Brother Jay VS Steve Dee 1990 New Music Seminar Battle

Tune into VH1 tonight at 9pm (EST) and watch The Breaks as they recreate the battle that changed the trajectory of my life.

The first time I saw Steve Dee was on Video Music Box. Hosted by Ralph McDaniels, #VMB was an hour long music video show that aired on public television. I remember racing home from High School every weekday to watch music videos while I did homework. On a weekday in March of 1990, #VMB aired excerpts of the East Coast DMC Battle. I recall seeing a muscular dude (#Ekim) who I later went on to discover was a good friend of what would be my future mentor #DrButcher. Images of a cat in a ski mask (#PlazticMan) and a white tee obliterating LL Cool J's "Rock The Bells" are embedded in my cerebellum. But it was the light skinned kid rockin' a Superman shirt and old school side burns that had me like "Whaaaaaaa? I gotta learn how to do that!". His name was #SteveDee and watching him take Whodini's "Friends" and make an entirely new beat out of the record brought to life the incredible potential a human being has behind a pair of Technic 1200 turntables.

I remember teaching myself Steve's "Friends" pattern and thinking "OK, I pretty much learned all there is to know about the techniques involved in Battle DJing. I mean, what else can a person possibly do to a turntable?" Four months later I got the answer to my question when again I saw, in person, #SteveDee compete in the 1990 New Music Seminar Battle for World Supremacy inside an old, vacant marque movie theater on Times Square. Steve pulled out the "Friends" routine, but it was all the other crazy shit he was doin' to songs like "Pee Wee's Dance" (Joe Ski Love) and "Just Buggin" (Whistle) that opened up a completely new paradigm for what I perceived a DJ could do with his bare hands and creative mind.

And so it's quite serendipitous for me to inform you all that thanks to The Breaks creator, Dan Charnas, I helped reincarnate everything I learned from Steve Dee and other DJs like #BrotherJay from London, England that hot day in July of 1990 in my roll as consultant on The Breaks this season. Tonight's episode has my DJ finger prints all over it y'all. This isn't me bragging. I say that with extreme honor and humility.

Both Babu (#BeatJunkies) and myself trained the actors you see battling it out in tonights episode. Although it's not them actually performing the routines (Babs and I pre-recorded the battle sets you hear throughout the show) it's my belief that we succeeded in helping the actors capture the energy and imagery of what the 1990 NMS felt and looked like.

In the same way the movie "Juice" inspired a legion of kids to buy turntables and express themselves through music, tonight's episode will have the same impact on a genre that frankly has lost a lot of it's appeal over the years. Be sure to check it out #TheBreaks on #VH1 tonight at 9pm (EST) y'all.