PHOTOS: Renegades of Rhythm Tour at the Majestic Theatre

Spinning All The Perfect Beats

With over 40,000 records to choose from, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist narrowed down a 90-minute lesson on Afrika Bambaataa’s legacy.  They told the story using records pulled from Bambaataa's massive hip-hop pioneering collection, underlining his cultural influence from beginning to end.  A slide show of graffiti, taped up vinyl labels and record covers visibly worn from their play starting in the Bronx, or perhaps on rounds with the Universal Zulu Nation, backed the musical journey.  

Shadow and Chemist, with 6 turntables at their hands, communicated Bambaataa’s knowledge as a DJ and turntablist and emphasized his selection variety and the crowd connection. The audience proceeded through cleverly pieced together tracks, samples and breaks.  An homage to Trans-Europe Express, (see “Planet Rock”), a seamless section for the b-boys and Yes, Owner of a Lonely Heart, happened.     

Steve Dronez and DJ Form set the tone with warm up sets for the show.  The crowd was as diverse as the playlist, aged from OG – Prince Whipper Whip was in the house – to future OG, amongst heads, b-girls, families and a few of Detroit’s Masters of Records.  Detroit pulled the energy all together and everyone that came got a perfectly executed history lesson.