It’s a rare opportunity to ever witness a living legend do what he/she does best. So trust us when we say that having DJ QBert “practice” a scratch set at Brooklyn’s Guitar Center before a short interview was a moment we, along with all of the customers that came through that day, will never forget. The illustrious DJ was in town to act as one of the judges that night for the regional DMC tournament as well as promoting a slew of projects that he’s launched recently. First up, he successfully funded a Kickstarter for his upcoming double album, Extraterrestria / GalaXXXian. It comes as the follow up to his Wave Twisters album and tells two parts of an epic story that he describes himself below in the interview. As for features, expect Chad Hugo (The Neptunes), Kool Keith, Del The Funky Homosapien, Bambu, Soul Khan, El-P, Madchild, Tassho Pearce, and more. The coolest parts of this album? The packaging will be a functional DJ controller as well as be one part of a world wide puzzle hunt.

Second, Thud Rumble (his DJ platform) released an app with Warflex so you can learn how to scratch at dizzying speeds like QBert. Scratch Nerds II features the Speed Booster function that gradually raises the speed of the record you’re practicing on so you don’t have to worry about pitch adjustments. It also comes with 10 beats from DJs Craze and Klever. You can buy your copy on the iTunes app store or Google Play for $1.99.

Third, and possibly the most important, is QBert’s collaboration with Orotofon and Brazilian graffiti duo, OSGEMEOS. You can order your set HERE. The needle and cartridge that they’ve come up with marks the 10th year of partnership between Thud Rumble and Ortofon, helping the latter brag ownership of the best selling cartridge of all time in the last 95 years. Cosmetically, the cartidge is golden with QBert’s signature, the Thud Rumble logo, and a custom design from OSGEMEOS. Technically speaking, Ortofon’s former Chief Engineer and head of R&D for the past 30 years, Per Winefeld, made sure the science was right with its ability to trace the grooves of your records and it is tailored specifically for scratching with deep bass frequencies. There are only 500 sets made so don’t wait until Christmas to get these.

Watch our interview with DJ QBert below with bits of his scratch set.

Bryan Hahn (@notupstate)
Video Shot & Edited: Bolade Ogungbuyi