WOW, what the? Does hip-hop facing another loss? It seems so, dear god, bless mine to keep on spinning for ever and ever!! Technics 1200, since 1972. R.I.P. the a major element of Hip Hop!
The DJing community and the greater dance music scene mourns the loss of a clubbing staple today. No, Steve Aoki hasn’t hung up his record bag, but rather news has emerged that iconic turntable manufacturers Technics will be stopping production on their universally loved Technics 1200s and Technics 1210s.
In a statement re-posted on dance board Global Hardstyle, the company behind the production of the Technics turntables Panasonic announced that they would cease the manufacture of Technics turntables in February next year, citing an increasing decline in sales as the motivation behind the line’s demise.
The Australian arm of Panasonic issued a similar statement today, expressing their disappointment that the brand’s 35 years-and-running legacy was to be put to bed.
“It is a sad day today but due to low sales globally in analogue turntables a decision to stop production has been made on Technics Turntables,” Panasonic spokesman Ian North explained. “For Australia this means we will receive our last shipment in March.”
Since the name Technics, pronouced ‘techniques’, was launched in 1965 for domestic premium loudspeakers, they have set the standard for high end audio equipment. In 1969, they introduced the SP-10, the first direct-drive model for the professional market, and in 1971 the SL-1100 for the consumer market.
The SL-1100 was the predecessor to the SL-1200 which, as the upgraded SL-1200 MK2, became a widely used turntable by DJs. The SL-1200 MK2 was a robust machine and incorporated a pitch control (or vari-speed), and kept the speed constant and the speed variability low, hence why it was adopted universally by 99% of all DJs and clubs.
One thing that is clear is that the digital rollercoaster is showing no signs of slowing down. Technics have been the industry standard for over 35 years with this turntable and the SL-1200 is synonymous with the DJ culture. It has been released and re-released over 9 times with different models and numerous other manufacturers have tried to compete with this deck, but above all, the Technics SL-1200 & Technics SL-1210 are the undisputed number one deck in the world.
I can’t find a copy of the statement on any of Panasonic’s region sites, nor their Technics pages. It’s also unclear what the news means regarding the production of mixers and headphones under the Technics brand.
Recent years have seen a rise in the popularity of digital mixing systems, which either use CD or completely digital MP3-style mixing rather than classic vinyl. These setups are generally easier to transport, less prone to damage and allow for more flexibility in post-processing.The question that pops into my mind is, is this a mean viral marketing stratergy to boost global sales of their turntables? Either way its tragic to hear this news! If you dont own a pair of these iconic tutntables I strongly reccomend you do.
Source: inthemix.com.au
UPDATE: Rumour is false. They will only take the MK5 of the New Zealand market.
Wassuuuuuup everybody. Damn, it’s cold in Belgium right now. Time flies, and today is a huge milestone reached for DJ Premier Blog. We alive for one year now, and I have to be honest, the reason this blog is still online is because of the positive comments all around the world. Since august I’m thinking of quiting but y’all kept it online. So now I’m the one who is thanking you all.
To be clear, I’m not the first one who started a blog about DJ Premier. I was almost from the beginning active with the DJ Premier fans who united online, my ‘inspiration’ is actually Don-Rif from Morocco who started the first blog ever of DJ Premier, when youtube wasn’t popular like this we could explore new productions via him, time flies haha. But the blog went on non-active for a long time now. I also can’t forget the first DJ Premier Forum started by Moe from Germany, big up to him. People like Supreemo, Wiktor, FubiZz, crackdaddy, Billyskam, BiggieSmalls, notyouraverage, Johansword, V!z, O-LEe88, and so on were the reason I started to get into Premo. Eventually, a big thank you to the underground (for some people illegal) world who collect, trade and share with the real heads who dig their way into the ground, you know what groups I mean haha.
But the reason I started this blog was simple, I knew I could top everybody with my knowledge of the man himself on internet (yeaaaah). And I knew what internet was capable of, but now it’s clear for me. Look at NahRight… Where they at now… Internet is way too funny haha. Why don’t you try to do something? You can not reach everything, but you can have eFame that almost make contact with you in real world. Thanks to this blog I have contacts with so many people that it’s not even funny anymore. You know…
Next point, that Twitter thing… It’s special man, first I wasn’t into it, and I’m still not fucking with saying you go to the toilet and all that but I’ll say this once: I’m not DJ Premier. Simple, I’m not DJ Premier… When you go to my twitter you can read that, and when you go to this blog you can’t look over it. So people are really dumb, do I say Raekwon is dumb? Maybe haha, but I always forward them friendly to the manager of DJ Premier. And then they always thank me for the blog so that’s dope. Browse to my followers if you want to know who.
