsible for a lot of that "Chinese arithmatic"?
^^Nah, and thank goodness for that-
Straight from Rakim from the book "Rakim Told Me" by Brian Coleman, Eric B did all the cuts on Chinese Arithmetic. Rakim takes credit for the cutting on Musical Massacre.
aleph
Haha this is actually pretty great! I don't think I could achieve this level of oddity if I tried...there's something to be said for dj's trying their best to be a regular DJ Sound Machine, but coming up short. We have to consider the mixers with faders the size of chalkboard erasers and such.
And cosign on Eric B. I was wondering who did the cuts on Juice (Know The Ledge)? Love that quick cut of king.
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