EXCLUSIVES

Words by A. David Cooper
Images by Thud Rumble

The Apple advertising machine has always been known for finding innovative ways to reach the public. From the time Apple debuted its now famous "1984" commercial introducing the original mass-produced Mac, the company has maintained a consistent record of breaking the rules of marketing and finding new ways to access the inner geek in all of us.

When Apple recently began airing its new "Switch" commercials, the response was again positive all around. In the beginning, each commercial featured an average consumer standing in a white room explaining why he switched from a PC to a Mac computer.

Apple then decided to raise the bar by featuring celebrities with unique Apple stories in the commercials. Perhaps the most interesting part of the new series of commercials was the particular choice of celebrities.

Apple didn't simply go out and get the biggest names. No, in fact, they worked hard to only feature celebrities at the very cutting edge of American culture. Many in the underground hip-hop community were pleasantly surprised when the legendary DJ/turntablist DJ QBert turned up in one of the Apple Switch commercials.

QBert started in California's Bay Area DJing at local parties and special community events. But it wasn't until he began entering DJ competitions focused on scratching and turntable tricks that QBert truly began to distinguish himself as a hip-hop artist on the cutting edge of the art form. QBert's first computer was a Mac. "It was a 7300/200 for an old music program from Digidesign that pre-dated Pro Tools and now I have a G4 desktop and G4 Titanium PowerBook that both work together for life at home and on the road," he says.

Most hip-hop musicians use outboard gear like the MPC 3000 to make music, but QBert says, "I use that kind of stuff, like an SP 1200, and then dump those beats into my Pro Tools which is on my G4 and continue from there to edit. [But] sometimes just the turntables and a Mac is all I need. I use turntables to create the music, then it all goes into my Mac for further organization and editing so I can see it all better.

Being the only hip-hop DJ in Apple's campaign was a great pop culture acknowledgement, "I would love to do more stuff with Apple since that computer is my life," says QBert. But even on his own, the hip-hop scientist is entering realms that transcend just music.

When QBert helped create the ground breaking video WaveTwisters, the indie film community took notice. Along with Sid Garon, QBert again pushed the creative envelope with the project. "'WaveTwisters 2' of course will be in the works in the near future," says QBert, "and it will be with the same guys again. I also do stuff on my own using Final Cut with my partner YogaFrog. It's a television show called 'Turntable TV' [a skratch DJ life variety fun show] which we edit all ourselves."

There are a lot of laptop computer virtual DJ programs out there that are pretty good, and as they become better, the traditional "two turntables and a mixer" set-up is beginning to look antiquated. In fact, many DJs are even starting to use iPods to DJ entire parties. Will QBert ever migrate to a completely digital DJ tool set?

"From what I know, all those programs for virtual scratching are not 100% yet," says QBert, "But when the day comes to where it is, I'll be all over it."

"It is a miracle because in the old days -- like ten years ago precomputers -- I would have had to kiss some Recording studio owner's ass to get this done.

Despite the fact that QBert is from the new school of hip-hop, he felt the loss of the hip-hop DJ pioneer Jam Master Jay (from the group Run DMC) who was recently murdered in New York City. QBert says, " I just see him in heaven enjoying the rewards for what greatness he has given to this world with his music." In the future, QBert looks to continue the legacy of innovation through hip-hop, "We just finished an instructional DVD called 'DJ QBert's Do It Yourself Skratching' and now we are making the expansion pack DVD to that project." www.djqbert.com