So what will the future give this blog? As you can see, or don’t, there are no (profit) adds on the site. That was actually my second thought when I started this blog. I don’t want to make profit out of this shit. And don’t want to bother the costumers with shitty adds. So yes, this whole year I didn’t spend nor won a penny… But basic ideas like domain, server, template, … costs money. So I was thinking of earning donates, but really, who is going going to donate here? I know a lot of sites who failed with that idea. So what could I do next? Taking a sponsor? I could do that… But as you can see I still didn’t do that. But there’s something coming, I don’t know what exactly, but something is going to change. Something I learned from Premier is never rush it…
Did DJ Premier has more fans thanks to this blog? Judge yourself, I don’t care… I hope so for his bank account.
I hate it when I read/type without (background) music, lets listen to some music:
Some people still asking if I ever had a real conversation with Premo? Nope, I never aimed to get in touch with DJ Premier. I’m no paparazzi, if Premo wants to talk to me he knowns my email. A lot of his friends reached out to me, including his manager so maybe I should really make some work to do my interview. To be honest I thought Premo would get in touch with me by now, it’s not a large effort to say a cool word with a mail or something, but hey, I’m not going to hate him for that.
What can I say more? I don’t know, lets take a trip to memory lane with posts that are meaning something to me:
DJ Premier & Ghetto Groovz Records I love this post, it’s a post that I written and that everybody should read who is down with the earlier Premier shit. This post give you the idea how it was when DJ Premier wasn’t that famous. When vinyl was still sold out of car trunks, now most of them are in Europe changing from collector to collector for quit a price (and yes, I just missed my copy for 75EUR/)!
Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth – I Keep The Crowd Listening (DJ Premier Remix) Wooooord, I loved that remix since Johansword first ripped it on LiveFromHQ. I couldn’t miss it, I still think it isn’t correct to sell vinyl limited to give it a $75 stamp. That is plain wrong. It’s taking profit of the real vinyl lovers. I paid $180 for it, but what a song!! Glad I could rip it for everybody!!
Here should be the sample of “Nas Is Like” that is found, thanks to a lot of peoples help I could clear it out for everybody. Big thank you, THE MYSTERY IS OVER. Sad I had to delete the story behind it. Crazy…
Michael Jackson Tribute Mix by DJ Premier Daaaaamn, is it because DJ Premier was one of the first or one of the best? But this mix was downloaded more then 150 000 times when I last checked. Now that I wanted to look again the mix seems to be deleted (why that?). Ah well, enough people have it!! R.I.P. MJ.
DJ Premier Reacts On DJ AM Death This post right here did blow up my visitors in the roof, it was even posted on TMZ.com, yes, DJ Premier on TMZ haha!! R.I.P. DJ AM.
I knew DJ Premier was making a track with Money B (from Digital Underground), but I didn’t knew the details. Money B has started a new group with Scott Knoxx called M.A.S.K., the track was recorded earlier this summer and is featuring Rhymefest. The track named “Make The Sound” that should be released next month will be the second single for their debut album. Their first single “Is U Down” – produced by Phonkey Dee and featured Ne-Yo – is already out on the net. Do we have a new track for 2009? We’ll see…
And the Slovakian MC Rytmus his new album “Kral” with a track produced by DJ Premier will hit the stores the 30th of November, be on the look out for track 15 “Jediný” (English: The Only) on the album.
