damn, Roc Raida?
i felt i needed to get my two cents in here cause if not for Roc Raida, i don't know if the Lab would have ever existed. it was 1995ish and me, jasper, and izzi went to our first DJ battle. it was Fat Beats 2nd battle and our first time attending one of these things. it was held at a tiny club/lounge on houston...

for the most part, it was incredibly mediocre. there seemed to be something wrong with the setup, cause everybody kept skipping and messing up. the only contestant i really remember is Spinbad (the defending champ), cause he brought his records and needles up in a pizza box and did some nice cuts, but he even had the needle skipping. i don't even remember who won...

but then the emcee (Red Alert?), announced that Roc Raida was going to do a showcase. i'd never heard of him, and with a name that audacious, I didn't know what to expect. so up steps this little snoopy dude with his signature backwards hat. but there was something different about him, there was no fear or trepidation... his body language read: you guys don't know what you're in for...

the routine started and magically, the setup fixed itself. here was this guy doing 10x harder tricks while spinning, grinning, and keeping the needle perfectly locked. I really can't explain how blown away I was... i love sports, but i had seen nothing like this... fuck behind the back, this guy was doing behind the neck, moving the crossfader with his mouth while performing a musical routine and keeping this "ridiculous I'm killing you" look on his face. just when I thought I had seen his whole arsenal, Roc dropped his "Sucker Emcees" routine, magically deconstructing the beats with featherlight touches and body tricks (he ended it with his middle finger!).... He concluded the set with his version of "Rock The Bells". this was hands down, one of the most incredible things I had ever seen. By the time it was over, the crowd was in a frenzy... and in perfect timing, Red Alert shouted Roc Raida's gonna bring the belt home for the USA, and then the place just lost it... like we were cheering on Ali or something... from one showcase, I was hooked.

from that point, we religiously started going to these battles. i bought an 06 in midtown... and a couple steps later, we opened the lab... (full story later)

I probably watched Roc do his thing over 20 times over the years, but I never got bored of his routines. he was always progressing them, throwing in new parts, changing the speed to 45, but most of all, it was charisma and dexterity on the turntables. he was the star athlete while every one else was just nerds...