Armed only with turntables, a mixer and a pile of records, hip-hop DJs and turntable musicians have changed the face of music. However, whilst hip-hop has long been recognised as an influential popular culture both culturally and sociologically, hip-hop music is rarely taken seriously as an artistic genre. Hip-Hop Turntablism, Creativity and Collaboration values hip-hop music as worthy of musicological attention and offers a new approach to its study, focusing on the music itself and providing a new framework to examine not only the musical product, but also the creative process through which it was created. Based on ten years of research among turntablist communities, this is the first book to explore the creative and collaborative processes of groups of DJs working together as hip-hop turntable teams. Focusing on a variety of subjects - from the history of turntable experimentation and the development of innovative sound manipulation techniques, to turntable team formation, collective creation and an analysis of team routines - Sophy Smith examines how turntable teams have developed new ways of composing music, and defines characteristics of team routines in both the process and the final artistic product. Relevant to anyone interested in turntable music or innovative music generally, this book also includes a new turntable notation system and methodology for the analysis of turntable compositions, covering aspects such as material, manipulation techniques and structure as well as the roles of individual musicians.
Biography
Sophy Smith is Research Fellow at the Institute of Creative Technologies, De Montfort University, UK, where she leads the innovative transdisciplinary Masters in Creative Technologies (MA/MSc). Sophy’s research focuses on creative collaboration. She works extensively as a composer and performer on national and international collaborative arts projects and is a founder and Director of the collaborative live art company Assault Events.
'The book’s main strength lies in its final chapter, in which the methods are utilized. It has application for the analysis of both collaborative composition and performance and for the group dynamics of rehearsal as well as for the analysis of turntable routines. Such methods will be useful to academics and students... Smith’s book appeals to the academic study of team turntablism at a deep level.' Music and Letters ’Hip-Hop Turntablism, Creativity and Collaboration offers precise, relevant and innovative descriptive tools to analyse the musicology of DJ hip-hop works, and also the creative processes used. From this point of view, the author has achieved her objectives: taking seriously the aesthetic methodology of DJs and demonstrating that hip-hop music is worthy of analysis’. Volume! (Translated from French) ’ ... little has been published on the details of turntablism and Sophy Smith’s book is, therefore, both timely and welcome. Smith’s work is very accessible and takes steps to cover the basics systematically and clearly... much of the book will be useful to undergraduates and sections will serve as a useful summary of key topics for scholars. Perhaps more importantly, the book may serve to enliven important debates in popular music scholarship’. Popular Music
