2010-09-03 Fat Beats - The Last Week - Fifth Platoon - Roli Rho

The first time I saw Roli Rho was at a party at Hunter College. The party was a pretty standard run of the mill college event. I was in a "DJ crew" at the time and one of the guys mentioned that Roli would be there and would be DJ'ing. I thought nothing of it figuring I was DJ'ing and I rolled with a bunch of DJ's so I've seen it all. At the time, for me, the pinnacle of performance DJ's was Kid Capri on Def Comedy Jam. I had heard the name Q-Bert and I knew he was Filipino, but I had never seen exactly what he did. When the MC of the night announced that Roli was going I was barely intrigued, and probably a little inconvenienced by the interruption. Then he got into his performance using doubles of 45 King's "The 900 Number". Amazed, bewildered, and shocked are words that barely describe what I witnessed. It literally redefined for me the use of a pair turntables and a mixer. It was there where I saw the evolution of the DJ into artist.

As mentioned time and time again Fat Beats was not just a Hip-hop shop but a gathering place, a Hip-hop hub for all enthusiasts of Hip-hop. Being a music shop it attracted fans, collectors and of course DJ's. It was owned by DJ Jab and managed by DJ Eclipse and not only attracted DJ's as customers but also employed them. Mista Sinista, DJ Rhettmatic (LA), DJ Blowout, Cipha Sounds, Max Glazer, DJ Eli, DJ Sebb, J. Rocc (LA), DP One, DJ Daddy Dog, and myself. One of my first memories of the 6th Avenue store was a preliminary battle for the Rhythm Method DJ Battle where I met Marz 1 and DJ Big Wiz (Aesop Rock). As a employee there would be days I went without lunch to cut it up with Mista Sinista and some nights I would have after hours scratch sessions with DJ Sebb.

For a lot of us DJ's, Fat Beats was a second home.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Turntablist
• 5th Platoon
• Roli Rho
• Fat Beats

[bugstrut]

Man, what happened to Hip hop? Neil was like "Turntablism - y'all remember that?" What the fuck?

[JBLAZE999]

funny how he goes to change the record at 4.46 but then remembers to go to laptop. thats vinyl running thru the blood, roli rho!