QBERT INTERVIEW This is an interview I conducted a little while ago with QBert, former member of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz and sxratch dj innovator. This makes for a truly interesting read, check it out. danny There is probably no need to introduce you, as you are probably the most well known, well respected turntablist on the face of the earth. How have you found the pressures of such a reputation have affected your life? Do you ever wish you could curl up into a ball and everyone would just ignore you every now and then? Q The pressure is something i kinda don't understand too much yet, but i do know that it sorta motivates me to keep making things for everyone, so i guess it's a positive, actually i know it's a positive thing. I'm always curled up in a ball, people just don't know the side of me when i'm at home alone. danny Out of everything you have achieved (dmc, wave twisters, making battle weapons, cds, tapes, videos etc etc etc etc) what has been the most fun for you, and what would you perhaps do differently if you could? Q The most fun is practicing with my friends: d-styles, flare, yogafrog, mix master mike, shortkut, disk, mc ub, etc. and hangin out with the toadman. As far as projects that were the most fun, probably the wave twisters movie and also skratching on d-styles' album, that comes out sometime after the movie. I also can't forget when we won the dmc competitions back in the days with apollo and mmm. It was incredible winning something so big like even when i first won the dmc usa finals in 91. I couldn't believe it at first and then i went back to the hotel and it hit me. I did a backflip but i didn't know how so i landed wrong and hurt my shoulder but didn't feel the pain! Right now getting the wave twisters movie in sundance! danny How do you perceive yourself? You must read and hear about yourself all the time, but when you look in the mirror, who do you see looking back? Q My mother always raised me as someone who is the best in the world. I thought she was crazy, but she insisted on continuously telling myself that i can do anything and acheive whatever i wanted. Now, i look at myself as a person who has a purpose in life to give all that i have to help people. Whatever your talents are, you can use them to make the world a better place. It's what i've discovered when i found the meaning of life. ^top danny You’ve said yourself that you only started making decent living out of turntablism within the last few years, so have there been moments in your life when you’ve seriously thought about whether or not it’s all worth it, and whether perhaps you’ve chosen the wrong path? Q Of course when you're young, you are always searching to find yourself and yes i was lost in what life was all about. I too just like 90% of the world was hypnotized into beleiving that i was to graduate school, get a 9 to 5 and retire at 60 or something. My father was a carpenter and always instilled in me to become something that was in costruction because "that's where the money is at". I hated construction!!!! I mean it's wonderful how they do it, but obviously it wasn't for me, therefore i was lost and sad about what life had to offer, because i was taking classes in school that were aimed towards that, like architecture and stuff, and i was failing badly. I thought of myself as a loser and i even got "most likely to not succeed" in a popularity poll for R.O.T.C... all i wanted to do was skratch and do turntable tricks, but like i said, my mother told me i could do whatever i wanted, and that i was the best in the world, whatever that meant to me at the time. What she was actually doing was subliminally implanting those positive thoughts into my head, and therefore hypnotizing me into believing that, which in turn made me excell unknowingly. So when you have kids, make sure you tell them that they are the greatest things that ever happenned to the world. We all are. Every single one of us is a distinctly original, beautiful masterpiece of the universe! Our society here on earth doesn't teach 90% of us that, though, but know it, and you'll be free Also, i wish there was a system to find one's talents at a young age and then push them in the direction they were created for. It's what this world doesn't have. danny You announced the split of ISP on your website, saying that you were going off for a certain amount of time to develop your style into something new. There is still much confusion and speculation about what you are/will be up to in Hawai, who the mystery sxratcher you are teaming up with is, and why you are keeping your cards so close to your chest. Have you just had enough of being in the public eye and you want to do something without the pressures and questions of everyone else, and more to the point, do you have any light to shed on the whole issue? Q It's simple, we are just going there to paradise for inspiration and training and, yes, to get away from the public eye and clear ourselves in order to start fresh. This makes for a better offering to everyone when we come back in hopes of having a totally new system of skratching styles, ideas, techniques, philosophies, etc. As far as the grandmaster we're working with, he's