In Hip-Hop Turntablism, Sophy Smith presents a musical analysis of turntablism with a focus on hip-hop crews that are part of a scene characterised by ‘a sense of community and collectiveness’ (4); in this case, Scratch Perverts and The Mixologists, as well as DMU Crew. The first two crews are based in London and are further connected through various collaborations, while DMU crew have two members from London but came together as a creative team in Leicester, which is also where Smith’s place of work, De Montfort University (DMU), is located. This presentation allows a model to be developed to note and understand the creative processes and output of a musical performance, the ‘routine’, of a hip-hop turntablist crew.

Turntablism is a musical performance practice in which the record player turntable is utilised as a musical instrument, whereby minute portions of musical recordings become sonic elements in their own right. In the words of DJ Babu of turntablist crew Beat Junkies, ‘a Turntablist is a person who uses the turntables not to play music, but to manipulate sound and create music (quoted on p. 4). During the last few years, this performative practice has been morphing into controllerism, whereby digital files of music recordings are manually manipulated on a controller panel, yet vinyl discs are the preferred medium of the turntablist.

That the record player can be used as a musical instrument illustrates a rather porous division between listening and composing – audiences are able to actively repurpose recordings as source material for new music. Following the rise in importance of the DJ during the 1970s, in a parallel world, Toffler introduced the term ‘prosumer’ to refer to a healing of ‘the historic breach between producer and consumer’ (Toffler Reference Toffler1981: 11) that was produced during the age of mass (re)production. Applying this idea to DJ culture, Brewster and Broughton (quoted on p. 27) state that

This is further illustrated by examples of modernist avant-garde artists and composers who have explored the record player as a creative device since the 1920s. Additional examples of pioneering DJ practices are provided from the world of Jamaican reggae, New York disco clubs and the formation of hip-hop. Smith concludes that

The engagement with the modernist avant-garde seems a distraction from the potentially rich ethnographic material and the specific genealogies regarding the work practices of the three UK-based hip-hop crews considered here. Perhaps a more general book on turntablism could have benefitted from a deeper discussion of modernist and postmodernist theory in relation to the turntable as musical instrument and European avant-garde musical practices. However, here this seems like a side-step, a distraction that does not increase an understanding of what these DJ crews do. Instead, to understand technical innovation and collective music performance in hip-hop turntablism, one would expect an approach in which Black Atlantic politics and music practices deserve further attention (see also Gilroy Reference Gilroy1993 and Rose Reference Rose1994).

In the realm of social marginalisation, innovation is possible through the exploration of new technologies exactly because the absence of institutionalised musical frameworks enables a rapid response to techno-economic change. Also, scarcity of resources can encourage new approaches that require one to think outside the box. For example, ‘digging the crates’ is the turntablist practice of seeking out second-hand recordings. This is a relatively affordable way to gain a large record collection of rare (in other words, almost unique) recordings that are simultaneously sufficiently disposable to be stickered and scratched. The process of collecting is a crucial component in the creative process of DJ-ing, and requires further attention in understanding the compositional processes of hip-hop turntablism.

The discussion of musical practices of hip-hop turntablism becomes more specific where structural, rhythmic and melodic compositional techniques are given attention. Some techniques are related to general DJ-ing, which could have been unpicked some more. Other techniques, more specific to turntablism, are rather briefly addressed. It seems that an opportunity was missed to provide a deeper genealogical understanding of these techniques in relation to hip-hop culture and the various practices of dance party and competitive DJ-ing. Perhaps original ethnographic insights could have further enriched these descriptions of DJ techniques.

For example, the discussions of turntablist techniques seem based on existing literature that addresses American DJ techniques, while the crews under investigation are from the UK. This geographical shift adds a fresh dimension to their arsenal of musical techniques. In particular, further insight is needed into the creative practices of Jamaican sound-system crews, while the related development of break-beat DJ techniques in the UK could have helped to explain some of the diverse musical and creative processes that are analysed within the collaborative practices of each of the three crews.

The collaborative creative process is crucial to Smith’s approach to turntablism. Such teamwork is not only prominent in the practices of sound-system and DJ crews but can also be seen in examples of break-dance and graffiti crews. Hip-hop crews work together as creative units at regular rap and dance battles. DJs also compete for the biggest party crowd and, via a hip-hop trajectory, through specific DJ competitions that celebrate the skilful art of turntablism; being part of a mutually supportive crew can help enormously in gaining success.

To develop an analytical model of the creative team effort and musical output of a turntablist crew, Smith refers to Farrell’s notion of collaborative processes in artistic groups. She also utilises Lamden’s observations of ‘devising’ in a group performance, a specific sequence of events that ranges from generating ideas to rehearsal and performance. This is applied to the interpretation of how crews such as Scratch Perverts and the DMU Crew operate, leading to Smith’s adapted model framework of the devising process that takes place in hip-hop crews.

Although of relevance to hip-hop scholars and turntablism practioners, the book does not seem to specifically address this potential readership. Not only do European avant-garde artists get disproportionate attention, and creative group processes are explained with reference to performative practices other than those of DJs and music groups, Smith also seems to aim for a formal musicologist readership: for example,

Indeed, beyond the comparable détournement of the record player, the cultural relationship between hip-hop turntablism and Western art is somewhat slim, yet the particular binary contrast that is presented here is misleading for at least two reasons. First, there are plenty examples of solo artists in the history of turntablism, not least at DJ competitions; some of these pioneers are acknowledged elsewhere in the book, such as Grand Wizard Theodore, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Flare and DJ QBert. Second, Smith shows in her development of a new analytical model that turntablists have developed different types of notation. Some are derived from staff notation, while other notation models are graphically much closer to what the DJ actually does. This variety in notation seems similar to the range in notation models used in dance choreography, which also depend on the genre for which the notation is used.

A development of a formal analytical approach is central to the final discussion of the compositional processes that Smith observes in the three hip-hop teams. This leads to a useful process-based model as well as a method in which to address the compositional components of a hip-hop turntablist music performance. Smith’s analysis, an elaboration of an article that previously appeared in this journal (Smith Reference Smith2007) ultimately establishes the strength of the study, refining an informed understanding of hip-hop turntablism as a specific musical practice. Perhaps, at the next opportunity, insights could be addressed to a turntablist readership and to the expanding field of DJ scholars.