This was one of the projects I was highly anticipating on back in 2007 I think. When I first heard it, an album with producers Lord Finesse and DJ Premier with unreleased Big L recordings. C’mon, that is like Nas and DJ Premier for me! But since then I never heard a word of it. But last week Lord Finesse was guest at the LiveFromHQ show with DJ Eclipse filling in. And Lord Finesse explained why there’s still is no new Big L album and why it’s possible there never will be one. It was a project just between DJ Premier, Lord Finesse and Big L’s mother Gilda “Pinky” Terry. Like we all heard, last year Big L’s mother passed away, my condolence. And suddenly Big L’s father showed up to claim the recordings, but you have to know that Big L’s father never said a word to Big L in his life. And Lord Finesse would never pay the guy who don’t even knew his son. So as long as Big L’s father can make a cent out of it, there won’t be other Big L album. Listen up here:
After one week trying to set something up it’s finally here, the DJ Premier Blog TV! Streaming 24/7 all the clips that are produced by DJ Premier in 20 years of career! Almost 70 videos! Of course you can wonder why you need that if you already heard and saw everything thanks to youtube (that didn’t existed when I started to collect videos, and thank to having all the Yo! MTV Raps shows) , well, even I use it. 1) When you are on another computer without your music you can still stream DJ Premier, yeaaaah. 2) It’s also very handy for newer guys who wanted to get into DJ Premier. First you had my trackology, now you have the television. And I want to do more… Like for Europe, I’m going to try to rebroadcast LiveFromHQ at our time (after massive requests)! It should take place every Wednesday at 8pm GMT+1, starting next week (when Premo is back home). I’m going to evaluate the streaming and see where I’m going at, because I have more rare DJ Premier clips and shows and that I want to share. Their is one downside, all this is free for my fans but you know nothing is free without restrictions. I can’t have more then 50 visitors at one time, I’m trying to get it solved but I can’t guarantee a thing. Their are also ideas too change a little here and there next year with this site, but nothing I do is with a rush so keep on chilling! Now let me hear what you think by simply clicking on the power button or going to the DJ Premier Blog TV page here:
I thought they already went into the studio, The Game once said it on his famous Twitter. Well, according to The Game DJ Premier is mad busy with everything. Thanks to HipHopDX for this question:
DX: Along with that, I interviewed DJ Premier in late 2005. He told me he was a big fan of yours, but that he’d also offered you some advice early in your career. As you talk about producers, you’ve worked with a lot of veterans – Buckwild, DJ Toomp, DJ Quik – and certainly Dre. That being said, as you talk about rededication of your love for Hip Hop, will there ever be a day when we hear Game on a Premo track?
Game: That’s crazy that you say that, ’cause I been tryin’ to fuckin’ record with Premier this whole album, but he been doin’ this Christina Aguilera shit – not to say “shit” like it’s wack, or she’s wack. She’s great; I respect her and her craft. But man! God damn! If I can get with Premier I know I can make one of the best songs of my fuckin’ life. Because that’s Premier, and I’m Game. I just respect and love his work so much, and I feel like I can do what Nas did to Premier beats. I want a fuckin’ Premier beat, but he won’t send one. He wants to make one with me present, but I can’t track him down. This dude is busy. It’s like, “I know you Premier and shit, but I’m Game. I need a fuckin’ beat.”
It’s the same thing I had to do to Pharrell. Pharrell got two tracks on R.E.D. For three fuckin’ albums, I’ve been chasin’ Pharrell down. He’s been busy, I’ve been busy, but I finally got in with Pharrell. Now Pharrell understands. He’s like, “Damn. Workin’ with Game is crazy. This guy’s work ethic is crazy and he dope.” Now, me and Pharrell are goin’ for the next three days, starting tomorrow. If you know Pharrell, you know he just gonna keep recordin’ and recordin’ and producin’ on you. So me and Pharrell hit it off the first time we went in, now we goin’ in again.
Premier, man. If you talk to him, man, I need a fuckin’ Premier beat. It’s almost frustrating, ’cause I know he gonna make me something crazy, and I know I’ma body that mothafucka. I just need it. I need it. Put that shit in bold print. [Laughing]
Dubcnn: You also linked with DJ Premier on this album.
Game: Nah, I ain’t get with Premier, I’m supposed to be gettin’ with Premiere before Christmas, I hope that happens. Premier is one of my favorite classic OG producers that’s still potent in hip-hop today. I just can’t wait to get in with Premier because I think we can make some classics.
Y’all probably wondering who Top is, and why he get interviewed by me? Simple, he was the member of the group ICP (where also DJ Premier was a member of before Gang Starr started in NY). You will find out more in this short but interesting interview I took with him for DJ Premier Blog. He’s a very friendly man.
– Could you tell us something more about your background with DJ Premier? Preem and I met in College…started DJing a lot of frat and Sorority parties together…we both DJ, but he couldn’t even cut when we met, he could only mix. I showed him a little something on the scratching… but just a little.. he took it upon himself to study other DJ’s scratching and got his shit tight. I was DJing but really focusing on being an MC… so during parties he’d mix and I’d keep the crowd hype… once the party was in full swing we’d go in on a few routines we had… I’d rock rhymes and he’d cut hooks and keep the beat knockin’…We were killing it all over the Texas college circuit and decided to take it to the next level.
