Hello fete si baieti! Welcome back to Girls Only. 🙂

Pana acum am mentionat legende vii ale Djing-ului, dar in acest articol voi aduce un omagiu unei legende care s-a stins din viata anul trecut, in 22 Decembrie 2017. A fost una din pionierele Turntablism-ului in comunitatea Hip Hop, recunoscuta de multi artisti renumiti, precum Chuck D de la Public Enemy, care a postat pe Twitter la moartea DJitei: “Rest In Beats SIS …damn this is a hurting one”.

Este vorba despre Pam Warren aka Pam the Funkstress. Denumita si “the Turntable Queen,” Pam a impartit scena cu artisti ai Hip Hopului ca Grandmaster Flash, KRS-One, Sean „P-Diddy“ Combs, a participat la battle-uri de DJ (Zulu Battle, DMC) cu o semnatura unica, a facut parte din formatia din Oakland numita The Coup, iar pe final de drum, atat al ei cat si al lui, a fost DJ-ul lui Prince! Yes, the one and only Prince!

Pasii de inceput pana la The Coup

Pam a ajuns sa puna mana pe platane in 1988, fiind inspirata de Salt’n’Pepa si a lor DJ Spinderella.

Intr-un interviu pentru Pitchfork relata exact care a fost pornirea pentru ea:

„One of my friends in high school, her boyfriend was a DJ. He wanted to teach a female how to DJ, but she didn’t want to learn. That’s when Salt-N-Pepa came out, so I wanted to be the first female DJ on the West Coast.”

Si asa a si facut. Noul vis devenea incet realitate, imediat ce parintii ei i-au cumparat primul set de platane:

„My parents bought me my first set of turntables… My mom was like, “What do you want turntables for?” [laughs] My dad told me, “If you touch my turntables and try to scratch, you’re gonna get in trouble.” So I got my own.”

Crescand in California, Bay Area, unde a fost marea miscare a trupelor de battle de Scratch Turntablism la sfarsitul anilor 80, Pam s-a anturat cu mai marii DJ de battle care i-au fost mentori si au indrumat-o:

„There were only guys DJing back then. I learned from QBert and from DJ Platurn, who is with the Oakland Faders, and a real huge Bay Area icon. They were a battle crew; there was, like, 400 of ‘em. They hung around in my garage and taught me how to do certain things.”

Astfel, dorinta ei de a ajunge prima femeie DJ de pe coasta de Vest, a fost ca si indeplinita. Ea povestea ca era comparata cu Spinderella, nefiind pe vremea aceea prea multe fete care sa invarta discuri. Insa distinctia intre ele 2 era clara: Pam the Funkstress era mai mult pe scratching, iar Spinderella pe mixing.

Dupa ce a ajuns sa-si construiasca o reputatie ca DJ de club si fiind gazda DJ pentru multe trupe de rap din East Bay, a fost observata de Boots Riley care a dorit-o imediat la el in trupa (The Coup). Empatizez mult cu femeia aceasta, mai ales cu ceea ce spunea despre faptul ca multi alti artisti sustineau ca e talentata si ca o vor suna pentru viitoare colaborari, insa toti isi batusera gura degeaba. Pana la Boots:

Boots Riley – “Hey, we got a record deal and I wanna know if you can come in my studio and scratch for me.” I was like [disinterested], “Yeah, yeah,” because I’d heard that so much.

Everybody was always saying, “Oh, you’re good, I’m gonna call you,” and no one ever called. But Boots was different. He called and called and called. “I went into the studio, I did the scratches on two songs on [The Coup’s 1993 debut album] Kill My Landlord. Then Boots asked me to go on tour. And that was it.”

Pam a contribuit la cele 4 albume The Coup inclusiv Genocide & Juice din 1994, aclamatul album din 1998 Steal This Album si Pick a Bigger Weapon din 2006. Dupa acest ultim album, Pam the Funkstress a parasit grupul si s-a concentrat pe munca de club si pe business-ul ei de catering din Bay Area, insa a continuat sa apara pe scena alaturi de Boots la show-urile din Bay Area.

Piesa mea preferata de la grupul The Coup este ‘Fat Cats and Bigga Fish‘, unde se lasa cu niste cut-uri fresh de la DJita Pam the Funkstress:

Si un video de la concert live the Coup cu DJita in actiune:

DJita Pam era si bucatar chef la restaurantul familiei ei, Piccadilly Catering, unde preferatul ei preparat era soulritto (soul food in burrito). 🙂 Playing and cooking soul food ! A badass DJ with good taste!

Pam the Funkstress vine cu mai multe in spate, despre care va voi povesti in continuare in articolul urmator.

Asa ca stay tuned people, cause there’s more to say about this legendary Turntable Queen!

Bless y’all!

Pussycutz