Two turntables and a microphone: Turntablism, ritual and implicit religion

Abstract

Within the limited body of research investigating hip hop culture and religion, articles that focus on the religious dimensions of rap music and rap lyrics have predominated the literature, much to the detriment of exploring the religious dimensions of other practices, such as dancing, graffiti writing and turntablism. This article aims to lay groundwork for the discussion of the religious dimensions of DJ battles and turntablism. First, I discuss battling in hip hop as a form of ritual practice. Next, the characteristics of battling as expressed in turntablism and DJ battles are outlined. By examining two battle events from turntablism as examples, I posit that battle events should be viewed as implicitly religious. Lastly, I examine the religious dimensions of turntablism using the theoretical constructs of implicit religion and complex subjectivity as frameworks of analysis. In fact, as battle events transpire, they can potentially take on an emergent religious significance for their participants.

Keywords:

• turntablism
• hip hop
• battling
• implicit religion
• ritual

Notes

1. Subliminal dissing is a tactic where the DJ buries an insulting phrase or sound within the layers of the music. It is meant to induce fear or publicly humiliate an opponent during a DJ's battle routine.

2. Sonjah Stanley-Niaah describes dancehall as a descendant of Jamaica's reggae music, an urban lifestyle and a cultural practice. Sound clashes (battles between sound systems) and toasting are competitive and celebratory rituals that travelled from Jamaica to New York, informing the shape of disc jockeying in hip hop through the innovations of Kool DJ Herc among others. See Stanley-Niaah 2004, 7, 102–18.

3. Biting is taking credit for something that you did not create or recreate. It's reusing the same sample or routine that belongs to someone else in an attempt to become popular.

4. Grandmaster Flash, pers. comm., 26 July 2008.