Theodore Livingston (born March 5, 1963), better known as Grand Wizzard Theodore, is an American hip hop DJ. He is widely credited as the inventor of the

scratching Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to fade between two record ...

technique. In addition to scratching, he gained credibility for his mastery of needle drops and other techniques which he invented or perfected.

Early life

Born in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York, Theodore's brother, Mean Gene, was his

mentor Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...

, who began teaching him the technique of DJing at an early age. Theodore was later apprenticed by Grandmaster Flash. In 1975, Theodore was playing records in his bedroom with the volume all the way up. Furious with the noise, his mother entered the room and Theodore paused the record to hear his mother scold him about the volume of the music. While holding the record still, he accidentally moved it back and forth but liked the sound it made. From there on, he played with records often and developed the technique known as

. A dramatization of Theodore's invention of the record scratch was featured on Comedy Central's television show '' Drunk History'', narrated by Questlove.

Career

In the early 1980s, Theodore was a part of the group Grandwizard Theodore & the Fantastic Five. They released "Can I Get a Soul Clap" in 1982. He was also featured in the 1983 film '' Wild Style'', as well as contributing to the film's soundtrack. He explains the origin of the scratch in the documentary, '' Scratch''. Gwt beltek maine 2009 chaparin dot com

Legacy

Theodore's phrase "Say turn it up" from his track "Fantastic Freaks at the Dixie" was sampled by hip hop and rap acts such as

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe ...

(on the track "Bring the Noise"), Bomb the Bass (on the track "Megablast"), and many others.

References

External links

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DJ Grand Wizzard Theodore Interview - NAMM Oral History Library (2012)
1963 births Living people American hip hop musicians American hip hop DJs {{US-hiphop-bio-stub