Hip-hop DJ trio Ill Insanity, whose just dropped debut Ground Xero on Fat Beats is available in CD and vinyl formats at Amoeba Music, have been kept busy since the record's release two weeks ago. Last week the Queens, NY DJ group were in California doing sets at Guitar Center in SF and LA on Pico, in addition to some club dates. And the last couple of days they were on TV and will be again this coming week on Monday and Tuesday (March 3rd & 4th) when they are DJ guests on BET's Rap City at 5PM each day. Meanwhile upcoming tour dates include stops in Seattle and Boston.

"It's a brand new start" - said Rob Swift of the new group that he formed along with younger DMC champ DJ Precision and alsoTotal Eclipse -- the fellow former member of the famous DJ crew that Swift and Eclipse were in with Roc Raida and Mista Sinista, the X-ecutioners (originally known as the X-Men before Marvel Comics objected to copyright infringement).  Unlike the two albums that the X-ecutioners released, which had several vocalists featured, Ill Insanity's debut stays truer to the art of the DJ with only one of the album's fourteen tracks featuring an emcee: the rapper Dasha who cameos on the song "Decorated Vets."

Rob Swift says the freedom to make an album just as he and his bandmates wanted was  a result of being on a smaller label.  "When we signed to Loud Records as the X-ecutioners we were the first turntablist group to sign to a major label and overall we thought we were doing something good for the art form and introducing it to a wider audience," he recalled. "But the reality is when you sign to a major label you don't have the freedom that you would have if you put out the record with a friend on a makeshift record label. You have to compromise a lot with a major label....and we ended up working with artists we wouldn't normally work with. We were kinda bossed into this trap of being told what to do by the record company who said if you want to be popular you have to work with this or that artist."

Los Angeles based documentary film-maker Doug Pray (Hype!, Scratch, Infamy), whose latest release "Big Rig" - a documentary about the subculture of contemporary truck-drivers - premiered at Austin's SXSW fest in March:  and whose latest production "Surfwise" - a documentary about the family dynamics of a unique surfing family, says that the distinct common thread between each of his documentaries is that each tells the story of misunderstood individuals. "They're all subcultures... groups (that) have been misperceived. I see their characters as underdogs," he said. His first film was the 1996 documentary "Hype!" which was literally about the hype behind the North West's underground "grunge scene" and how exactly that music was transformed, neatly packaged, and sold to the gullible masses. His next and even better known film (which won numerous awards) was "Scratch" about the the rise and history of the hip-hop DJ/turntablist. It was followed by  "Infamy" a documentary about six graffiti artists plus one anti-graffiti activist.

To director Pray there is an obvious common thread between each of the films' subjects.  Speaking of Hype!, Scratch, and Infamy he said, "They're all subcultures which I never set out to do but it is interesting how things turn out. All three groups were misperceived in general and I think that's what's in common with all three. Like the way people in Seattle felt that their movement had been packaged and kind of sold to the masses as something that it wasn't - that was a reason to make a movie because I was there and I thought 'You know what?' What the world thinks about this music community is not what they're saying it really is!' Same thing with the deejays in "Scratch" It was sort of like everybody, as in mainstream America, thought they knew what hip-hop was and what the hip-hop DJs were saying was really different from this perception.....It's all the same thing - same thing with Infamy about the graffiti artists."
 
 Before he began shooting the director mistakenly thought that "Infamy" would turn out to an upbeat, celebration, of bright beautiful graffiti art. Instead it turned out be an engrossing, dark portrayal of obsessed artists who commit felonies, constantly risking jail time just to create their art. "Graffiti artists are manic depressive," confesses graffiti artist Saber in one engaging scene. Infamy is unlike other graffiti films. "Most graf films are made in such earnest from a graffiti art fan's perspective that they often overlook the human element," said Pray who deliberately limited the number of subjects profiled in his film.  "I didn't want to have 30 artists in there and just get to know a little about (each of) them. I wanted to really focus on just six artists. I wanted to make a movie where you really got to know the person, their family, their peers, their crew...One of the differences with graffiti and others is that it is really demented....It is an obsession and it is both very stimulating and it leads to trouble....it is unlike any other art because it is a felony."  

Although Infamy didn't get near as warm a reception as its predecessor (Scratch) and outside of a handful of screenings (mostly at small film fests) went straight to DVD last Fall, it is nonetheless a wonderful film and well worth seeing for both graffiti and non-graffiti fans alike. Also recommended for all audiences is the critically acclaimed aforementioned Scratch which truly is an amazing film that captures the soul of the dedicated hip-hop DJ (Full disclosure: the writer of this AMOEBLOG is one of the subjects in the film and also credited for giving the film its title) and the DVD version boasts an additional disc with four bonus hours including the ever engaging, turntable instructional "How To Rock A Party" with Z-Trip. Scratch, which can still be seen occasionally on the Sundance Channel, can be found both as a single DVD at Amoeba and other new and used DVD outlets and also in the nicely packaged hip-hop DVD set along with the film Freestyle**

          
                SCRATCH GUITAR M AESTRO:


                 "It is guitar but a lot of the method is like
                  turntablism" says The Genie - born Luis
                  Monterrosa - the innovator of  DJ influenced     
                 "scratch guitar"  music who  was brought to the
                  attention of many Amoeba Music fans after he
                  appeared two and a half years ago on the
                  two-CD set "Amoeba Music Compilation
                 Vol. V"  with his wonderful composition "Before
                  The World Goes" which was culled from his
                   own album "Rebel Music."


                                                                                                               
        As I was just starting to assemble the elements of what would  become the fifth volume in the Amoeba Music compilaiton  series, which showcases underground/indie artists - mainly from California and many of them Amoeba Music employees - Naomi (the marketing person at the San Francisco Amoeba store) told me about a few "must check out" artists for that upcoming collection. Knowing what impeccable taste Naomi has  (much earlier she turned me onto Deerhoof long before it seemed anyone knew about them) I immediately dropped everything to check out the artists she recommended including the Genie. And again she was right. The Genie is definitely a must check out artist!