.:Turntablism: Beat Juggling & Scratching v2.0

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Turntablism is a subgenre of hip hop. One who engages in turntablism is a turntablist: a term perhaps created in 1994 by DJ Supreme, from New Rochelle, NY, to describe the difference between a DJ who just lets records play, and one who actually manipulates the sounds of a record.

Turntablists are DJs who use vinyl disc records, and turntable techniques like scratching or beat juggling in the composition of original musical works. Turntablism is generally focused more on turntable technique and less on mixing, rapping or vocal delivery. Some turntablists seek to have themselves recognized as a legitimate musician capable of interacting and improvising with other performers.

Turntables were actually first used as musical instruments in the 1940’s and 1950’s by musique concrete and other experimental composers, such as John Cage and Pierre Schaeffer, who used them in a manner similar to digital sampling. (Even earlier, Edgard Varese experimented with turntables in 1930, though he never produced any works using them) Modern experimental turntablists include Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Philip Jeck and Janek Schaefer.

Hip hop DJs developed independently of the earlier techniques, and the sounds produced by these experimental composers are quite different from later hip-hop turntablism.

Source: Wikipedia