Shortkut, Apollo, Badrok & The Action Figures

Shortkut, Apollo, Badrok & The Action Figures
The Brick Works
Saturday, January 22

With Badrok leading the charge (and winning this year's Vestax US Championship DJ Battle), a lot of attention is suddenly being focused on the local DJ scene. Small, local events and a touring act or two perform on a regular basis, but not since Invisibl Skratch Piklz and Beastie Boys DJ Mix Master Mike laid it down at one of Chico State's echo-chamber gyms has there been a show of vinyl slicing fury like this show at The Brick Works.

The only local act involved was Badrok himself, the man to whom the night was dedicated in the first place. The Brick's booking agent, Justin Maximov, managed to line up DJ Apollo and DJ Shortkut (of the Piklz), both of whom are part of a crew called Triple Threat DJs (the third triple threat DJ, Vinroc, couldn't make the show due to previous engagements) and some of the most seasoned, well-respected DJs in the game with several world battle titles between them-they also happen to be friends of Badrok.

The night before-Friday, January 21-Badrok made the trek down to the Amoeba Records store in SF to perform with Skratch Piklz and friends (P-Trix, Realm and Swift Rock-all US and World Champion battle DJs), where he turned it out to a packed house.

As things kicked off at The Brick, Shortkut and Apollo were nowhere to be found-they were running behind, Badrok told me without a hint of worry in his voice, and they called from the road. The tardiness of the headlining acts was no big deal though, because as an added bonus, a crew called the Action Figures was on the scene, friends of Badrok from San Francisco. This three-man crew-Snykeyez, Owl Boogie and Dre One-is a young team of relatively accomplished and up-and-coming DJs whose skills were evident from the minute I stepped on to the dance floor of the club. Though the flavor was mostly mixing between the six decks set up, the three Action Figures took turns at vinyl slicing, with one DJ spinning the beat, another adding accents and the third scratching like a pro.

The Action Figures rocked the house for a couple of hours, throwing down jams from back in the day, being careful to spice it all up with music that the dance floor full of kids could get jiggy to. From the second-floor perch, where the drunks and over 21 revelers sat and imbibed high above the dance floor, it was obvious that the kids love hip-hop. And there were plenty of kids in the house. The floor looked like a high school dance party, and while, in my old age, those kinds of things make me laugh more than anything else, it was nice to see the kids come out to support something.

(All I could think about when I leaned over the rail was, wouldn't it be great if all these kids went to all The Blue Room's shows? It would be the biggest rock venue in town...)

Apollo and Shortkut finally arrived and kicked things of at about 11:30, and the crowd was feeling it. The set consisted of mostly mixing, not the cuttin' and scratchin' that many fans were expecting, and while the hardcore turntable heads seemed a bit disappointed, the kids didn't seem to mind at all. The mixing during the first part of the set was on point. I heard all kinds of dope jams, from new Roots to old A Tribe Called Quest and everything else I could have possibly wanted to hear in a mix set. After a while though, I was champing at he bit to hear some furious scratching, but had to simply accept the minor cuts the Shortkut dropped in on top of the jams.

When I heard Apollo announce that they were about to play something for the ladies, I started to lose interest really fast. From that point until almost the close of the show, I heard a lot of booty rap, dancehall and other stuff that cleared out the upstairs bar in a hurry, and though the high school dance party was in full effect, the true hip-hop heads were left wanting. Until the end, that is.

Those who left in frustration missed exactly what they came to see: a six-fisted, three-headed turntable attack perpetrated by Badrok, Shortkut and Snykeyez that stretched out for about 15 minutes and reminded those still in the house what they were there for.

In the end, despite the fact that we didn't get a whole lot of what Shortkut and Apollo became famous for doing, the show can be considered a success. There were lot of people through the doors, the kids actually came out to show support and, regardless of your opinion of the show itself, Shorkut and Apollo proved themselves two of the dopest DJs in the land.

- Max Sidman

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