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• Beat-juggling: Carefully mixing small portions of two records (or two copies of the same record) to create a new beat out of the pre-existing rhythms.

• Bite: Copying the techniques another DJ has already used for a particular record. No-no #1 of DJing.

• Boom-bap: The signature hard bass and snapping snare sound of classic New York hip-hop. “Boom boom bap / boom boom-boom bap.”

• Custom records: Expensive specially-commissioned records for a battle DJ to use in his routines. Controversial, and popular in Europe.

• DMC: Disco Mix Club, although nobody calls it that. International organization hosting the most prestigious DJ battle competitions.

• Fat Beats: New York’s home of underground hip-hop, located at the corner of 6th Ave. and 8th St., Manhattan, on the second floor. Shiftee’s favorite record store.

• Golden Age of DJing: Roughly 1996-2000. A period of breakneck technical advancements in DJ music-making. Think DJ Shadow’s “Endtroducing....”

• Golden Age of hip-hop: Roughly 1986-1994. Rapid creative innovation spurred hip-hop’s rise to mainstream success. Signature artists: Run-DMC, Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, and De La Soul.

• Massive Records: Briefly, the nexus of Boston’s underground hip-hop scene. Located near Harvard Square, shuttered its doors in 2006.

• Rane Serato: Music technology allowing DJs to scratch and mix MP3s, live.

• Scratching: Creating new sounds by manually moving a record under the needle. That “wicky wicky wah” sound.

• “Tip”: Hip-hop speak for “in the context of.” “On a dinosaur tip...” = “in the context of dinosaurs....”

• Turntablism: Art of playing turntables as a musical instrument. Involves both improvisation and composed routines.

DJ Lingo for the Layman