Magazine:
ATM MAGAZINE
Title: GUEST COLUMN : UP CLOSE & PERSONAL WITH DJ SHORTEE
Words: Shortee
Photos: Micheal Tullberg
Issue Date:
09.07
UP CLOSE & PERSONAL WITH…DJ SHORTEE
Wut up folks! Shortee’s in the house! That’s right; its America’s short and sweet scratch diva steppin’ off the 1’s and 2’s to rock the A’s and B’s for ya. Fresh off my summer UK drum & bass tour, I’m here to break down stereotypes and take no prisoners on the ‘ol guest column!
By trade I’m a multi genre DJ, turntablist, producer, label owner, Scratch DJ Academy professor and instructional DVD mogul. I’ve toured the globe for the last 12+ years rockin’ everything from insane raves, b-boy battles and Hip Hop clubs to massive festivals, celebrity parties and even the Playboy Mansion. You may have seen me in the movie “Scratch” or balancing on milk crates while spinning anything from Drum & Bass, Hip Hop, Dancehall, Funk, Breaks, House or scratch-n-juggle turntablist showcases. Sounds pretty cool right?
Well, guess what….I’m a total nerd! That’s right, I said it….NEEEERD! Scratch nerd, computer geek, band dork, homebody and self-proclaimed practice junkie. I’m a complete work-o-holic and perfectionist who obsesses over every detail. For fuck’s sake, even the word “Turntablist” sounds dorky as hell and has “nerd” oozing all over it! This year DJ Times dubbed me “Queen of the Scratch World” which translated literally means: “Nerdiest Female DJ Ever” so I proclaim my nerd status with pride, because I wouldn’t be anywhere without it.
Bringin’ my mixer to every show is the norm because that’s what turntablists do! Regardless of what’s in the rider, you never know what you’re gonna get and not every mixer is scratch-friendly. With electronic music, flawless mixing is most important but my ability to scratch is the icing on the cake, setting me apart from the pack. The mixer is key here, don’t expect Craze or the Scratch Perverts to bust out some quadruple click flares on a Xone mixer…not gonna happen!
Normally I arrive early for sound check to set up my gear so it’s not an issue but, once in a while, chaos ensues. Most recently on my last UK tour, there were times I would roll in right before my time slot and set up my mixer directly on top of the club’s mixer “plug & pray” style. Its insane trying to hook up everything in a matter of minutes before the last DJ’s song runs out! Even funnier is the worried look on the next DJ’s face when he walks in the booth and sees my set up. Much like a fast paced pit stop in the Indy 5000, I am able to hook/unhook my gear without disrupting the music and it’s always a bit tricky but I’m used to it.
I have tons of experience with guerilla setups. If you think setting up one mixer in the middle of the show is hard, try hookin’ up two! My husband DJ Faust is also a turntablist/producer and we have been performing together on 4 turntables for over 12 years, in fact, he’s the one who taught me. I started playing drums/percussion at age 7, solidifying my nerd status at an early age and went on to perform in concert, symphonic, jazz, and marching bands up through college. (“There was this one time in Band Camp”…haha ;) When I met Faust I was thrashing drums in my punk rock band and was also really into the rave scene. My background in music helped me adapt to DJing and with direction from Faust, I learned the basics of mixing, scratching and beat juggling quickly.
I started playing House, Breaks and Hip Hop gigs but my transition from band geek to scratch nerd was accelerated when Faust & I formed a turntablist crew with Craze, Klever, Shotgun, T-Rock and King James. I learned so much from practicing & touring with those guys. The most challenging part was having the least amount of experience, being compared to such amazing djs, and having to play on the same stage as them. I had to work my ass off and get my skills up just to be taken seriously because I didn’t want to be known as the token girl in the crew.
In 1997, the nerd tendencies paid off and I won the biggest electronic mixing contest in the US at the time: Fever/Buzz Battle of the DJs, becoming the first female champion. After that Faust released the first all-scratch album in history, “Man or Myth”, which featured Craze, Shotgun and I. This was before Craze won his first DMC title and he would stay at our house for weeks at a time workin’ on routines and production. Around that time Faust, Craze and I released the “Fathomless” EP containing the first all-scratch jungle tune. Looking back on that it’s interesting how we naturally gravitated towards Drum & Bass. In 1999, I dropped my solo album, “The Dreamer”, which became the first and only scratch album produced by a female and there has been some sort of D&B tune on every album I’ve released since.
The first moment I fell in love with Drum & Bass was when I heard Dieselboy play at a party called Buzz (Nation) in Washington, DC back in ‘94. Although I loved the jungle sound, I had learned from House, Hip Hop and battle DJs so my career initially followed those genres. Eventually I made the decision to play D&B simply because I loved the music so much. Anytime you chose to play a different style of music than what you are known for its like starting over but if you love the music then it’s worth it, that’s how passionate I felt about Drum & Bass and still do to this day.
Fast forward to 2007, we just launched 2 labels: 5 Star Records (battle/dj tools) & Heavy Artillery Recordings (drum & bass). We’ve been producing D&B under the name “Urban Assault” for a while now and just dropped a tune on LOAD Recordings. Representin’ for the ladies, my latest 5 Star release is “Bikini Wax”, the first ever female-centric battle/dj tools record produced by myself and female DJ Step1. I also put together a D&B movement called “Queens of the Jungle” with my girl’s Reid Speed and MC Tali, with tour dates starting in August.
All labeling aside, ultimately I’m just an artist trying to make a living doin’ what I love. (…and all that without showin’ my tits ;o)
www.djshortee.com
www.myspace.com/djshortee
www.faustandshortee.com
www.urbanassaultdnb.com
www.how2dj.com
www.heavyartilleryrecordings.com
www.5starrecords.com
www.queensofthejungle.com
