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Mix Master Mike.
I am going to start by saying that Mix Master Mike is the Jam Master Jay of today. Inspired by the work of the legendary Grandmixer DST on Herbie Hancock's single Rockit, Mike started saving the money he earned from drug dealing to buy his first pair of turntables at the tender age of 17. He gave up the dealing and started scratching it up as a mobile DJ and at one of those parties his met his soon to be DJ partner Q-Bert.
Although Q-Bert wasn't even DJing at that point, he would still sit and watch and learn from Mike and eventually Q-Bert got decks of his own and together they would later form one of the world's most influential turntablist crew, The Invisibl Skratch Piklz. Prior to them forming the crew, Mike was a solo battler and in 1992, he was the first West Coast DJ to win a world title at the NMS battle in NYC. Later that year, Mike, Q-Bert and Apollo entered the DMC as a band and they took out the world title. The following year, Mike and Q-Bert entered DMC together as the Dream Team and once again took out the world title.
After taking out those battle titles, Mike would soon take his crew the Invisible Skratch Piklz to un-thought-of heights and help spawn a brand new breed of DJ. "As short as it was, it was all great because we made such an impact on the scene and we transformed things through doing the whole turntable band thing," he says. "We were the first people to play the turntable as a percussive instrument."
In 2000, the legendary Invisibl Skratch Piklz called it a day and decided to go their separate ways. Although the crew had broken up during a time when the turntablism scene was in a slump, Mike was in the best position of them all: three years prior to the breakup he became the official DJ for the Beastie Boys.
"In 1997 I met Adam Yauch [aka Ad-Rock] at a Rock Steady Crew Anniversary party and we just exchanged phone numbers and I would leave scratch messages on his answering machine and it just all sparked up from there."
Since hooking up with the Beasties Mike has been on a constant world tour; but a DJ cannot be happy playing behind a group all the time, he needs his time to shine on his own. "I've been doing 'Bangzilla' after parties while I have been on tour with the Beastie Boys so I really want to do it while I'm out there. We are in talks at the moment to hook it up". Please promoters: hook it up!
Throughout Mike's career he has released one official mixtape ('Spin Cycle') and has release a total of three full length albums including his brand new 'Bangzilla.' "I'm very proud of it, I would say it is my best shit probably. You might argue with that, but you know... There are fifteen tracks on the album that were written and produced by myself. I made every little bit of music on that whole record, there are no guest appearances by anybody, but I had a couple of features with Money Mark who did a few things here and there. The artwork on the CD will explain everything that went on in the production of the album.
"This album is all I have been working on for the past two years and I think it is going to take the whole concept of a scratch DJ to another level. I really focused on being a scratch composer as opposed to being a scratch DJ and I think this album best explains that. Percentage wise I would say that 50% of the music is scratched and the other 50% is composed from machines and synths."
Mix Master Mike is quite possibly the most consistent turntablist the world has ever seen. No other DJ has received the amount of praise, adoration and awe as this man. When asked what he would change about turntablism today he laughs, "It would be stop DJs featuring in cheesy commercials for deodorant!"
Nate Flagrant
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'Bangzilla' is out now through Stomp.
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