Written by Steven Stancell
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The
mobile DJ, as we know him, has been around since the early 1940s. Names
like Bertrand Thorpe, known for playing 78rpm records through a 30-watt
amp, and Ron Diggins, have been cited as some of the first mobile DJs
in the UK. Diggins even built his own art deco DJ booth by 1949,
complete with home-made mixer, 78rpm double decks, lights, microphone
and ten speakers. Jimmy Savile, also from the UK and recently deceased,
was also originally known as one of the first mobile DJs, even so much
as being one of the first to use two turntables and a microphone in the
early 1940s, according to his autobiography. In the late 1940s in
Jamaica the mobile DJ was also appearing and later towards the early
1960s, stars were beginning to come out with their sound systems, like
Coxsone Dodd, Prince Buster and Duke Reid. In 1959 in the US, DJ John
Ausby began making appearances in Brooklyn, New York with his sets. But
by far, the single most important mobile DJ to come out of the US was
Jonathan Cameron Flowers, also known as Flowers, and later, Grandmaster
Flowers. His importance lies in the fact that it was he, who gave birth
to the mobile DJ as a movement.
After Flowers
the barrage of DJs came. Everyone started deejaying or wanted to become a
DJ. After Flowers major DJs either started or started to become known,
like Pete DJ Jones, Maboya, Plummer, Hollywood, Lovebug Starski, Disco
Twins, Frankie Knuckles and others, then later the hip hop DJs like Kool
DJ Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizzard Theodore
for example. Flowers is the unsung hero of the entire recording
industry, promoting hundreds, if not thousands of records through his
sound system, which was as much the star as him, because of its power,
complete with walk-in woofer cabinets, JBL bullet tweeters, Thorens
TD-125 turntables and such. Flowers generated tons of sales for the
record industry, something that the present day DJ continues to do for
them. But it was with and after Flowers that the industry really began
to see the importance of the mobile DJ as a selling machine, so much so,
that towards 1975 in the US, record pools for DJs came into being,
where companies actually gave DJs records to play for them for little or
no money.
Flowers hailed from the Farragut
Projects in Brooklyn, New York. His first appearance on the scene was as
a tagger or graffiti writer. His black magic marker tag “Flowers +
Dice” embossed many subway walls and parks in the 1960s, in and out of
the vicinity. His official appearance as a DJ was in 1968 when he opened
for James Brown in Yankee Stadium, a major feat for any serious artist
of any kind at the time, especially considering that there were other
DJs with systems out there working, like Nu Sounds and King Charles for
example.
Besides his powerful sound system,
which is what all DJs were recognized for during their reign before the
appearance of MCs (later to be called rappers), Flowers, like all DJs
then, was also recognized for the records that he played, and the way he
played them. His blending and mixing of these, by all accounts, was
extraordinary, and it helped to establish him as unique. He was known to
throw on records from genres such as rock, hustle or disco, funk, with
R&B and sometimes a little jazz. During this period, not all DJs
played the same thing. If you wanted to dance to a particular record
that you liked, you had to go to the DJ that played it. This is because
DJs took to darkening the labels of certain records that their dance
crowd liked, so no other rival DJ (or their spies) could identify what
it was and play it for their own crowd. Flowers darkened his labels,
probably with a magic marker. Soon DJs began soaking labels completely
off records all together. This method and technique only lasted a few
years. The end of it helped destroy the uniqueness of the DJ’s record
sets, as far as what they played, because soon, everyone began playing
the exact same records in their sets.
Some of
the records that Flowers was known for playing include “Space Age” by
the Jimmy Castor Bunch, “Sunnin’ And Funnin’ by MFSB, “Somebody’s Gotta
Go” by Mike and Bill. “Touch and Go” by Ecstasy, Passion and Pain,
“Changes” by Vernon Burch and “Messin’ With My Mind” by Labelle. Another
favorite of his was the rock group Babe Ruth’s “The Mexican” (which
would later become a hip hop staple as a breakbeat record and sample).
He would mix that with James Brown material, and he was also known to on
occasion, use three turntables simultaneously. (He would combine Chic’s
“Good Times,” MFSB’s “Love Is The Message,” and Vaughan Mason and
Crew’s “Bounce Skate Roll Bounce” for example.)
