Chicks On Wax

I am more than excited to be involved with Chicks on Wax as it explores and documents the art of DJ-ing from the female perspective. I says this, as, from what I can see, DJs are predominately male. I am intrigued to find out what inspires women to get involved with the art form – and hear these DJs tell their own stories. And what Chicks on Wax is doing is particularly interesting because we are going to follow Chris, as she officially becomes a DJ.

I say officially, because I always thought she was “in the loop”. I recall meeting her a few years ago, when I went to visit her with my cousin. We were having a drink, when I noticed two boxed up turntables. I asked Chris if she was a DJ and she said no. But I was thinking “she has turntables and a bunch of vinyl in this giant Tupperware box??! She’s got skills, she’s just being modest.”

I asked if she’d like for me to set the equipment up for her. At that point I slipped out of the group conversation, refilled my wine class and started setting up. I saw Two Gemini Turntables; a mixer; 100 lbs. of vinyl. But no speaker/output cables…so we couldn’t jam that night. We did dig in the crates, though.

I wonder if Chris remembers me going through her Tupperware of vinyl. Every few seconds I was like “aw man you got THIS!!!??” and “…let me borrow this jam?” To which see replied (in a West African/British accent) “Hells no!” – that is the standard response when a DJ is asked to part with their most prized possession. Yeah, turntables can cost up to $600 and I’ve seen mixers that run more that a G. But those classics on vinyl in the original album cover…priceless.

I believe Chris is more of a DJ than she thinks she is.

We’ve all seen DJs rock clubs, or a Hip Hop DJ backing an MC on stage. And of course the legendary Battle DJs that do things that defy physics. And it’s all done on 2 turntables. Music selection, and the cuts, scratches, mixing and the technical stuff can be learned. But to be into music so much that a person searches and collects the largest, most cumbersome and fragile recording formats in existence, is love.

The DJ has a love of music and the art of DJ-ing, 2 turntables and some vinyl.

And that’s the point I think we should start. I’d like to inventory her equipment and see what’s missing. And we can go through her collections of records and organize them by genre. Then we can pick up whatever is missing from a record store – they still exist.

Then she’ll be ready.

It all starts with the first SCRATCH…

PeACe,

DJ Equity