– You told me some hooks and some lines on Gang Starr’s first album are from you and Premiers demo send to Wild Pitch, could you explain that? The original Gang Starr was Guru, Smitty, Damo D, and DJ One Two Be Down… they had a fall out at the time we (Preem and I) got to Wild Pitch and the rest of the original members came back to Boston. The label had invested in the Gang Starr project and Guru stayed in New York and needed to get the album done… Since he didn’t have a DJ the label asked Preem to step in… since our demo was blaze and heads were on a time schedule cats went with what was available… Guru was fam and that album was completed in 2 weeks…
– Who of the members were on the demo tape? Just me and Preem… I wrote every line and came up with every hook
– The beats that DJ Premier did on the demo, were they different than those on the No More Mr. Nice Guy album? Yeah, we were broke… Preem was spinning breaks back and forth for 4 minutes on our 4 track… another track we’d use for the cuts and the last two for vocals and adds… 45 King did a lot of work on the No More Mr Nice Guy album.
– What was the reason you didn’t become a Gang Starr member? No, Preem and I moved to NY together with other ICP members. I wasn’t in Gang Starr because my Crew was ICP (Inner Circle Posse) that’s what I was representing… that was MY shit… Gang Starr was Guru’s… I didn’t go to New York to sign a deal for someone else’s crew… I went there to sign MY crew.
– You said DJ Premier still has those demos, any chance it will ever see the daylight? LOL… probably not… that shit is old… I will say our shit was HOT for the time period… Maybe one day when Preem is feeling nostalgic we’ll get together and drop a quick EP.
– In an old interview with vinyladdicts.net Premo told us that the crew ICP had other members like Sugar Pop and Styly-T, what happened to them? Man, there were more than Just Suge and Stylee in ICP… There was Biggas Gord (who is the only member still working with Preem), El Cazel, Ray Rock, HL Rock the dancer from the early videos and our man Chase… Suge is in Dallas TX doing his thing, as well as, Stylee… but I don’t know what Stylee is up to really, he did some fed time for some bullshit but he’s out now, we kinda lost touch he and I but I talk to Suge all the time… Gord works for Preem’s label Year Round… HL Rock is still in NY in the fashion industry, we still holla on a reg. Ray Rock is working for the NY school department and we still holla here and there… El Cazel is a family man now and holding it down, while Chase is who knows where, last I heard he had mad kids and was doing the family thing as well…. We were all fam back then… I was the only real MC in the crew, not that Suge and Cazel didn’t grab the mic from time to time, but I was the main event on the mic… when we went to NY, Preem and I were trying to get the deal.
– Now more than 20 years later, what have you been up to? Are you still rhyming? I can still eat a flow if need be but that’s not my real focus anymore… I’m more into production now and may get into some management at some point, so I can show some of these new heads how NOT to get fucked…. I also do a weekly internet underground hip hop mix show every week called SOUPKITCHEN EXCLUSIVES which you can hear at my blog page as well as on a couple of internet radio sites, SWURVRADIO.COM and FLAVOURRADIO.COM but if you want to download the show you have to go to the blog page… Getting a lot of action on the mix show, trying to get into the satellite radio thing… In all honesty, I thought Preem and I would hook back up at some point… I’m not bitter or anything like that I still love my dude, but I expected that after all the shit we had gone through he would open a door for me at some point, it’s just human nature to expect some gratitude from those you’ve elevated along the way, but that hasn’t happened… Heads are always too busy. But I’m a firm believer of remembering how you got there and who you came with… Don’t get me wrong, I did some things along the way that caused my music career to take some detours, but when I got back on my bullshit I expected a little boost from my dude… it’s all good, you live and learn… hopefully one day we’ll meet again at the TOP, no pun intended!
– Here’s my last question, what are your top 3 producers in hip-hop? As far as my top 3 producers in Hip Hop I love me number 1 of course… but to be honest there are way too many nice producers in the game…. I mean, I like Endemik, Jake One, True Master, Snowgoons, Blue Sky Black Death and a gang of other obscure cats out there grinding… I’ve got some young protégé’s Avi & Reez who are just sick with it… Really when you look at what’s out there commercially, many of the so called “big named” producers… man, many of them have hit their ceiling, meaning that most of their shit sounds the same… You hear one Timbaland beat, you’ve heard ‘em all yah mean… or you got all these new corn ball, skinny jean wearing, fruity loop producers… who can play 3 keys and get a deal… LMAO, the game is fucked nowadays… I’m still a huge Primo fan of course… my dude stays consistent… but I like me… My cousin Jaysaun of Special Teamz has a project out now with DJ Revolution called Game of Breath… I did a joint that Rev remixed called One, Two… But Jay’s using my original production of the song for the video, my shit is more street which really reflects the lyrics, so be on the look!
END
I would like to thank Top for his time and honest opinion. It was a great time talking to him. Peace to everybody. Maybe one day… one day, we will hear those demos!
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