The
venues for a DJ during that period included many parks, beaches, roller
skating rinks, school gyms, hotels and community centers. Flowers, like
other DJs, played places like the Hotel Diplomat, Hotel St. George,
Leviticus, Club 371, Club Saturn, Manhattan Center, New York Coliseum,
Stardust Ballroom, Riis Beach and Prospect Park to name a small few. If
there was more than one DJ billed at a venue on a flyer (the most
prominent method of promotion for DJs at the time, with radio promotion
announcements being the second), they were usually billed in “versus”
fashion, and labeled as battles. In that regard, Flowers battled a few,
including Pete DJ Jones, Maboya, the Smith Bros., Fantasia, and the
Disco Twins. It wasn’t just their music repertoires pitted against each
other, but their sound systems.
DJs did a lot of
traveling from venue to venue, and many times the venues were not
located in the best of communities. Occasionally they were subjected to
thieves stealing their equipment. Flowers was no different, so after he
himself was robbed of his speakers, he began carrying a .357 Magnum for
protection. It was big enough for people to see, and helped curtail
further incidents.
For most of the DJs from the
1960s, their popularity began to wane during the late 1970s and early
‘80s. This was due to the emergence of the hip hop DJs and their MCs.
Gigs for them became few and far between. Some tried to compete by
getting their own MCs. Others were not able to compete at all. During
this same period, the crack epidemic began to emerge. As time went on,
Flowers would become the victim of declining popularity and hard drugs.
His last known appearance in the music capacity was as the sound man for
the hip hop group X-Clan in the early 1990s. He was literally spotted
on the streets and given the job by the group members who remembered his
significance in the industry. By the time of his death in 1992, Flowers
was homeless and dependent on drugs. His name in later years would
become legend among DJs who heard about his importance to the culture of
deejaying. - See more at:
http://www.stevenstancell.com/this/#sthash.CSSPPf8F.dpuf
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The
mobile DJ, as we know him, has been around since the early 1940s. Names
like Bertrand Thorpe, known for playing 78rpm records through a 30-watt
amp, and Ron Diggins, have been cited as some of the first mobile DJs
in the UK. Diggins even built his own art deco DJ booth by 1949,
complete with home-made mixer, 78rpm double decks, lights, microphone
and ten speakers. Jimmy Savile, also from the UK and recently deceased,
was also originally known as one of the first mobile DJs, even so much
as being one of the first to use two turntables and a microphone in the
early 1940s, according to his autobiography. In the late 1940s in
Jamaica the mobile DJ was also appearing and later towards the early
1960s, stars were beginning to come out with their sound systems, like
Coxsone Dodd, Prince Buster and Duke Reid. In 1959 in the US, DJ John
Ausby began making appearances in Brooklyn, New York with his sets. But
by far, the single most important mobile DJ to come out of the US was
Jonathan Cameron Flowers, also known as Flowers, and later, Grandmaster
Flowers. His importance lies in the fact that it was he, who gave birth
to the mobile DJ as a movement.
After Flowers
the barrage of DJs came. Everyone started deejaying or wanted to become a
DJ. After Flowers major DJs either started or started to become known,
like Pete DJ Jones, Maboya, Plummer, Hollywood, Lovebug Starski, Disco
Twins, Frankie Knuckles and others, then later the hip hop DJs like Kool
DJ Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizzard Theodore
for example. Flowers is the unsung hero of the entire recording
industry, promoting hundreds, if not thousands of records through his
sound system, which was as much the star as him, because of its power,
complete with walk-in woofer cabinets, JBL bullet tweeters, Thorens
TD-125 turntables and such. Flowers generated tons of sales for the
record industry, something that the present day DJ continues to do for
them. But it was with and after Flowers that the industry really began
to see the importance of the mobile DJ as a selling machine, so much so,
that towards 1975 in the US, record pools for DJs came into being,
where companies actually gave DJs records to play for them for little or
no money.
Flowers hailed from the Farragut
Projects in Brooklyn, New York. His first appearance on the scene was as
a tagger or graffiti writer. His black magic marker tag “Flowers +
Dice” embossed many subway walls and parks in the 1960s, in and out of
the vicinity. His official appearance as a DJ was in 1968 when he opened
for James Brown in Yankee Stadium, a major feat for any serious artist
of any kind at the time, especially considering that there were other
DJs with systems out there working, like Nu Sounds and King Charles for
example.
