DJ Dusk's Root Down Soundclash

DJ Dusk’s Root Down Soundclash
Mochilla (DVD)

DJ Dusk was a well-loved fixture of Los Angeles hip-hop culture whose life was tragically cut short by a drunk driver in 2006. His legacy, however, will live on forever, and the Soundclash DVD is just one shining example of Dusk’s impact on LA hip-hop, and specifically, on the culture of DJing.

DJ Dusk’s Root Down Soundclash was a series of beat battles held at Little Temple in Silverlake; the three contests on the DVD feature the match-ups of Madlib versus Cut Chemist, Will.I.Am versus Thes One, and Oh No versus Exile, on January 13 2001, April 25 2002 and December 11 2003, respectively. Each battle presents a different take on the art of live beat making, but through each round, videographers B+ (Brian Cross) and Coleman (Eric Coleman) filmed simultaneously from both sides of the stage. Rather than edit and cut all the footage together to create one seamless film, the DVD runs both camera feeds side-by-side, simultaneously. It makes for some interesting “live feel” shots, especially when B+ and Coleman are shooting the same subject or stage space from two different angles. It would be nice if the video displays were larger on-screen, but when all this was going down, there were no plans to release the footage of these battles in a high-quality DVD format, so appropriate technology and commercially-minded logistical concerns simply were not considered. Frankly, I think the guerilla nature of the shots owe to the overall vibe of the event. And besides, there’s plenty of clarity in the visual, so it’s not like viewers are missing anything watching the action in a pair of small windows.

As for the music, each of the battles has its charm — Cut Chemist and Madlib present the rawest set and feature the most turntable trickery; Thes One and Will.I.Am bring a little more technological firepower and leave a trail of ill beats in their wake (though I must say, I’m pretty bummed on watching Will.I.Am rock it on his Mac, and dude comes off as kind of a douchebag); and Oh No and Exile, despite being the “smaller” guys in the three battles, throw down six impressive rounds between them. However, more than three solid beat battles, this disc chronicles an honesty in hip-hop seldom seen these days — an originating notion that, at a small club in big city, these kinds of homegrown, community based events can pop off with the kind of spontaneity and impact that that put this culture on the map in the first place.

You can cop this directly from Stones Throw. Here’s the video trailer that Mochilla put together: