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It's Time To Retire The Sound Ahhh Challenge Explained...

1,561 views · Published 2 June 2017 · 1:05 · Indexed 23 September 2026

Channel: Rob Swift · 2017 · Music

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#MixMasterIce #EastCoastDMC1990Exhibition #ThrowBackThursday
There is a false belief held by many in the "skratch"/"Turntablist" community, a misconception if you will, that "skratchers" or "Turntablists" or whatever the fuck you label yourself as, shouldn't offend other "skratchers", "Turntablists", yadda, yadda. That we should live together in utopia and sing "Kumbaya", surrounded by portable turntables. In fact, a nigga like me who speaks his mind about shit is often times considered to be arrogant, insensitive, mean, and my favorite, a "hater", because it is thought that I, and outspoken dudes like me, should leave the "skratchers" to "skratch" #Ahhh over loopers in as many facebook vids as they please. To which I respond, g'head and do you bro. "Skratching" the sound #Ahhh in it of itself isn't my issue or what necessarily inspired me to present the #ITSTIMEToRetireTheSoundAhhhChallenge tho. The truth did!

Look, God did not anoint me the "skratcher"/"Turntablist" police. I get that shit 2000 percent. How-fuckin-ever, a nigga like me, who's got 33 years of blood, sweat and tears invested into this craft has earned the right to push dudes in a creative direction. The art of DJing (let's just call it what it really is, DJING - *quite splintering the art into different categories*) was birthed by young, unapologetically, Black teens in the Bronx, NYC who's primary goal was to push each other to be better than those before them. Case in point.

I know most of y'all who "skratch" the #Fresh or #Ahhh sounds don't know the origins of these sacred scratch samples. Thank the producer of "Change The Beat" (Fab 5 Freddy) Bill Laswell for that. NOT FAB! It was Bill who encouraged his manager at the time to go in the vocal booth and record the infamous "Ahhh this stuff is really fresh" vocoder sample y'all have built y'all little facebook reputations off. BTW, I didn't get this information from the internet. The god Laswell told me this himself in a studio session he and I worked together in way back, before most of y'all niggas picked up your first battle break record. But I digress. Morever, if it wasn't for Grand Mixer D.ST's foresight to incorporate the word "Fresh" and flip it like the musician he is on Herbie Hancock's "Rock It", none of y'all would be referring to y'all selves as "Turntablists". Yeah, y'all got the DNA of a young Black teen from the Bronx, N.Y. runnin' through y'alls veins. Embrace that shit. D.ST (known now as DXT) is y'alls grandfather for real. Then came his son, Mix Master Ice who was on some, "D.ST laid the foundation for how to get musical wit' scratchin' to a beat but when the light hits me, I need to bring my own originality. Word, I'm gon' take that same #ChangeTheBeat joint D.ST used on #RockIt, but fuck the #Fresh, that's HIS shit. I'm gon' flip the #Ahhh sound instead. D.ST might of influenced me but it doesn't mean I need to scratch what he scratches when I get in the studio and record this #RoxanneRoxanne scratches. I gotta move shit forward, beyond what he did. I gotta set an example for those who come after me."

And oh did they come! A whole flock of these muhfuggahs exist now. We see 'em every where. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram. Make no mistake, every dude you see/hear on social media "skratching" #Ahhh over a looper is the offspring of Mix Master Ice (and has the DNA of Grand Mixer D.ST coursing through their blood). I know, I know. Your world just got rocked now but the unapologetic truth is Mix Master Ice was the first to scratch #Ahhh over an endless drum beat or "looper" as what y'all refer to it today. Oh, and at times, Ice would add body tricks while scratching. Shock shockin' your world right now, huh?

Hip Hop teaches us that it's creativity can be understood when you take the time to examine it's history. Nevertheless, in pursuit of social currency in the form of LIKES and SHARES, many people deny Hip Hop truth and therefore abandoned it's history. Some go as far as distorting it. That's why we got dudes "skratching" #Ahhh like zombies. They don't know why they're even using the sound. They just know, "dude who posted the skratch video before me is using #Ahhh so I guess I'll use the #Ahhh too."

Just know this y'all. It is never my desire to offend anyone. That being said, dudes must realize that truth is only offensive when you resist it. And so anyone offended by the truth I imparted in this post or my #ITSTIMEToRetireTheSoundAhhhChallenge may want to surrender to originality, creativity, individuality, imagination, inventiveness, and vision the way Mix Master Ice did. Grand Mixer D.ST debut his #ChangeTheBeat #Fresh scratches in 1983. In 1984, only one year later, Mix Master Ice flipped the #Ahhh sound from the same song on UTFO's #RoxanneRoxanne. After 33 years dudes have a vice grip on the sound #Ahhh still.

It's time to get out of your comfort zones and stretch for creativity. Believe me, it's worth it.

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