Besides his powerful sound system,
which is what all DJs were recognized for during their reign before the
appearance of MCs (later to be called rappers), Flowers, like all DJs
then, was also recognized for the records that he played, and the way he
played them. His blending and mixing of these, by all accounts, was
extraordinary, and it helped to establish him as unique. He was known to
throw on records from genres such as rock, hustle or disco, funk, with
R&B and sometimes a little jazz. During this period, not all DJs
played the same thing. If you wanted to dance to a particular record
that you liked, you had to go to the DJ that played it. This is because
DJs took to darkening the labels of certain records that their dance
crowd liked, so no other rival DJ (or their spies) could identify what
it was and play it for their own crowd. Flowers darkened his labels,
probably with a magic marker. Soon DJs began soaking labels completely
off records all together. This method and technique only lasted a few
years. The end of it helped destroy the uniqueness of the DJ’s record
sets, as far as what they played, because soon, everyone began playing
the exact same records in their sets.
Some of
the records that Flowers was known for playing include “Space Age” by
the Jimmy Castor Bunch, “Sunnin’ And Funnin’ by MFSB, “Somebody’s Gotta
Go” by Mike and Bill. “Touch and Go” by Ecstasy, Passion and Pain,
“Changes” by Vernon Burch and “Messin’ With My Mind” by Labelle. Another
favorite of his was the rock group Babe Ruth’s “The Mexican” (which
would later become a hip hop staple as a breakbeat record and sample).
He would mix that with James Brown material, and he was also known to on
occasion, use three turntables simultaneously. (He would combine Chic’s
“Good Times,” MFSB’s “Love Is The Message,” and Vaughan Mason and
Crew’s “Bounce Skate Roll Bounce” for example.)
The
venues for a DJ during that period included many parks, beaches, roller
skating rinks, school gyms, hotels and community centers. Flowers, like
other DJs, played places like the Hotel Diplomat, Hotel St. George,
Leviticus, Club 371, Club Saturn, Manhattan Center, New York Coliseum,
Stardust Ballroom, Riis Beach and Prospect Park to name a small few. If
there was more than one DJ billed at a venue on a flyer (the most
prominent method of promotion for DJs at the time, with radio promotion
announcements being the second), they were usually billed in “versus”
fashion, and labeled as battles. In that regard, Flowers battled a few,
including Pete DJ Jones, Maboya, the Smith Bros., Fantasia, and the
Disco Twins. It wasn’t just their music repertoires pitted against each
other, but their sound systems.
DJs did a lot of
traveling from venue to venue, and many times the venues were not
located in the best of communities. Occasionally they were subjected to
thieves stealing their equipment. Flowers was no different, so after he
himself was robbed of his speakers, he began carrying a .357 Magnum for
protection. It was big enough for people to see, and helped curtail
further incidents.
For most of the DJs from the
1960s, their popularity began to wane during the late 1970s and early
‘80s. This was due to the emergence of the hip hop DJs and their MCs.
Gigs for them became few and far between. Some tried to compete by
getting their own MCs. Others were not able to compete at all. During
this same period, the crack epidemic began to emerge. As time went on,
Flowers would become the victim of declining popularity and hard drugs.
His last known appearance in the music capacity was as the sound man for
the hip hop group X-Clan in the early 1990s. He was literally spotted
on the streets and given the job by the group members who remembered his
significance in the industry. By the time of his death in 1992, Flowers
was homeless and dependent on drugs. His name in later years would
become legend among DJs who heard about his importance to the culture of
deejaying. - See more at: http://www.stevenstancell.com/this/#sthash.CSSPPf8F.dpuf
The
mobile DJ, as we know him, has been around since the early 1940s. Names
like Bertrand Thorpe, known for playing 78rpm records through a 30-watt
amp, and Ron Diggins, have been cited as some of the first mobile DJs
in the UK. Diggins even built his own art deco DJ booth by 1949,
complete with home-made mixer, 78rpm double decks, lights, microphone
and ten speakers. Jimmy Savile, also from the UK and recently deceased,
was also originally known as one of the first mobile DJs, even so much
as being one of the first to use two turntables and a microphone in the
early 1940s, according to his autobiography. In the late 1940s in
Jamaica the mobile DJ was also appearing and later towards the early
1960s, stars were beginning to come out with their sound systems, like
Coxsone Dodd, Prince Buster and Duke Reid. In 1959 in the US, DJ John
Ausby began making appearances in Brooklyn, New York with his sets. But
by far, the single most important mobile DJ to come out of the US was
Jonathan Cameron Flowers, also known as Flowers, and later, Grandmaster
Flowers. His importance lies in the fact that it was he, who gave birth
to the mobile DJ as a movement.