showed us a new system that is years ahead of it's time, but in actuality, it's in time and we are all behind! Since he's been skratching from day one, which is going to be his 26th anniversary soon in june 2001, he's advanced this skratch art at least ten years into the future past anyone we know of! In order for us to learn his style would take us a few years just to get the basics of it down because it's comprised of zillions of techniques we've never seen or heard before. It's as if we're starting at square one. I wish i could tell you more, but we really truly want it to be a surprise for you all, since it is like nothing you've ever heard before and blows away all notion of what turntables are capable of. When we say infinity, we mean it. His identity will be revealed later in the future as well, because if people knew now, they would hound him. He's content living a life of a "skratch monk" you could say, ha ha. We tease him about that, but shit, so are we trying to be like that! danny You’ve obviously devoted much of your life to pushing forward the boundaries of what we know turntablism to be, but do you think perhaps by doing this you have missed the opportunity to doing other things, and that maybe you’ve missed out on what else life has to offer? Q I do everything i want in life. Skratching has brought me to do even more, discover more, travel more, see more, learn more, experience more. This life i have is controlled 100% by me and since i'm my own boss, if i say let's have lunch in Paris, then so be it! ^top danny You’re style and overall persona have drastically calmed down since the early nineties. Why do you think this is, and do you think you are reaching a point now where there is no need push yourself beyond your own personal limits? Q The energy is still there only now in efficiency. I'll always push the boundaries of what i know, because it's so exciting and fullfilling to find out what's on the next plateau, what's in the next door, where's this new technique lead, understanding the different phases, bringing back the past and mixing it with the future, and all that. With progression comes change and everything changes. danny Skratchkon will no doubt go down in history as one of the most important events in turntablist history. What did you aim to achieve by staging such an extravagant event, and do you think you did yourself justice? Q It's something we wanted to give the skratch community that was different and forward, from the beautiful venue, the greatest turntable artists in the world, a historical happening, a gathering of all the skartch fanatics in the world, a feeling of awe and inspiration, a great teaching lesson, a great display of skills from the best, a difinitive moment in history, etc. you name it, and not to mention the notations, the seminars on everyone's different styles, whew, it had it all, plus a great after party and much more that it will certainly be known as the greatest day for skratch djs! If you were there, you knew how priceless that experience was! danny On a more personal note for me, do you have any plans to get yourself over to England or anywhere else to tour or film turntable tv, and speaking of travelling, where would you say your personal favourite place on earth would be? not from a performing point of view, but just somewhere that you have felt you could stay for the rest of your life Q Of course we are planning on touring the wavetwisters movie all over the world. So i guess i'll be seeing you out there in the uk. I love a tropical place. I guess i've been all over the world pretty much and i think right now no place beats san francisco and hawaii! san diego is nice too though. ^top danny If there was one thing you could change in modern day society what would it be? Q Kids should be taught that "giving is the ultimate happiness and selfishness is the ultimate evil." danny Where do you find refuge from the pressures and madness of everyday life outside of turntablism? Q At home and in nature. I love a beautiful beach and i could sit there for hours meditating and daydreaming. My homes also have beautiful views and that in itself is a stress reliever. Actually there really are no pressures. I love what i do! I also love to read and find out info on things i'm curious about. I'm very much into fate and no coincidences. If i'm thinking of something or run into something, i always take it as a message from the universe. so when i'm stuck, i listen and keep an open mind to let a sign from an angel inspire me. danny When all is said and done, how would you like to be remembered for your time on this earth? Q As someone who discovered that the meaning of life is to give your talents to everyone in order to promote happiness in as many lives as you can touch, even if it's a smile to one person. People should understand that you can never truly give or take money and that what you get in life is what you deserve. Some people don't understand these things but when you learn about kharma and reincarnation, you will. When you do give, never want something in return but do enjoy the fact that you made them happy. danny What are you most afraid of, and have your fears in any way made you stronger? Q