DJ Wordy

By DJ Loo

Loo: So how did you first get interested in the art of Turntablism?

Wordy: I heard a lot about Hip Hop music before I’m DJing. Scratch music. Very interesting but I one time bought a copy VCD in the streets and was 2000 DMC world championship. When I watch it I say, “Wow! This is unbelievable man. How do you do that?” And that time my band is not good and you know I have a lot of troubles with my band members so I quit. I make choice. I say, “So I want to be a DJ.” I sell my guitar, my amps and ya know, everything. I buy one turntable, one mixer, one record, just start.

Loo: So once you bought your turntables, how did you learn how to scratch, how did you learn how to mix, how did you learn all of these skills?

Wordy: Watching DVD!

Loo: All through the DVD?

Wordy: Yeah, by myself. Everything by myself.

Loo: And are there many other Turntablists in Beijing?

Wordy: Not too many, like 5 tops.

Loo: So you said that when you first started you watched the VCD, you were interested in scratching, you were interested in buying some turntables and trying this out. But at that time, were you able to listen to a lot of music from other places that highlighted the art of Turntablism?

Wordy: Yeah yeah yeah. From the Internet.

Loo: So like what kind of artists were you listening to?

Wordy: Ya know, Q-Bert, Beat Junkies, ESP, some new DJ crew like Noisy Stylus and (???) like a Germany group is very good. Yeah.

Loo: And with an art that is so linked to vinyl records, did it present any unusual challenges within china for you to start to learn to scratch.

Wordy: Yeah yeah yeah. It’s really hard cause I can’t find vinyl in Beijing. Every time I want to get vinyl it’s hard and expensive. Or is from Internet. And you know I’m not rich guy, so ya know, it’s hard.

Loo: What was the Turntablist scene like when you started?

Wordy: Just growing up you know. Cause when I start Turntablism in Beijing, not too many people then know what is scratching. Right now, some people know what is going on. They know what is Turntablism. They know what is scratching, because we have DMC. Right now we hear a lot about scratch DJ come to Beijing. You know like a Shortkut, Kid Koala, like a Roc Raida ya know. So people right now they know about scratching DJs.

Loo: Who makes up the bulk of your audience.

Wordy: Mostly like foreign people in Beijing. And also some Chinese people. Because right now a lot of people, they don’t know what is real DJ, and they don’t know what is scratch. Every time when I make party, I know I definitely do some like a 10-minute scratch set, and I let people know yeah this is scratch. * Scratch sounds * Educate the people. Let them know what is scratch. Cause its hard … really hard.

Loo: Right now in china what is the media coverage for DJing like?

Wordy: Like nothing. Really! I think so man. The media doesn’t care about Chinese DJ. They care about like a Sasha, like a electronic DJ, superstar DJ come to China make a tour. Because they are like a business and Chivas sponsor the DJ tour. This kind of stuff, media cares about this. They don’t care about a scratch DJ. Like a DMC China, they don’t care.

Loo: If a scratch DJ were from a western country and they were coming here would it be any different?

Wordy: Yeah they care. They care. They will do some report about this. Yeah. Because it’s a star from western. You know? Everything is from out of China. The media will report some. But they don’t care about local artists. Look what they report every day. They always care about construction and business. They don’t care about the culture. They think, let people do it by himself. Ya know like me. Everything about me is like by myself. Nobody gonna help me. Government no. Nobody. Just by myself.

Loo: So you were saying that right now there is no mainstream outlet of information…

Wordy: Yeah. Right now we have poor information we don’t have too many information. For me I always from the Internet cause I can read some English ya know but for other DJs they cant speak English and they can’t read English. So I can speak English I can read some English so I can know a lot of news. But other DJs they can’t man, so for me I think every time I know a lot of news, about Turntablism, about music, I will tell other peoples. Say what’s going on. So this is what I am trying to help other DJs. Really.

Loo: And how does the scene in Beijing differ from a scene say in like Shanghai?

Wordy: Shanghai DJs, they’re rich people. Yeah definitely. But Beijing, I think is more interesting because they have a lot of culture here. Have Rock and Roll, have Electronic, we have Hip Hop, we have so many artists in Beijing. In Shanghai they’re good. They’re good. Different. Shanghai is Shanghai. Beijing is Beijing. It’s different situation you know.

Loo: You said before that it’d be really nice to have a Turntablist culture where you have real DJ schools and more DJ competitions more battles and things like that. Why doesn’t it happen now?

Wordy: Because people can’t make money from this. So it’s real. Actually I want to do that but I don’t have money to do that. So how? It’s kind it works man. It’s money. Ya know. Some people actually they make once DJ competitions, like DJ events, but they can’t make money from this so they quit. Right now is … everything is business.

Loo: (For) What you would consider real Hip Hop, what are some of the names of the people out there that are doing real Hip Hop now in China?

Wordy: Yin Tsang, also Bad Blood. Bad Blood is a member from Yin Tsang called Sbazzo…also Yan King. Like in Shanghai have some MC’s but I don’t know the names. But DJ’s I know. I only know DJ’s like DJ Fortune. Maybe some crew in the South of China. In Guangzhou, they have some Jazz Hip Hop, like P Rock ya know, they do some kinda stuff like this. Yeah we have some real Hip Hop artists in China. Ya know, China is good I think. Really really good man. China right now because you have a lot of space to… to… ya know to “fa zhan.” How to say?

Loo: To grow?

Wordy: Yeah to grow. You have a lot of space man. In China you can. Yeah it’s perfect right now I think because you can buy dvd… 5 kuai man, 6 kuai. Download it man, free. Ya know everything is cheap man. And everything is fresh, new so you have a lot of opportunities to improve yourself in China. Ya know it’s good man i think really really good man.