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Learn the Art of DJing and Turntablism With The Beat Junkies’ ‘Institute of Sound’

blame it on JES7 April 29, 2017
beat-junkies-institute-of-sound

One of the downfalls of living in a predominantly digitally-driven music world (and the abundance of software like Ableton Live) is the rise of glorified button-pushing “deejays” whom have soared to “superstar status” (we’re looking at you, “‘Dead Mow Five”)—successfully fooling hard-working, paying fans with gratuitous knob twisting, excessive light shows and unwarranted fist-pumping. It’s enough to drive the most dedicated bedroom DJ—who’s spent countless years crafting their art and with dreams of one day rocking their favorite club or headlining a massive festival—mad.

On the heels of celebrating their 25th anniversary as a collective, the World Famous Beat Junkies have decided to open a DJ clinic, dubbed the Beat Junkie Institute of Sound. In an interview with Big Boy, Dilated Junkies’ DJ Babu expounded on why they decided to open up the DJ dojo:

I think it’s a real full circle thing for me, personally. I’ve been on the road with Dilated, been on the road with the Junkies; every kind of DJing, we’ve done it. It’s weird, in Hip-Hop, we’re raised not to bite. Not to copy. Be original. I feel like we’ve spent the better part of 30 years keeping secrets to ourselves. If you weren’t in our crew, I wasn’t showing you my knowledge, my skills. As an artist, I found out in the last 5 or 10 years, it’s really selfish.

Elsewhere, a more reserved DJ Rhetmattic broke his reasonings down:

For us, we wanted to bridge the gap and show our knowledge to the younger generation. At one point, there was a generation gap where the [elders] weren’t teaching teaching anybody. For us, to keep the culture alive, it’s our way of giving back to the community.

Classes are set to begin on May 1st at their Glendale, California location, with more info to be found at Beat Junkie Sound. Watch Hip-Hop nerd Michael Rapaport learn the ropes of DJing in the promo video below.

5130 San Fernando Rd.
Glendale, Ca. 91204