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Edinburgh... a city full of talent, it has some of the finest emcees, graffers and b-boys around, so it comes as no surprise when we produce some of the worlds finest deejays. Ritchie Ruftone - Scottish DMC Champion 2000 - 2001, 6th place in the UK DMC Final 2000, 1st in the ITF European Scratching Category, 3rd place in the World ITF Championships and a bunch of local comps under his belt, he is without a doubt one of the best deejays to come out of Britain. Privileged as I am I managed to hook up an interview with the man himself in his work (Underground Solushn) After a wee chat and short look through the healthy hip hop selection of vinyl, we got down to the interview.
Right Ritchie, firstly…how long have you been DJing for? I've been DJing for about ten years now, but I've only been DJing hip hop for about six. I started off being a raver, taking pills and shit, going to raves and dancing to rave DJ's thinking "I could do better than that" so I started buying rave records and that. And then I done a pirate radio station (Boomerang FM) from my bedroom for about 6 years, playing drum and bass and then hip hop and stuff. Then I just got totally into hip hop from there. What got you into it? Basically I got into hip hop from a DJ called A1 who used to a show on the radio station. When I was playing drum and bass he would come on and play hip hop and I just thought it was really cool y'know. I used to check him doing his scratching and stuff…it was like him, a guy called Frosty who was DJing Tribal Function at the time and a guy called Babes as well who's been DJing for years…he's a sort of funk collector, hip hop DJ. All of them where into scratching before me so I just sorta got into what they were into type thing…hanging out with them. It was just an alternative to getting fucked every weekend y'know what I mean. I just got heavily into cutting and it stopped me getting fucked up. On to your crew (the Table Gimps) what do you lot have in store for the future? Well, we're all doing our own individual stuff…we're all entering the DMC's again this year and we should be entering the teams this year as well. We've all got our own stuff to do though as well. Bunty does cuts with Gael Force + STS. Woody does stuff for Krispy…he's just done the cuts for their latest EP actually. So we're all sorta featuring on different things. We all come together all the time though to practice. Woody and Bunty are entering all the other battles this year as well. We're just trying to do the battle circuit really…we've got the material, it's just a case of getting it out there. Is there anyone else you practice with. When you can't get a hold of Bunty or Woody? Basically anyone who cuts really. There's a lot of quality DJ's in Edinburgh…a guy called Wee Simey who's really good at cutting, a guy called Jamie, another DJ called Spectrum…he's down all the time. What about Nasty P? Aye, I see Nasty sometimes… DJ Extra as well…basically anyone who's up for it. Extra and Nasty are both quality DJ's eh? Aye man, both of them are class DJ's. Who do you think is going to win the UK DMC's this year? Possibly Neil (Plus One) if he pulls it off right. But I know Woody's set is fucking good. In my eyes it's between Woody, Plus One, Mad Cut and Tigerstyle. How do you feel when you're at the DMC's…nervous? I just sorta get on with it but basically it always feels like you only do about 80% of what you should do. Like every time…for me anyway. It's really annoying cos I can cut perfect in my room then I'll get up at DMC and fuck it up. It's a shit feeling, I'm glad when it's over. It's worth doing though…if you can do it in your room and you want to battle other DJ's then you may as well give it a bash. How's things going with you...are you happy with your performances recently? I'd say my scratching is better than most…I mean the last two days I've come up with three new scratches. I'm happy with my scratching but not with my beat juggling. To win the title you need to have a juggle that is classic, one that's memorable and I don't have one that I'm happy with yet.
Are you going to carry on producing tracks for other emcees? I've not been producing anything at all, just been practising all the time but I'm gonny get back into. For me producing's a bit more hard work…I have to actually sit down think about it where as scratching I can do for fun y'know. When I first got my equipment I was like well, I'll sit down, make a track, sample anything and sequence some stuff up, but now I feel like I don't just want to turn it on and try and make a track, I feel like I've got to have a drum kit sitting there that I want to sample, that I want to cut up and maybe a few breaks that I really want to use. I'm just waiting about for my collection of sounds to build up before I go back into it…i'd rather just scratch away. I've got some people doing beats for me just now that I'm going to scratch over. I'll get the beats and just lay some vocal cuts and shit on top of it. I'm into doing verses, choruses for rappers and that…I'm up for doing that y'know more than actually making the whole track. Who have you got making the beats for you? I've got AJ from Blacka'nized and a guy called Scott who does some beats for Incorpareal (Edinburgh hip hop crew) and also a guy called Mikey from Newcastle. I just done some cuts for Profisee of Scotland Yard on a track he's doing with Blacka'nized on their new album. What DJ do you look up to the most? Probably Q-Bert. He's invented more scratches than anyone. I think every DJ looks up to him. What do you think about the recognition that people like Mark B and Blade are getting. Do you think it's a breakthrough for British hip hop? Blade's been putting stuff out for years so it's good that he's getting noticed a bit more aye. I just done their gig a while back actually, It went really well. It's good I think…he was on Top Of The Pops an shit….I'd rather see that than a lot of the other stuff cos you can relate to it more…it's like a real person rather than a manufactured robot. I'm not against all that stuff y'know, it's all good if that's what they want to do. I dunno about this guitar remix though. It
seems like it's been done by the label or something to reach more people.
But Blade's been talking about being underground for years so I hope he
doesn't change now…he's got where he is now for being who he is…that should
be enough to keep him strong rather than get some shit band to do a guitar
remix.
I think, because it's held in London (not that I have anything against that) and most of the major people in the hip hop industry are from there, so basically Thing gets seen a lot. Plus he's done stuff for the likes of the Nextmen etc. they look at it like Thing's doing his shit every night, I've never heard of these other guys. But I'm doing my thing every night too but in Edinburgh. In a way it was sorta his turn (if there's such a thing?) but he was tight that night and it's hard to judge, especially first time round. It's very easy to watch it back and say "so and so should have won it" but on the other hand, you can watch the video and it's shit, but because it's really loud and they're battling it looks good and you can get mythed. You can watch someone and think they're really good then watch it back and think "fuck that was shit". Personally I think wee Neil (Plus One)
should've
won it the last two years. He had about five major fuck ups this year
though but if he done his set tight there's no way they could've gave
it to Thing.
Neil (Plus One) is
very technical eh?
Oh yeh, Neil's a fucking genius like, totally.
He should've won it y'know but he fucked up a coupla times. It's just
the way it goes I suppose.
Lastly Ritchie, do
you have any shout out's you want to give?
Yeh man…Table Gimps, Underground Solushn,
Scratch, Money Shot and El Segundo.
Thanks for your time Ritchie,
keep up the good work and good luck in the UK DMC Finals this year.
Cheers bro.
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© ukhh.com 2001
Ritchie
Ruftone Interview
