Hip-hop DJs take previously recorded material in the form of vinyl LPs and reorganize and alter the recorded sounds to create new music. As DJ techniques and routines have grown increasingly complex, DJs such as DJ A-Trak and DJ Radar and others such as filmmaker John Carluccio have created methods of notating DJs’ musical and technical choices. By examining three forms of scratch notation developed by hip-hop DJs (including the widely-used Turntablist Transcription Methodology, or TTM), various uses for notation can be shown, ranging from idiosyncratic memory-aid to symbolic justification for “art” and “work” status. These uses are linked to those practiced throughout the history of Western art music.

Works: Grandmaster Flash: The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel (90-91); DJ Radar: Antimatter (94), Concerto for Turntable (96-97).

Sources: DJ Babu: Super Duck Breaks (88); DJ Q-Bert: Toasted Marshmallow Feet Breaks (88); Chic: Good Times (91); Queen: Another One Bites the Dust (91).

Index Classifications: 1900s, 2000s, Popular

Contributed by: Nathan Landes