Various Artists
In the 70s rap pioneer Afrika Bambaataa used to ask Bronx party people, “Would you ever dance to the Beatles?” When they shook their sweaty heads smugly he’d smile back, just as smug: “Well,” he’d say, “you did tonight.” He’d go on to collaborate with nonrap artists as far apart as James Brown and Bill Laswell, John Lydon and George Clinton, but 20 years later the DJ culture is mutating at a rate even he couldn’t possibly have anticipated. Art-hop (DJ Shadow), illbient (DJ Spooky), hyperminimalism (RZA), and a dozen other descendant styles have exploded so fast and wide that Yo! MTV Raps may never figure out how to collect them into a neat package.
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In 1995 David Paul, former editor of the Bay Area hip-hop zine Bomb, issued Return of the DJ Volume I, a compilation of superintense funk collages strung together by some of the country’s most proficient turntable wizards. Its aim was obvious from the opening lines of the first track: “Here in 1995, selfishness and greed has forced some to neglect those on the wheels of steels,” lectures Kool DJ E.Q., bringing about “the death of true hip-hop.”
In fact, this edition of Return of the DJ isn’t only about DJing as hip-hop fundament; it’s also about hip-hop’s increasing ability to resonate outside the boundaries of Afro-American culture. French hip-hop (frog-hop?) specialists LF Peee string together airy flutes, Cypress Hill, and a silly guitar-drum freak-out to create the record’s wildest pop moment. Finland’s Pepe Deluxe relax on their own syrupy, tuneful groove as mean jazz-funk trap drums and a jubilant cowbell actually take the emphasis off the DJ.
