DJ Qbert

DJ Qbert

By Daniel Robert Epstein
Mar 15, 2005

There is no one on the planet that has advanced the art of turntablism as much as DJ Qbert. Qbert scratches, creates scratch movies like Wave Twisters, invents new equipment and releases scratch educational DVDs.

Check out the official site for DJ Qbert

Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to?
DJ Qbert: I’m just hanging out in Hawaii. It’s awesome.
DRE:
Are you taking a break after the tour?
Q:
Yeah I’m at my second home here in Hawaii. It’s a little condo right by the ocean.
DRE:
How was the tour?
Q:
It was beautiful. A lot of different places to see and experience. It was the 4 Masters tour which was Grand Wizard Theodore, DJ Flair and also Jazzy Jeff.
DRE:
I remember Jeff when he teamed up with a guy named The Fresh Prince.
Q:
Right totally. He still DJs. Fresh Prince is throwing a party actually. He’s renting out the Statue of Liberty for a birthday party and Jeff is going to be DJing that.
DRE:
Are these guys all older than you?
Q:
Grand Wizard Theodore and Jeff are older than me but Flair is the youngest.
DRE:
What do you guys all talk about when you get together?
Q:
We’re just homies and friends. We all have the same interests in music and stuff. It’s just a bunch of scratch nerds getting together.
DRE:
You finished Wave Twisters a couple of years ago so what else are you doing?
Q:
I just invented this new turntable. It’s called a QFO. It’s a turntable and mixer combined in one so it’s pretty portable. I go to the beach out here a lot and I always see a lot of guys playing guitar and bongos on the beach. I was wondering how I could scratch out here at the beach so I invented the QFO thing. Now I could take it out there and practice.
DRE:
Were you surprised that something like that had never been invented before?
Q:
Yeah because it’s common sense. When guys scratch all they use is a fader and a turntable so why not put it all together in one.
DRE:
I don’t get to talk to many people who invent things so you will have to forgive my ignorance. Are you designing this thing on paper or do you grab some equipment and rig together a prototype?
Q:
There is a company I’m sponsored by called Vestax. What I did is draw my idea down on paper and they figure out what can and can’t be done. Then a month or two later they come back with a prototype which I check out to see what I do and do not like. They just keep coming back until it’s perfected. After a year it was finished and it sold out the first two weeks it was released.
DRE:
How much work can you actually get done at the beach?
Q:
It’s just for fun and practice.
DRE:
What else do you do for fun?
Q:
The normal stuff. I have a girlfriend that’s coming through the door right now. I play a lot of chess. I like going to art museums and I go on the internet a lot. I looked at SuicideGirls, it’s hilarious.
DRE:
What’d you see?
Q:
I saw this one thread that was like “How do you shave your asshole?” or something. I thought that was the best thing I ever read in my life.
DRE:
That would be a great question for you.
Q:
Wait let me ask my girl. [turns away from the phone] Hey honey, do you shave your asshole? Well what do you do with the hairs on your butt? [comes back] She says she shaves it when she shaves down there.
DRE:
Does she have to flip over?
Q:
One sec [turns away from the phone], do you have to flip over when you shave your butt part? [comes back] She is now showing me. She’s grabbing her ass cheek and putting her hand behind her and doing a shaving motion.
DRE:
I bet you never knew this about her.
Q:
I never would have known if I hadn’t read that thread. That’s so cool.
DRE:
A lot of people know who you are; when you go to party do people call you Qbert or Richard?
Q:
They know me by my stage name which is Qbert. They are usually very nice.
DRE:
How long have you been DJing now?
Q:
It’s going to be 20 years this summer.
DRE:
When did you discover that you could make a real show out of it?
Q:
I guess that would be the first day I got into it. You see these guys DJing for hours and hours and I used to watch Jimi Hendrix play for hours as well. So I thought I would incorporate a Jimi Hendrix style of scratching into the DJing concept.
DRE:
I love the Wave Twisters movie. Do you plan on doing a sequel?
Q:
I have all these other projects like instructional scratch videos and after those are done I will be working on a new film. Hopefully it will be different than Wave Twisters and in a lot of ways better.
DRE:
Do you think the sequel will be more story oriented?
Q:
Well I’m trying to do something a bit different and I don’t want to spoil the surprise. I really like the concept.
DRE:
One of the things when you get to be as respected as you are is that you get to work with some of the greatest artists in the world. What made you think that working with Buckethead would come out so well?
Q:
I had no idea. Buckethead was just a friend that lived in the same city as me. He was like “Yo Qbert you’re making an album! Can I come over and be on it?” I said that it was supposed to be all scratching and he was like “Come on, come on!” I was like, ok. He’s Buckethead so I can’t refuse. It ended up coming out so good because he’s just a genius.
DRE:
So Buckethead talks to you a lot?
Q:
Yeah we talk all the time. He really inspires me because he’s a real musician while I’m just guessing at it. Turntables have only been around for like 30 years and guitarists have been around for hundreds of years so he’s like my teacher.
DRE:
Can you play instruments?
Q:
No not at all but I apply everything he teaches me to scratching.
DRE:
What are these instructional videos you’re doing?
Q:
They are “do it yourself” scratch DVDs with all these techniques. There are even guys you can practice with. You can hook up the sound into your equipment so someone on the video will scratch then you copy them. I also do a lot of explaining about basic scratches.
DRE:
Like you were saying turntablism is a very young art. In fact it’s so young you are still inventing equipment for it. Where do you see it going in ten years?
Q:
With any art form it will branch off into a zillion other things. Then those branches will have their own branches and combine with other types of music and musicians. There is also the digital age of course so you have guys scratching with CDs and you have guys who go the traditional route. You can compare to the piano which is analog then keyboards which is digital then you will have guys like Herbie Hancock who do both.
DRE:
Do you still judge competitions?
Q:
I do but the only problem with being a judge is that you only make one friend in the end.
DRE:
Do new guys still blow you away?
Q:
Absolutely. Everyone has their own fingerprints and will do something different from everyone else. I like to go to competitions and pick up new ideas to twist around and make my own. It’s like saying “How many songs can you play on a guitar?” It’s up to your imagination.
DRE:
Do you think in words or beats and scratches?
Q:
I hear scratch music in my head and try to bring it out.
DRE:
I just read this article that said the vinyl bubble has burst and turntablism has really scaled back. Would you agree?
Q:
It’s always been an underground art. It’s not so much that it’s pulled back. The real heads that stick around are the ones I look out for. There might be a big resurgence with championships on television then that disappears but the masters are still playing. It’s never going away.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

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