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Documentary director Doug Pray stood in the middle of Amoeba Music in Hollywood and surveyed the warehouse-like vastness of albums and music paraphernalia around him. "I don't even know where to begin," he said.
It was Thursday night and Pray wore baggy nylon pants, athletic shoes and a zippered jacket, an outfit that belies his age (41) but not his profession. He is the director of "Scratch," a new documentary that explores the origins and culture of hip-hop deejaying. It's an art form, Pray said, that is often overshadowed by the rap artist.
Pray headed for the hip-hop section of the store, an aisle populated by several young men in baggy clothes and baseball caps. His fingers worked over the CDs, landing on DJ Swamp. This guy, Pray said, has been known to smash a record onto his turntable and then use it to cut himself until he bleeds. "He reminds me of old-school punk rock," Pray said.
He found other favorites: the Beat Junkies, DJ Qbert, Rob Swift and the X-Ecutioners. DJ Babu is "a little godlike," he said. Mix Master Mike is "this quiet genius who started it all." Gangstarr are "the kings of underground hip-hop" who always feature their deejay on their album covers.
Then Pray found a CD by a deejay who didn't make it into the documentary: DJ Prince Paul. "If I could've interviewed him, I would have died and gone to heaven," he said. A young man standing nearby nodded his approval. "Prince Paul is dope," he said.
Pray knew very little about the genre when he started filming "Scratch" three years ago. He was a rock music...