After Flowers
the barrage of DJs came. Everyone started deejaying or wanted to become a
DJ. After Flowers major DJs either started or started to become known,
like Pete DJ Jones, Maboya, Plummer, Hollywood, Lovebug Starski, Disco
Twins, Frankie Knuckles and others, then later the hip hop DJs like Kool
DJ Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizzard Theodore
for example. Flowers is the unsung hero of the entire recording
industry, promoting hundreds, if not thousands of records through his
sound system, which was as much the star as him, because of its power,
complete with walk-in woofer cabinets, JBL bullet tweeters, Thorens
TD-125 turntables and such. Flowers generated tons of sales for the
record industry, something that the present day DJ continues to do for
them. But it was with and after Flowers that the industry really began
to see the importance of the mobile DJ as a selling machine, so much so,
that towards 1975 in the US, record pools for DJs came into being,
where companies actually gave DJs records to play for them for little or
no money.
Flowers hailed from the Farragut
Projects in Brooklyn, New York. His first appearance on the scene was as
a tagger or graffiti writer. His black magic marker tag “Flowers +
Dice” embossed many subway walls and parks in the 1960s, in and out of
the vicinity. His official appearance as a DJ was in 1968 when he opened
for James Brown in Yankee Stadium, a major feat for any serious artist
of any kind at the time, especially considering that there were other
DJs with systems out there working, like Nu Sounds and King Charles for
example.
Besides his powerful sound system,
which is what all DJs were recognized for during their reign before the
appearance of MCs (later to be called rappers), Flowers, like all DJs
then, was also recognized for the records that he played, and the way he
played them. His blending and mixing of these, by all accounts, was
extraordinary, and it helped to establish him as unique. He was known to
throw on records from genres such as rock, hustle or disco, funk, with
R&B and sometimes a little jazz. During this period, not all DJs
played the same thing. If you wanted to dance to a particular record
that you liked, you had to go to the DJ that played it. This is because
DJs took to darkening the labels of certain records that their dance
crowd liked, so no other rival DJ (or their spies) could identify what
it was and play it for their own crowd. Flowers darkened his labels,
probably with a magic marker. Soon DJs began soaking labels completely
off records all together. This method and technique only lasted a few
years. The end of it helped destroy the uniqueness of the DJ’s record
sets, as far as what they played, because soon, everyone began playing
the exact same records in their sets.
Some of
the records that Flowers was known for playing include “Space Age” by
the Jimmy Castor Bunch, “Sunnin’ And Funnin’ by MFSB, “Somebody’s Gotta
Go” by Mike and Bill. “Touch and Go” by Ecstasy, Passion and Pain,
“Changes” by Vernon Burch and “Messin’ With My Mind” by Labelle. Another
favorite of his was the rock group Babe Ruth’s “The Mexican” (which
would later become a hip hop staple as a breakbeat record and sample).
He would mix that with James Brown material, and he was also known to on
occasion, use three turntables simultaneously. (He would combine Chic’s
“Good Times,” MFSB’s “Love Is The Message,” and Vaughan Mason and
Crew’s “Bounce Skate Roll Bounce” for example.)
The
venues for a DJ during that period included many parks, beaches, roller
skating rinks, school gyms, hotels and community centers. Flowers, like
other DJs, played places like the Hotel Diplomat, Hotel St. George,
Leviticus, Club 371, Club Saturn, Manhattan Center, New York Coliseum,
Stardust Ballroom, Riis Beach and Prospect Park to name a small few. If
there was more than one DJ billed at a venue on a flyer (the most
prominent method of promotion for DJs at the time, with radio promotion
announcements being the second), they were usually billed in “versus”
fashion, and labeled as battles. In that regard, Flowers battled a few,
including Pete DJ Jones, Maboya, the Smith Bros., Fantasia, and the
Disco Twins. It wasn’t just their music repertoires pitted against each
other, but their sound systems.
DJs did a lot of
traveling from venue to venue, and many times the venues were not
located in the best of communities. Occasionally they were subjected to
thieves stealing their equipment. Flowers was no different, so after he
himself was robbed of his speakers, he began carrying a .357 Magnum for
protection. It was big enough for people to see, and helped curtail
further incidents.
