2001 will be remembered as the year turntablism broke into popular culture. From SNL to Time Magazine, scratching has made its way up into the public consciousness. Already co-opted by advertising moguls and cigarette companies, we can only guess where our culture will end up, but as long as dedicated hip-hop heads continue to get busy in their bedrooms, we should have no shortage of good music…

Besides laughing at all the vapor chasers trying to figure out what’s really going on, we were also able to experience some classic moments over the last year:

Tableturns celebrated its 4-year anniversary in NYC at the legendary Limelight with "A Great Day In Turntablism," a superstar jam session featuring D-Styles, Relm, Presyce, Babu, Qbert, Melo-D, Mike Boogie, Radar, Roli Rho, Total Eclipse, Roc Raida, P-trix, Klever, Infamous, Tony Vegas, Prime Cuts, Dopey, Spictacular, Supa Dave and Pump. Grouped into four different categories, 20 of the world’s greatest deejays showcased various styles of funky slow, technical power, beat juggling, crazy style, and next school…Wave Twisters the Movie made its NYC premiere that same weekend at FUN underneath the Manhattan Bridge. In the house were: Qbert, Yogafrog, Crazy Legs, and J-Rocc. The psychedelic scratch movie based upon the cuts of DJ Qbert, the art of Dug-1, and the animation Syd Garon & Eric Henry created a big buzz at various film festivals including Sundance. Wave Twisters the Movie also became available on VHS and DVD with the digital version including several bonus features.

Also featured at Sundance as well as headlining the RESFEST was Scratch the Movie directed by Doug Pray. The first documentary of its kind, the Scratch takes an in-depth look at turntable culture tracing the beginning of scratching from Grand Wizard Theodore to GrandMixer DXT, to the millions of turntablists/scratch DJs that exist today including: Afrika Bambbatta, Jazzy Jay, Steinski, Mixmaster Mike, DJ Shadow, Rob Swift, Babu, Faust, Shortee, Craze, Steve Dee, Cut Chemist, Numark, Premiere, Z-Trip, Relm, Streak, Krush, Swamp, Cue, Eddie Def, Quest, Marz, David Paul and Billy Jam. Scratch the Movie is soon to be released in movie theaters by Palm Pictures along with a tour and a soundtrack featuring an new version of Herbie Hancock’s "Rockit."

Speaking of Herbie Hancock, the funky headhunter that introduced the world to GrandMixer DST, took it to another level and recruited DJ Disk to go on a tour.

Also making the rounds in Europe was Live Human, the jazzy hip-hop trio consisting of Albert Mathias on drums, Andrew Kushin on bass, and DJ Quest on the ones and twos. But despite their immense popularity, they were dropped from Matador records after releasing only one album on the NY label.

On a happier note, everyone’s favorite deejay couple tied the knot when Faust and Shortee got married in Atlanta with Z-trip as the best man behind the decks rocking the wedding party till the break of dawn. DJ Shadow also got hitched though it is not known if his new wife has any kind of fetish for fondling wax.

D-Styles dropped a teaser 12" for his much anticipated solo album "Phantazmagorea," and then abruptly left Thudrumble leaving a legion of scratch fans wondering when the full-length album will ever come out.

Hip Hop Slam awarded DJ Qbert with a "Hip Hop Slam Hall Of Fame Award" for being "The Most Innovative Skratch DJ of All Time."

Shortkut got his records stolen; Derrick D got his turns taken, and all of a sudden a bunch of toys figured out why deejay crews formed in the first place.

Heineken made a commercial spoofing the birth of scratching and totally screws it up since GrandWizard Theodore created the scratch in 1975 not 1982!

Bomb HipHop, the SF label credited for reviving the DJ track with its groundbreaking "Return of the DJ" compilations, celebrated its 10 year anniversary with three days of hip-hop culture featuring Dan the Automator (from Gorillaz/Deltron fame), T-Rock from Atlanta, DJ Shortfuse (Vancouver, Canada), SF's own DJ Design (Foreign Legion), Apollo (Triple Threat DJ's) master mixer Joe Quixx, Peanut Butter Wolf, Masters of Illusion (direct from LA with Kutmasta Kurt), Azeem, Foreign Legion (back from their European tour), Bas-1, Bored Stiff, Various Blends, The Wristerons (all the way from England), The Finger Bangerz, Snayk Eyez & DJ Pone, DJ Quest & Eddie K , Medea Sirkas (aka Demons of the Mind), T-Rock, DJ Pause, Toph One, Jeff Harris and Bomb's CEO David Paul.

On Sept. 11th, the United States of America suffered the most devastating attack in its history when two hijacked passenger planes slammed into the Twin Towers in NYC. In the aftermath, George W. was able to declare a state of war without a clear cut enemy and pass legislation threatening everyone’s civil liberties as flag waving bandwagon jumpers cheered him on. Mixmaster Mike decided to drop the "Terrorwrist" moniker.

A whole new batch of DJ gear was dropped for deejays to drool over including the PVC fader, the Focus fader, and the VRX 2000 Vinyl Cutter that deejays couldn’t afford anyway. Pioneer unleashed its CDJ1000 Table Top CD Player for digital deejays. Compact disc jockeys were now able to utilize vinyl emulation, pitch blend, master tempo control, 16 second shock proof memory, anti-vibration construction, wave display, and a ton of other crap that DJ Swamp smashed all to hell during the 2001 DMC US Finals which was held at the Gestapo styled Club Townsend and hosted by Ice-T who dissed DJ Pone of the 89 Skratch Gangstas.

Plus One of the Scratch Perverts took 1st Place at the 2001 DMC World Finals while the rest of his crew teamed up with the Allies to form the Perverted Allies and win the team battle. DJ Netik from France won the 2001 Battle for World Supremacy.

Pasha retired from his duties as vice-president of ITF and the organization moved its operations to the east coast. Results of the 2001 ITF World Finals were as follows:

1st Place Juggling: Jr.-Flo, 1st Place Scratching: Spryte, 1st Place Teams: Nokturnal Sound Crew, and 1st Place Advancements: Woody.

The Allies Allstar Invitational Beatdown made its debut at the Roxy in NYC with DJ Dopey of the Turntable Monkz from Toronto, Canada winning first place. The Allies also awarded DJ Swamp (1996 Technics / DMC US Champion) with the Allies Lifetime Achievement Award.

And finally, Scratch Attack: I Want My Battle Record Back You Bastard! managed to finish out the year without getting kicked off the air. On behalf of the whole crew—Billy Jam, Bas-1, Yve-1, DJ Pone, DJ Syntax, DJ Gamin, and DJ Munkifunk—we thank everyone and their moms for coming down to the studio, listening, and supporting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!