Scratch

2001
R
1h 32m

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

2.9K

YOUR RATING

Documentary Music

The story of the hip-hop DJ from the birth of hip-hop to the invention of scratching and "beat-juggling" vinyl, to the more recent "turntablism" movement. Underdogs and virtuosos who have ra... Read allThe story of the hip-hop DJ from the birth of hip-hop to the invention of scratching and "beat-juggling" vinyl, to the more recent "turntablism" movement. Underdogs and virtuosos who have radically changed the way we hear and create music.The story of the hip-hop DJ from the birth of hip-hop to the invention of scratching and "beat-juggling" vinyl, to the more recent "turntablism" movement. Underdogs and virtuosos who have radically changed the way we hear and create music.

Director
- Doug Pray
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

2.9K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations

Trivia
To create the "scratched" sequences in the film (where a person during an interview suddenly speaks as if the film itself is being scratched), director Doug Pray sent audio clips which had been recorded onto vinyl to DJ Q-bert, who scratched them, and sent the recordings back to Pray. Pray then edited the interviews to match the scratched sound.

Crazy credits
Apologies and respect to the many great DJ's and others who we were unable to be included in this film.

Connections
Edited into Destination Planet Rock (2007)

Soundtracks
Rockit 2.000
Performed by Herbie Hancock featuring Grand Mixer DXT, Mix Master Mike, Rob Swift, DJ Q-Bert (as Qbert), DJ Disk (as Disk), Babu, DJ Faust (as Faust) and Shannon Ames (as Shortee)
Reconstruction and mix translation by Bill Laswell
Courtesy of Transparent Music and Columbia Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User reviews20

Review

Featured review

8/10

"wicka wicka wicka"

-That's pretty much the whole soundtrack to this film. I just saw this baby at the Munich Film Festival and it rocked the house. Director Doug Pray is never seen in this documentary, nor I think he is even heard, but he has done a very intimate look into the lives and history of the "mixer." He has segmented his film into about eight chapters and then his motley group of enthusiastic interviews will be spiced throughout according to what they are talking about. I was never big into "scratching" but the film does a wonderful job of keeping elementary for those who know little, and infusing in-jokes for those who are experts themselves in this area. Mix Master Mike from the Beastie Boys is in this film, but it wasn't until after the film that I could name several heavy hitters in the industry (DJ Shadow, Q- Bert, etc). The extreme fascination for turntables by these talented and quirky DJs is evident in their explanations of what their music means to them. The film also sheds some gratifying light on these guys (and one woman) to be classified as musicians. Pray doesn't let his film idle and if there exists a slow scene it is soon re-energized by hardly ever ceasing music. If nothing else, this film will increase your slang vocabulary. I have to get back to "digging", so I'll end this review. See it, it will be of interest. Good stuff man. Good stuff.

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