The Tools or War Crotona Park Jams are a wall to wall Hip Hop legend-fest of epic proportions. And being something of a record collector, Biz Markie is a regular at these events. But this year, it wasn’t so much his ridiculous collection of rarities that caught people’s eyes, but the turntables he played them on. No, it’s not Photoshop — those really are 7″ Technics decks. Allow me to explain.
Technics SL-700 and custom CDJs — look, but don’t touch
On the whole, NAMM is a place that thousands of people potter around, play with DJ gear and essentially become a huge breeding ground for what is unaffectionately known as nammthrax, the pestilence that infects a serious number of NAMM attendees.
But some gear is very safely kept out of harm’s and disease’s way behind a perspex forcefield, and this gear is usually the next season’s big thing. But this time, it was more about the one-offs than the next gens.
Technics SL-700
Biz Markie created quite the buzz earlier this year, regaling the DJ world with stories of Technics engineers gifting him with some prototype 7″ Technics turntables. And here is the SL-700 again, this time under glass rather than under Biz’s deft hands. I tried to get the glass lifted to snap pictures with the DJWORX 7″ picture disk in place, but alas it was not to be. Still no word on progress with this project.
Pioneer CDJ custom units
It’s fair to say that in a DJ environment, CDJs are a perfect, if black and boxy fit. So it’s nice that someone has taken things a step or so beyond the established aesthetic. The Back to the Future inspired edition looks like a first prototype of the CDJ-2000, whereas the steampunk version looks more like a CDJ from Victorian times. Just needs a gramophone trumpet.
The Millennium Falcon unit is something considerably more ambitious project, and quite possibly the most desirable CDJ ever made. It’s such an amazing fit, and makes me wonder what other DJ units could be repurposed into works of art.
