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  (Left to right) Apollo, Vinroc and Shortkut make up Triple Threat, which came to UCLA Wednesday.

By Antero Garcia

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Class was in session at noon Wednesday in Westwood Plaza, but instead of a lecture on economics or biology, Bruins were treated to a lesson in hip hop history.

The DJ crew, Triple Threat, provided the education by cutting records ranging from current rap anthems to ’70s soul hits.

The trio is comprised of Shortkut, of the Beat Junkies, Apollo, the 1992 Digital Music Communities U.S. and World Champion and Vinroc, the 1997 and 1998 International Turntablist Federation World Champion. In addition to these impressive achievements, all three of the DJs have been members of the legendary crew the Invisbl Skratch Piklz (whose other members include the likes of DJ QBert and Mix Master Mike).

Starting off the event with the laid back groove of the Black Eyed Peas’ classic, “Joints and Jams,” Apollo added in mellow scratches and deepened the already heavy pocket that the groove carried.

  Photos by CHRIS BACKLEY/Daily Bruin Triple Threat sets up turntables for their noon performance in Westwood Plaza Wednesday.

After setting the smooth and relaxed ambiance of the concert, Apollo cut-up the declaration “Get Funky,” and the audience witnessed a massive whirlpool of funk scat and vocal diatribes.

With this, Apollo started the unspoken trend of the concert of letting the records speak for the DJs. Other effective rap quotes that the crew used from records included, “How many real hip hoppers in the place right now?,” which got a large number of enthusiastic yells in response, as well as “Throw your hands in the sky,” which was obediently carried out by the crowd.

While Bruins seemed at first unsure about how to respond to the syncopated rhythms, the head nodding of Triple Threat seemed contagious, and like a ripple in water, the audience slowly started bouncing to the songs.

Once Apollo warmed up the crowd, DJ Shortkut took to the tables, throwing out some of the thickest, heaviest funk around. Scratching music reminiscent of the “Godfather of Soul” James Brown, Shortkut started the history lesson that would continue throughout the concert.

This lesson helped take UCLA students on an exploration of the roots of hip hop, and included styles such as funk, soul and dub. Of course, all of this was intermixed with plenty of rap as well.

Once Shortkut created a sufficient amount of hype, the rest of Triple Threat came out, and slowly set the records to begin what would be an amazing onslaught of syncopated rhythmic, hip hop.

Before the spectacle could begin, however, MC Rhemattic made his first, rather late, introduction.

“This is the first time that Triple threat has been at UCLA,” he said.

After his speech and the blazing performance by all three of the Triple Threat members, each DJ was allotted his own solo performance.

Apollo and Shortkut continued to amaze the audience with their phenomenal scratching abilities. It was Vinroc, however, who put the emphasis on the music and showed an extreme amount of reservation, only using scratching to transition from one song to the next. It was also Vinroc who really got the biggest stamp of approval from the audience for his song selection.

With songs from such popular rap musicians as the Roots and Dr. Dre, in addition to more obscure songs from genres such as dub and Kung Fu movie sound bites, Triple Threat displayed the diverse plethora of its record collection. Throughout the show, the three DJs scurried to their crates of records, pulling out miscellaneous vinyl at a dizzying pace.

As if this chaotic madness were not enough, the posse invited the MC, Rhemattic to join in on a mind-blowing extravaganza of hip-hop noise. The performance, with the additional hands of another person, highlighted the tight synergy of the group.

Kicking off the first of a monthly series of concerts, the event was sponsored by UCLA Campus Events, the Cultural Affairs Commission and the Los Angeles New Times.

If students learned anything from the concert, they learned that the art of DJing is not limited to strictly playing and scratching rap records.

As MC Rhemattic said, “If you don’t know what Triple Threat is about, it’s about DJing.”