Feature

When one thinks of the Mobile music scene, they seldom include the legion of DJs populating the city limits, along with a thriving hip-hop scene, but don’t call them DJs. They prefer the term “turntablist.”

These disciples of the turntables have established an underground caste that pulls legions of bass slaves to each show. In addition to the performances, turntablists meet in various “battles” where crowd reaction and skill lead to bragging rights on the streets.

Places such as The Bubble Lounge, Cell Block, Liquid and Satori have been playing host to these competitions.

Soul Kitchen will be pumping out the beats May 26 with a DJ/hip-hop show featuring DJ Klever, Subject Matters, Annalyze, Prolific, DJ Immortal, Beat Molester and Microphone Messengers. The brains behind this are PM Productions and Jeff Butler’s Invizible Touch Productions. Butler is no stranger to the Mobile DJ scene. For over a decade, Butler has been a driving force behind this subculture.

“I got started back in 1995 when I opened a record store downtown called Plastic Avenue Records,” Butler explains. “We sold records, turntables and clothing. Then on the weekends, we would have guys come in like Nick at Night and Jimmy ILLfinger, who are still around today. They would come in and play on Sundays and Saturdays in the store for the shoppers.”

In addition to these in-store performances, Butler busied himself throwing various events across the city. However, Mobile wasn’t ready for Plastic Avenue, and it closed after two years. This experience helped established Butler’s street credibility, and allowed him to move on to bigger and better things such as BayFest’s electronica stage.

“This will be our fifth year doing the electronica stage which is all DJs and electronic artists, and we’ve brought some of the biggest in the country to BayFest and to Mobile,” Butler says. “I feel really privileged that they let us do it. I went to Bobby Bostwick and the City five years ago and proposed this idea of putting together a stage of just DJs. I showed them that this was the real deal, and it has been very successful every year.”

At the Soul Kitchen show, Butler plans on bringing out the big guns both nationally and locally. Klever has an established reputation for winning various competitions across the United States. Immortal has made wax-scratching his career as an instructor at Miami’s Scratch Academy. Annalyze is representing the girls and has toured with Playboy’s DJ Shorty.

Butler has a very optimistic view of the Mobile hip-hop/DJ scene.

“It’s growing,” Butler says. “It’s always been around, but it’s more underground. I think that the whole DJ scene is evolving. I think DJ’s are tired of just standing up there playing one record after another, and they’re starting to get more experimental. The whole scene is taking a turn towards getting more creative. You have to stand out more these days to get booked, so you see more of the scratching, the cutting, the beat juggling and even putting an MC on with you.”

An excellent example of this evolution can be observed in Mobile’s Beat Molester, who has already gained notoriety. His career as a turntablist began when he became bored of traditional instruments.

“I played drums, guitar and bass, and pretty much I would get as far as I could on an instrument and move on to the next one,” Beat Molester said. “Then, I figured out that I could get all those sounds on a record and manipulate them from there.”

Many critics would say that spinning records is no form of music talent. I’ve heard many people over the years complain that turntablists are robbing the artists who provide the music on the records they scratch. Beat Molester’s retort to these allegations is quite candid.

“They’re pretty much full of sh*t, and they don’t know anything about the turntables,” Beat Molester barks. “I play on a PDX, and it has an ultra-pitch control. It has little markings on it and according to where you move it (if you’re working with a certain tone) you can hit any key. You can totally use it as an instrument.”

The battle aspect is what turns Beat Molester, and he has represented Mobile on the national level. Just last year, he won a battle sponsored by the Guitar Center, which sent him to represent Mobile in Atlanta. In Atlanta, he came in second place among some of the Southeast’s finest turntablists.

Mobile’s DJ scene walks hand-in-hand with our local hip-hop scene, and the Microphone Messengers are some of Mobile’s up-and-coming verbal assassins. JustnMC, AyDee, C.E.P and Pistol Pete (their producer and instrumental inspiration) have been into hip-hop since a young age.

“Me and AyDee are cousins and have been listening to hip-hop since fourth grade, when The Beastie Boys came out,” JustnMC says. “I guess we’ve been together since the late ‘90s, and we’ve been playing shows in the last four years.”

JustnMC found his inspiration through his poetic ventures. His love of music melded the two together, and JustnMC was born. Hitting the stage and bringing his words to the people turned out to be icing on the cake.

“It’s like freedom,” JustnMC says. “Beforehand, you’re nervous, and afterwards you’re thinking about the next gig. While you’re up there, you’re free to express yourself. It’s like a natural high.”

The Microphone Messengers plan on bringing their positive vibe-inspired, intellectual sound to as many people they can over the next year. They seem to be succeeding and have been known to play with many of the underground rock bands that populate Mobile to a positive reaction.

I challenge each of you to make it down to Soul Kitchen and broaden your mind and musical horizons. If you have never experienced the turntablist/hip-hop scene in Mobile, then this would be an excellent opportunity to be exposed to this local musical institution.

Stephen Centanni is Lagniappe music editor. Contact him at scentanni@lagniappemobile.com.

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