A Q&A With Grandwizzard Theodore

The inventor of the scratch offers a hip-hop history lesson—amid the genre's 50th birthday—for the first installment of the Zogblog Book Club.

Dec 10, 2023

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If DJ Kool Herc is the George Washington of hip-hop, Grandwizzard Theodore might just be the genre’s Ben Franklin. He invented some of the most crucial techniques used in the booth—from the needle drop to the scratch—and those sounds now show up in just about every corner of the music world.

Born Theodore Livingston and raised in the South Bronx during t…

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