For most of the DJs from the
1960s, their popularity began to wane during the late 1970s and early
‘80s. This was due to the emergence of the hip hop DJs and their MCs.
Gigs for them became few and far between. Some tried to compete by
getting their own MCs. Others were not able to compete at all. During
this same period, the crack epidemic began to emerge. As time went on,
Flowers would become the victim of declining popularity and hard drugs.
His last known appearance in the music capacity was as the sound man for
the hip hop group X-Clan in the early 1990s. He was literally spotted
on the streets and given the job by the group members who remembered his
significance in the industry. By the time of his death in 1992, Flowers
was homeless and dependent on drugs. His name in later years would
become legend among DJs who heard about his importance to the culture of
deejaying. - See more at: http://www.stevenstancell.com/this/#sthash.CSSPPf8F.dpuf
The
mobile DJ, as we know him, has been around since the early 1940s. Names
like Bertrand Thorpe, known for playing 78rpm records through a 30-watt
amp, and Ron Diggins, have been cited as some of the first mobile DJs
in the UK. Diggins even built his own art deco DJ booth by 1949,
complete with home-made mixer, 78rpm double decks, lights, microphone
and ten speakers. Jimmy Savile, also from the UK and recently deceased,
was also originally known as one of the first mobile DJs, even so much
as being one of the first to use two turntables and a microphone in the
early 1940s, according to his autobiography. In the late 1940s in
Jamaica the mobile DJ was also appearing and later towards the early
1960s, stars were beginning to come out with their sound systems, like
Coxsone Dodd, Prince Buster and Duke Reid. In 1959 in the US, DJ John
Ausby began making appearances in Brooklyn, New York with his sets. But
by far, the single most important mobile DJ to come out of the US was
Jonathan Cameron Flowers, also known as Flowers, and later, Grandmaster
Flowers. His importance lies in the fact that it was he, who gave birth
to the mobile DJ as a movement.
After Flowers
the barrage of DJs came. Everyone started deejaying or wanted to become a
DJ. After Flowers major DJs either started or started to become known,
like Pete DJ Jones, Maboya, Plummer, Hollywood, Lovebug Starski, Disco
Twins, Frankie Knuckles and others, then later the hip hop DJs like Kool
DJ Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizzard Theodore
for example. Flowers is the unsung hero of the entire recording
industry, promoting hundreds, if not thousands of records through his
sound system, which was as much the star as him, because of its power,
complete with walk-in woofer cabinets, JBL bullet tweeters, Thorens
TD-125 turntables and such. Flowers generated tons of sales for the
record industry, something that the present day DJ continues to do for
them. But it was with and after Flowers that the industry really began
to see the importance of the mobile DJ as a selling machine, so much so,
that towards 1975 in the US, record pools for DJs came into being,
where companies actually gave DJs records to play for them for little or
no money.
Flowers hailed from the Farragut
Projects in Brooklyn, New York. His first appearance on the scene was as
a tagger or graffiti writer. His black magic marker tag “Flowers +
Dice” embossed many subway walls and parks in the 1960s, in and out of
the vicinity. His official appearance as a DJ was in 1968 when he opened
for James Brown in Yankee Stadium, a major feat for any serious artist
of any kind at the time, especially considering that there were other
DJs with systems out there working, like Nu Sounds and King Charles for
example.
Besides his powerful sound system,
which is what all DJs were recognized for during their reign before the
appearance of MCs (later to be called rappers), Flowers, like all DJs
then, was also recognized for the records that he played, and the way he
played them. His blending and mixing of these, by all accounts, was
extraordinary, and it helped to establish him as unique. He was known to
throw on records from genres such as rock, hustle or disco, funk, with
R&B and sometimes a little jazz. During this period, not all DJs
played the same thing. If you wanted to dance to a particular record
that you liked, you had to go to the DJ that played it. This is because
DJs took to darkening the labels of certain records that their dance
crowd liked, so no other rival DJ (or their spies) could identify what
it was and play it for their own crowd. Flowers darkened his labels,
probably with a magic marker. Soon DJs began soaking labels completely
off records all together. This method and technique only lasted a few
years. The end of it helped destroy the uniqueness of the DJ’s record
sets, as far as what they played, because soon, everyone began playing
the exact same records in their sets.