Nothing, since i've learned that anything can be taken away from you and you must learn to be unattached at will and know that what you keep are the lessons in life that will forever be implanted in your soul. The fears i did have made me stronger because that's how i found out about all this kool spiritual stuff. "Seek and you will find" "ask and you shall receive", etc... there is nothing to fear because god loves us all and we are all a part of God. Pain is a passing storm. ^top danny Your own Turntablism News Network is at the centre of the online turntablist community, but do you really think the internet is a good place to learn from, or are djs perhaps becoming a little too lazy and complacent? After all, you didn’t get to where you and now by going to a sxratch tutorial or asking someone else how a sxratch is done? Q It is very important to learn from and it connects the whole world to ideas that increase the growth rate of the art to it's all time high, and yes, i did ask "how do you do that." I still do, and i do read a skratch tutorial still. There's no end to what new things there are to discover. danny Let’s say the WWF asked you, flare, DStyles and yoga to take on the beat junkies, the x-men, the allies and 5th platoon in a royal rumble for turntablists. Who’s gonna win and why? Q I think the Toadman would jump in with a Zorro mask kill everyone. danny Bush or Gore? Q A gory bush. danny What is the most beautiful thing that you have ever seen, heard or otherwise experienced? Q Hearing a new skratch style always leaves an imprint on me! An out of body experience where my soul travels. Finding out the meaning of life. A beach in Guam with pure white sand. an incredibly fine woman. too many beautiful things in this universe. I'd have to say that the whole life experience is one beautiful thing! ^top danny You are evidently at the very forefront of this culture, a leader if you will, but as time passes and the next wave of djs and turntablists comes through, who do you think is going to be the next QBert or the next DStyles or the next MMM, to push this culture far beyond how we know it at the moment? Q Everyone is a leader in this culture, everyone has the power to stand out and be in the forefront. There is no one guy in this thing that is at the helm. The directions for this art stem out like an explosion going in all different directions, therefore everyone is shooting out towards their own path. We all look different, sound different, talk different, have our own personalities, different fingerprints, and so it is with our expressions and ways with our art and creations. danny Now that everything has more or less calmed down, how much have you and will you keep in contact with MMM and Shortkut? Was there any bitterness at all between any of you, because there were naturally a lot of rumours flying around? Q Ha ha, rumors. I just spoke with Mike yesterday for almost an hour. We'll be doing a showcase together at sundance. He's my brother for life and Shortkut is as well with all my friends. We have the most love for each other that only you and your best friends can only explain. You know how it is. Don't believe everything you hear on the internet, i think i explained that to you before! [[Yeah, i think you might have!!!]] danny Tony prince challenged you and ISP back in '99 to compete for the world dmc team championship. Why didn’t you take him up on this? Q Obviously because we're busy working on other things like the wavetwisters movie, Mike with the Beastie Boys, DStyles has an album, Shortkut is doing the Tripthreat thing, Yogafrog was working on Skratchcon. It was just funny to hear him say that and not know what we are up to nowadays. He must have thought we were still practicing for the next competition or something, ha! [[lol!!!]] danny Regarding terminology, do you see yourself as a turntablist, a dj or a sxratch dj? A lot of people hate the word turntablist, so what do you see yourself as being? Q I'm a skratch dj! ^top danny What do names like ‘Reverse Oyster Beard,’ ‘ISP vs klamz Uv Deth’ and ‘Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Music’ actually mean? Is there any meaning at all, or are they just names you like the sound of, and how do you come up with stuff like that? Do you still do that thing where each one of you chooses a word and you come up with a complete title, like how you came up with ISP? Q Just sounds interesting, but in some instances there's meaning in a dreamy sort of way. Like when we went to Japan and made "Toiret for Godzirra". We just make up names and think of the stupidest things because we always knew that content was more important most of the time. If a great dj's name was shitface, but he could kill anyone in battling, well "shitface" would be a dope ass name then! "Oh fuck, look out! here comes shitface! you're gonna get fucked up now!" danny When was the last time you cried? Q When my girlfriend and i broke up. I miss her...*sniff* danny Ok, thanks very much for doing this interview, it’s been an honour and a privilege. As a way of saying goodbye, could you leave us with one thought provoking sentence, and I’ll let you get back to normality Q "There's no end to learning." Home > Interviews > ^top