Rob Swift just put out a new video of him interviewing his mentor and original X-Men member Dr. Butcher, which is both informative and inspiring.

As a well rounded DJ and producer, Dr. Butcher provided many "ghost" scratches in place of DJ Polo on Kool G Rap albums and also was KRG's tour DJ. For a taste of his (underrated) production, check out his remix for "It's A Shame", which is posted below the interview. 

"The only thing you can do is the best that you can be… you can only do what life has put in you."  - Dr. Butcher 

Thanks to everyone who tuned in live yesterday, it was a great discussion! I've posted the embed of the video below, and you can also find it on the Skratchcon Ustream.

The theme this time was "The Law of Leadership", which Yogafrog applied to the topic of "how to start a business". Some great ideas were brought up, among them the importace of having a good name. So what is the story behind the name "Thud Rumble"? I pressed Yogafrog for an answer and he told me, "It's just a sound we want to make with all the projects, a big THUD, a big RUMBLE!". So there you have it. 

We plan to do it again next month so be sure to tune in LIVE and post your questions! 

Having strong leadership is a crucial ingredient to any successful business. It's no secret that Yogafrog has always been a forward thinker and played a large role in the success of Thud Rumble. Check out this old Hiphop Slam piece on him from 2000 for the proof... 13 years later and still going strong! 

Watch the discussion LIVE on Febuary 12th starting at 5:00 pm from the Skratchcon UStream and be sure to post questions and get involved in the discussion! 

DJ Nocturnal has posted his official NAMM Wrap-Up on the Thud Rumble blog, check it out! And while everyone here at QSU is preparing for the Transformer Battle (deadline is Feb. 19th!), there's another battle going on in the wider internets of YouTube. This one revolves around the recently released Sleeprockers Looper Vol. 3, which can be downloaded from Tablist.net. The idea is pretty simple, here's DJ Nocturnal explaining it in his own words:

Folks enter the Battle/Contest by recording and uploading a short video of them shredding any beat of their choice on the new Sleeprockers Vol. 3 looper.

Thanks to everyone who entered the 3 Click Flare Battle, we have a winner! Congrats to Kurteek (aka whothefunk) who took this one! As Q says "This guy is a vet at this 3 click style and you can automatically see and hear it in this super ill refined style!!!"

OliviaTECH interviews Z-Trip for Turntable TV. Find out what Z-Trip is on the lookout for at NAMM 2013, his advice for new DJs, plus watch him flip the script and ask the interviewer some hard hitting questions of his own! Always great to hear from this guy, thanks to El Dawg for filming this! 

A picture is worth a thousand words... this one doesn't need any. Remember, last day to submit for the 3 Click Flare Contest is January 29th!

DJ Fatfingaz has put together a nice retrospective of DJ Craze footage from 1996-1998 for ThatsEnuff.Com's Turntablist Tuesdays. When you watch these, you'll realize why 1998 was truly the "Year of DJ Craze". Click on the image below to check it out and be sure to follow Fatfingaz on twitter @DJFatFingazNYC!

There's a debate going on about skratch notation between two schools of thought. On the one side is the Turntablist Transcription Method (TTM) which Qbert frequently uses here at QSU, and on the other side is the classical notation approach that people like DJ Radar and Alexander Sonnenfeld have developed.  DJ Raedawn, who developed TTM, recently posted an essay online about 10 flaws of applying classical music notation to turntable based music.  Alex wrote a rebuttal in response which I'm presenting here because I hope to see this conversation expanded further. 

In case you missed it, here's the full video from Yogafrog's ever 1st Skratchcon for QSU. Yogafrog takes you through "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" and applies them to the business aspects of DJing (in other words, how to market yourself). 

The video is a little choppy and there's a few ads to sit through since it's on Ustream, but it's a great discussion from one of the most forward thinking minds in Turntablism. Big thanks to everyone who tuned in live, there were some great comments and questions going around in the chatroom! We hope to do it again soon so stay tuned!