Some of
the records that Flowers was known for playing include “Space Age” by
the Jimmy Castor Bunch, “Sunnin’ And Funnin’ by MFSB, “Somebody’s Gotta
Go” by Mike and Bill. “Touch and Go” by Ecstasy, Passion and Pain,
“Changes” by Vernon Burch and “Messin’ With My Mind” by Labelle. Another
favorite of his was the rock group Babe Ruth’s “The Mexican” (which
would later become a hip hop staple as a breakbeat record and sample).
He would mix that with James Brown material, and he was also known to on
occasion, use three turntables simultaneously. (He would combine Chic’s
“Good Times,” MFSB’s “Love Is The Message,” and Vaughan Mason and
Crew’s “Bounce Skate Roll Bounce” for example.)
The
venues for a DJ during that period included many parks, beaches, roller
skating rinks, school gyms, hotels and community centers. Flowers, like
other DJs, played places like the Hotel Diplomat, Hotel St. George,
Leviticus, Club 371, Club Saturn, Manhattan Center, New York Coliseum,
Stardust Ballroom, Riis Beach and Prospect Park to name a small few. If
there was more than one DJ billed at a venue on a flyer (the most
prominent method of promotion for DJs at the time, with radio promotion
announcements being the second), they were usually billed in “versus”
fashion, and labeled as battles. In that regard, Flowers battled a few,
including Pete DJ Jones, Maboya, the Smith Bros., Fantasia, and the
Disco Twins. It wasn’t just their music repertoires pitted against each
other, but their sound systems.
DJs did a lot of
traveling from venue to venue, and many times the venues were not
located in the best of communities. Occasionally they were subjected to
thieves stealing their equipment. Flowers was no different, so after he
himself was robbed of his speakers, he began carrying a .357 Magnum for
protection. It was big enough for people to see, and helped curtail
further incidents.
For most of the DJs from the
1960s, their popularity began to wane during the late 1970s and early
‘80s. This was due to the emergence of the hip hop DJs and their MCs.
Gigs for them became few and far between. Some tried to compete by
getting their own MCs. Others were not able to compete at all. During
this same period, the crack epidemic began to emerge. As time went on,
Flowers would become the victim of declining popularity and hard drugs.
His last known appearance in the music capacity was as the sound man for
the hip hop group X-Clan in the early 1990s. He was literally spotted
on the streets and given the job by the group members who remembered his
significance in the industry. By the time of his death in 1992, Flowers
was homeless and dependent on drugs. His name in later years would
become legend among DJs who heard about his importance to the culture of
deejaying. - See more at: http://www.stevenstancell.com/this/#sthash.CSSPPf8F.dpuf
The
mobile DJ, as we know him, has been around since the early 1940s. Names
like Bertrand Thorpe, known for playing 78rpm records through a 30-watt
amp, and Ron Diggins, have been cited as some of the first mobile DJs
in the UK. Diggins even built his own art deco DJ booth by 1949,
complete with home-made mixer, 78rpm double decks, lights, microphone
and ten speakers. Jimmy Savile, also from the UK and recently deceased,
was also originally known as one of the first mobile DJs, even so much
as being one of the first to use two turntables and a microphone in the
early 1940s, according to his autobiography. In the late 1940s in
Jamaica the mobile DJ was also appearing and later towards the early
1960s, stars were beginning to come out with their sound systems, like
Coxsone Dodd, Prince Buster and Duke Reid. In 1959 in the US, DJ John
Ausby began making appearances in Brooklyn, New York with his sets. But
by far, the single most important mobile DJ to come out of the US was
Jonathan Cameron Flowers, also known as Flowers, and later, Grandmaster
Flowers. His importance lies in the fact that it was he, who gave birth
to the mobile DJ as a movement.
After Flowers
the barrage of DJs came. Everyone started deejaying or wanted to become a
DJ. After Flowers major DJs either started or started to become known,
like Pete DJ Jones, Maboya, Plummer, Hollywood, Lovebug Starski, Disco
Twins, Frankie Knuckles and others, then later the hip hop DJs like Kool
DJ Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizzard Theodore
for example. Flowers is the unsung hero of the entire recording
industry, promoting hundreds, if not thousands of records through his
sound system, which was as much the star as him, because of its power,
complete with walk-in woofer cabinets, JBL bullet tweeters, Thorens
TD-125 turntables and such. Flowers generated tons of sales for the
record industry, something that the present day DJ continues to do for
them. But it was with and after Flowers that the industry really began
to see the importance of the mobile DJ as a selling machine, so much so,
that towards 1975 in the US, record pools for DJs came into being,
where companies actually gave DJs records to play for them for little or
no money.
