Supergroups very rarely are let downs. It stems from the simple logic of adding superstars to one team so that they can presumably work together to create something greater than the individual parts. That holds true with the DJ crew, Battlestar. Composed of Tanner, Cwitch, Virusss, Entec, Turbulence, Phonics, Rayted R, IFTW, and Manwell, Battlestar has been throwing it down together since 1997 and have too many DMC and ITF USA Team titles to show for it. They decided to pay homage to one of the funkiest humans to walk the earth, James Brown, after attending last year’s Freestyle Sessions World Finals, a b-boy tournament. So with IFTW and Manwell in L.A. working on a routine together, and Cwitch, Virusss, Rayted R, and Tanner in San Diego, they met at Kapsoul in L.A. to film the whole tribute.
The first part with IFTW and Manwell starts with a Jay Z sample before consecutively fast scratching into "Get Up." They then turn the mixers into MPC's to segue into a merry go round of improvised scratches, stop and starts, and loops on the same set of turntables. They end their part with a scratch clinic over a fast paced instrumental. Part two gets complex with four DJs taking center stage. Similar to IFTW and Manwell, they start with a merry go round of spin backs, two to each set of turntables. Each DJ then assumes the position to take either a vocal sample, beat, or melody to form a complete track. But nothing stays static too long with them as they shift to some rhythmic scratching. They then let "I Feel Good" play out for a bit with minimal scratching before dropping into a live breakbeat rendition of it. As with most groups, the replay value for this video is high as you attempt to isolate which part each DJ is contributing. But as entertaining as these two parts were, we can't help but think of the possibilities if they had all worked on one routine together.
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