the mobile dj lightshow...the 5th hip hop element?... i think so..

when we speak of hip hop we tend to think of the 4 known elements. djing,mcing,breaking and graffiti. but what about the light show?



just as important as the other 4 elements the light show was a big part of how you presented yourself in the game.


on the same level as who's got the most bombastic sound system. it was all part of the competition. dj vs dj, mc vs mc,sound system vs sound system and yes..light show vs light show!


of course the light show is not without it's own rogue element. we used to raid lots much like this one for abandoned traffic lights .pillage police stations for rotating beacons,lightbars,halogen lights and strobes.hit the hardware store hard for light switches,and outlets!

snatch all kinds of traffic signs and road construction lights. the street light show was truly a work of art! now i'm not gonna front.. i didn't have the best light show.in fact i might have put more work into my record collection and djing equipment. but i'll tell you this..the best light show i ever saw belonged phillys legendary all mighty b force hands down!

you wanna talk about theatrics? they had this cat named c-fly who used to wear a tinted motorcycle helmet with a strobe light mounted on top of it! he would control their light show wile the sound system shook the earth!


philly dj legend disco rat used to do this routine where he would play this song called departure from the r&b group named pleasure(music lovers look it up!) . it was short a interlude that had crazy keyboards and synthesizers goin bananas all at once and his light show would apear to be responding to the madness! now that's called showmanship!

so what the hell happened? where did the dj light show go? is it still around and we just don't put anymore stock into it? or maybe it just faded away just like block party's and park events did. all i know is i...want.. it..back! lets do it!