Salute!
Yesterday on the 6th November for our monthly local scratch DJ community meetup and jam we has a special guest and heavyweight Cut2Cut World Champion, DJ Delightful. Here's a video of the champ showcasing and showing is Turntablist abilities and showcasing how a DJ can use two turntables as music instrument and deliver a crazy performance!
DELightfull’s path as a dj started around 2013 with the first pair of Stanton turntables, although it really all started with his brother’s passed-by-hand cassette tapes more than 10 years prior to that. Growing up a hip-hop head in his hometown of Sofia, he started being interested in the art of turntablism through the scratching in classic 80’s, 90’s and early 00’s rap music. Between 2013 and 2018 he lived and also played gigs in Scotland, Estonia and China, patiently honing his skills and understanding.
The year after, he returned to Sofia where he ran two regular deejay nights and opened up for Lords of the Underground, Bahamadia, Skratch Bastid and various big Bulgarian hip-hop acts. Over the last two years he collaborated with artists from various places, won 6 small online scratch competions plus the 2020 Cut2Cut world title and the 2021 DMC Foundation world title – so clearly the journey has just begun.
It’s crazy to think about how the art form of scratching started, and how it’s since grown into arguably one of the most important skills a DJ can have!
Scratching all started when a young Grand Wizard Theodore accidentally invented it! he was playing records in his room when his mom walked into the room to speak to him. Not wanting to lose track of the record he was playing and listening to; he stood there moving the record back and forth whilst he was speaking to her.
Grand Wizard Theodore thought it sounded cool, so he experimented some more, and from there, scratching was born! He can also be credited for inventing the needle drop as well. A technique where you start spinning a record, before dropping the needle at the exact spot you want the music to play, all without cueing up the record in advance.
