I don’t know about where you live, but there ain’t shit going on in the realms of live music or feel-good, eclectic DJ events in the region surrounding my residence. My hometown in particular, where acts like Public Enemy, EPMD, Gang Starr, Leaders of the New School, Boogie Down Productions, GZA and others once performed on stages in the city’s arena, nightclubs, banquet halls and even high schools, and weird little club nights and huge Raves were once the norm, is a cultural ghost town. And the situation in surrounding towns and cities–due in equal measure to cliquishness, closed-mindedness, homogenization, the consolidation of booking in the hands of a few powerful venues, a lack of alternative venues and simple fear of the unknown–isn’t much better.
I’ve been feeling like things were amiss for a while now, but I wasn’t really struck by just how culturally deprived I’ve been of late until I popped DJ Dusk’s Rootdown Soundclash, a new documentary from veteran Hip-Hop photographers and videographers B+ and Coleman’s Mochilla, into my DVD player the other day. The film is comprised of a split-screen presentation of unedited live footage the two shot at three Rootdown Soundclash events, battles orchestrated every so often by DJ Dusk as part of the Rootdown club night where two Los Angeles area producers and DJs would drag the tools of their trade on stage and go head-to-head, beat-for-beat, in four rounds of thump, chop, scratch and more. Admittedly I’m usually bored to tears by battles, whether they be emcee battles, beat-battles or DJ battles. In fact, my most exciting experience at a DJ battle was one held in the basement of a neighborhood banquet hall a decade-plus ago where one of the local Rap acts who performed a mid-battle set returned later in the night to interrupt the proceedings with a firearm. But the Rootdown Soundclash was something different, and the film held my attention, even provoking me to enthusiastic exclamation, despite a distinct lack of gunplay.
The filmmakers credit Liberian-born Tarek Habib Captan a.k.a. DJ Dusk–who was the regular “chief selector” and master of ceremonies at the Rootdown and (alongside Miles Tackett of Brekestra) the mastermind behind the Soundclash exhibitions/battles–with their success. Dusk, a protege of beloved LA DJ and Hip-Hop personality Rob One, was a student of DJ culture who made it his duty to shatter expectations of what a “Hip-Hop DJ” should play, worked as a mentor in his community and taught a course at UCLA called “DJ as the Post Modern Musician.” Inspired by the Jamaican soundclash tradition–where soundsystems compete for an audience’s favor by selecting better tracks, playing more “exclusive” dubplates (one-off recordings by big-name vocalists cut specifically for a sound system) or simply having a bigger, tuffer “sound”–Dusk envisioned a similar gladiatorial contest between Hip-Hop beatmakers and disc jockeys armed with studio equipment, turntables and an array of breakbeats, original tracks, sound bites, samples and scratches. And since Dusk passed away, the victim of a drunk driver, before he could really spread his musical philosophies to the world outside of his Los Angeles home it’s only right that the Soundclash legacy be his.
Being a product of his vision, and having his hype-making catch-phrases and commentary perpetually buoying the proceedings, Rootdown Soundclash is unquestionably DJ Dusk’s show. But an ingenious concept and an exuberant host do not a successful jam make…So, it falls on the musicians to make the Soundclash worth watching. And it’s in the match-ups that Rootdown Soundclash really succeeds, and Dusk’s genius comes into focus. In round one a typically laid-back Madlib (whose sets reminded me of sitting around with friends practicing our DJ skills as a teenager) gets his guts kicked out by a bashfull-but-brazen Cut Chemist who drops lightning scratches, thundering breaks and funky basslines. Round two, where a visibly uncomfortable, upset and ultimately unimpressed Will.i.am (pre-”Where Is the Love”-fueled superstardom) exhibits his musical chops via a studio’s-worth of production gizmos in an eminintly entertaining fight with Thes One of People Under the Stairs who holds his own armed only with an MPC and a 1961 Wurlitzer “beat machine” And round three’s match-up, between Madlib’s brother Oh No and Exile (of Emanon and Blu’s Below the Heavens fame), just might be the most evenly-matched of the bunch as the two trade diced-up samples, grungy bass and razor-sharp scratches which maintain the peak energy hinted at in round one and reached during round two.
DJ Dusk’s Rootdown Soundclash (Trailer)
In all honesty, I’ve not found a Hip-Hop-related battle scenario (much less a video of one) as entertaining as those presented on Rootdown Soundclash since the YouTube of that dude rhyming about how he’s “stylin’ on” his opponent. Of course, that was entertaining for entirely different reasons, but you should get the gist of what I’m saying…I watched that YouTube over and over again, and I could watch this DVD over and over again. In fact, I’ve already re-watched it a couple times showing it to friends. It’s a bit rough around the edges, having been shot simply for fun and only released to honor Dusk’s memory, but some of the angles B+ and Coleman get of the action are breathtaking, and the energy of the room is palpable through the screen. And that’s why Rootdown Soundclash really works, it makes you wish that you were there. Or in my case, that I could move to LA and have something so dope popping off in my back yard.
If you’re lucky enough to live in the vicinity of the Rootdown–which still brings an eclectic selection of DJs, live acts and Soundclash events to the Little Temple bar in Los Angeles every Thursday–or any other vibrant live music and club scene, support that shit! You don’t know how blessed you are.

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