Flowers hailed from the Farragut
Projects in Brooklyn, New York. His first appearance on the scene was as
a tagger or graffiti writer. His black magic marker tag “Flowers +
Dice” embossed many subway walls and parks in the 1960s, in and out of
the vicinity. His official appearance as a DJ was in 1968 when he opened
for James Brown in Yankee Stadium, a major feat for any serious artist
of any kind at the time, especially considering that there were other
DJs with systems out there working, like Nu Sounds and King Charles for
example.
Besides his powerful sound system,
which is what all DJs were recognized for during their reign before the
appearance of MCs (later to be called rappers), Flowers, like all DJs
then, was also recognized for the records that he played, and the way he
played them. His blending and mixing of these, by all accounts, was
extraordinary, and it helped to establish him as unique. He was known to
throw on records from genres such as rock, hustle or disco, funk, with
R&B and sometimes a little jazz. During this period, not all DJs
played the same thing. If you wanted to dance to a particular record
that you liked, you had to go to the DJ that played it. This is because
DJs took to darkening the labels of certain records that their dance
crowd liked, so no other rival DJ (or their spies) could identify what
it was and play it for their own crowd. Flowers darkened his labels,
probably with a magic marker. Soon DJs began soaking labels completely
off records all together. This method and technique only lasted a few
years. The end of it helped destroy the uniqueness of the DJ’s record
sets, as far as what they played, because soon, everyone began playing
the exact same records in their sets.
Some of
the records that Flowers was known for playing include “Space Age” by
the Jimmy Castor Bunch, “Sunnin’ And Funnin’ by MFSB, “Somebody’s Gotta
Go” by Mike and Bill. “Touch and Go” by Ecstasy, Passion and Pain,
“Changes” by Vernon Burch and “Messin’ With My Mind” by Labelle. Another
favorite of his was the rock group Babe Ruth’s “The Mexican” (which
would later become a hip hop staple as a breakbeat record and sample).
He would mix that with James Brown material, and he was also known to on
occasion, use three turntables simultaneously. (He would combine Chic’s
“Good Times,” MFSB’s “Love Is The Message,” and Vaughan Mason and
Crew’s “Bounce Skate Roll Bounce” for example.)
The
venues for a DJ during that period included many parks, beaches, roller
skating rinks, school gyms, hotels and community centers. Flowers, like
other DJs, played places like the Hotel Diplomat, Hotel St. George,
Leviticus, Club 371, Club Saturn, Manhattan Center, New York Coliseum,
Stardust Ballroom, Riis Beach and Prospect Park to name a small few. If
there was more than one DJ billed at a venue on a flyer (the most
prominent method of promotion for DJs at the time, with radio promotion
announcements being the second), they were usually billed in “versus”
fashion, and labeled as battles. In that regard, Flowers battled a few,
including Pete DJ Jones, Maboya, the Smith Bros., Fantasia, and the
Disco Twins. It wasn’t just their music repertoires pitted against each
other, but their sound systems.
DJs did a lot of
traveling from venue to venue, and many times the venues were not
located in the best of communities. Occasionally they were subjected to
thieves stealing their equipment. Flowers was no different, so after he
himself was robbed of his speakers, he began carrying a .357 Magnum for
protection. It was big enough for people to see, and helped curtail
further incidents.
For most of the DJs from the
1960s, their popularity began to wane during the late 1970s and early
‘80s. This was due to the emergence of the hip hop DJs and their MCs.
Gigs for them became few and far between. Some tried to compete by
getting their own MCs. Others were not able to compete at all. During
this same period, the crack epidemic began to emerge. As time went on,
Flowers would become the victim of declining popularity and hard drugs.
His last known appearance in the music capacity was as the sound man for
the hip hop group X-Clan in the early 1990s. He was literally spotted
on the streets and given the job by the group members who remembered his
significance in the industry. By the time of his death in 1992, Flowers
was homeless and dependent on drugs. His name in later years would
become legend among DJs who heard about his importance to the culture of
deejaying. - See more at: http://www.stevenstancell.com/this/#sthash.CSSPPf8F.dpuf
