While you were worrying about talking to that one girl/guy in class who you thought was cute at 15, Kerim was worrying about adding new scratch techniques to his arsenal. He found his style early on, in the Reggae clubs of Brooklyn, which eventually earned him a residency at only 16. He's continued to keep up with the turntables, gaining respect on campus and is the reigning D.C. 8-3-1 champ. And if you're in the NYC area tomorrow, you can check him out at Littlefield as part of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival.
Today's routine is not particularly spectacular in terms of beat juggling nor scratching. That's not to say that Kerim can't hold it down in both of those categories. He's well more than qualified to put on a clinic for either, as evidenced by his crisp cuts (behind the back as well) and on tempo fader movements. The main highlight in this routine comes at the end, when he goes from Lauryn Hill to Elmo to Jay Z, all using the same phrase of "la la la." Kerim brings to the forefront one of the lesser appreciated tools of a great DJ: mixing between songs off of wordplay and adding the element of surprise. While you're scratching your head at why he's sampling Elmo's World, you quickly get the full picture when the hook to "Excuse Me Miss Again" drops. It's only a shame that the host calls time at the end since it seemed like Kerim had another curve ball ready to launch.
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