Goodbye SP1200's; everyone else, get over it....

Fact magazine talks of how Technics are going to slow/stop the production of the Sp1200s.

So move on....

I understand how dope they are... I know how cool someone looks... countless pics of clubby girls behind decks smiling cause they look dope... the ugliest of people have gotten ass when sliding faders and cueing up needles for crowds... and yes rewinds and scratches are monsterous inside the mix...

but get over it...

I love the SP12's (and most turntables for that matter) ... it's one of the vessels which Hip Hop and other dance musics were created. What made them so interesting is that they gave a lesson in reappropriation, by not playing it correctly we came up with the nicest musical devices that carry on today. When Flash, Bambaataa, and Herc put these items together they were drawing from what was around them, from the technology made available, and making something out of it. They did not meander on the 'good ole days' of funk and soul where everything was done on tapes and analog machines... and that was one of the subtle ways Hip Hop was 'future' music, it dealt with the realities of the day, the present, what was around you right now and represented it in a way that no one had ever heard before.

and that is my point....

At the time when CDs, MP3s and the like starting coming through, we saw people throwing out names like "True school" "Sellouts" "Cheaters" and "real" when seeing a dJ using CDs, decks, or Serato, smothering the very reason why they were up there to begin with... to get people to bob heads, shake asses, or get in proper zones. And yes, it does feel funny that rewinds, scratches, are now generated using samples and computer programs... and finally, yes, hearing a vinyl record DOES sound different from a digital version. That warm sound is bass friendly and adds a sense of organic that digital cannot produce... but let me remind you again, were those the reasons our DJing pioneers decided to use turntables in the first place?

So...

We have built these temples based on innovation and change, and pushing things forward. But we have become victim to what we complained of our predecessors, that we moved from innovation to dogma, to doctrine... stagnating our ability to be creative. If you think the spirit of the turntable is dead, please don't fret. There are plenty of turntables out there. There are artists who stick with analogue and vinyl for their releases as that is what is tied to their craft (Digital Mystikz for instance). But what hasn't changed is the need for the oppressed, the underclass, the underserved to speak, to voice and reappropriate in their music. We see kids using cell phones and ringtones to make Kuduro beats, we see folks using free music production software making big tunes, we see folks creating scenes in DC, Chicago, Oakland, London, and so forth that are completely Do It Yourself... this is the legacy. When you place too much on technology to maintain 'realness' you are missing yourself from the equation. Technology changes, you should too...