Bridging The Gap: Skeme Richards

Whether it’s Botox, collagen injections, or surgery, there are lots of popular options for looking young nowadays.

On the other hand, Philly’s DJ Skeme Richards relies on a lesser-known fountain of youth: hip-hop.

“People say [to me], ‘You look mad young.’ I tell them, ‘Hip-hop keeps you young,’” the Rock Steady Crew DJ says. “I do hip-hop because it keeps me young. I surround myself with young people-because it keeps me young.”

It’s true. Though he’s 38, Skeme spins and schemes with the exuberance of a 25-year-old.

But ironically enough, it’s his ability to approach hip-hop through older approaches that helps him to tap into that new, youthful spirit.

“The difference between me and other DJs is that my mindset is still in 1981 when I first started,” Skeme explains. “I remember when James Brown and all these soul and funk sounds were on the radio. I play them like it’s still that time.

“Other people play a song from 1971 like it’s brand new in 2009. I play it like it was played back then–almost taking analog knowledge and applying to the digital world,” he continues. “It’s the era that you come from, the school you come from. That’s how I can stand out from other people.”

His less-than-common approach hasn’t gone unnoticed. He’s the only American resident DJ at events like UK B-Boy Championships, Circle King Switzerland, and Circle Prinz Korea. He speaks fondly of friends and fans he met while traveling through Switzerland, London, Finland and Korea. B-boys like YNOT and Benny Ben frequently mention Skeme as their DJ of choice for keeping the cypher live.

But it was never Skeme’s intent to be known primarily as a DJ for b-boys. In fact, he adamantly refuses to take on the title of “breaks DJ.”

From the beginning, Skeme says it wasn’t so much about spinning exclusively for b-boys so much as it was about living and breathing hip-hop as a whole.

“I’m a DJ like Bambaataa was a DJ,” Skeme says. “Like Herc was a DJ. Like Flash was a DJ. Spinning in those days, you spun records with breaks. It wasn’t about the b-boys. Even in Philly, we spun records with breaks for MCs to rhyme off of. The b-boys are part of that culture of partygoers and dancers.”

And through experience and an immersion in the culture, Skeme came to understand the unbreakable bond that ties breaks, partying and dancing together.

With that understanding came the knowledge of the two tenets of DJing: the DJ’s number one job is to educate the listener. The DJ’s number two job is to keep the party moving.

For Skeme, the second rule seems to come instinctively as he deftly switches and scratches records from behind the decks. The first rule, however, seems to permeate all facets of his life.

Though he’s known worldwide for his DJing talent, Skeme is close to what some might consider a hip-hop Renaissance man.
“The Internet has brought the world together because it’s shown cultures and different things; by the same token, it’s made everybody lazy.”
When he’s not spinning for b-boy events, clubs and parties, he’s record shopping. When he’s not doing that, he’s producing beats for clients that have included MF DOOM and Bahamadia. When he’s not doing that, he’s writing rhymes–or graffiti. When he’s not doing that, he’s organizing and adding to his massive collections of comic books, kung fu and blaxploitation movies, cartoons, arcade machines, video games, and rare hip-hop footage on VHS and Betamax(!).

“Back in the day, if you said you did hip hop, you did multiple things. B-boys also wrote graffiti,” Skeme says. “If something becomes a job, it’s not fun anymore. If you stick to one genre, it gets old quick.”

So, just as he did when he first began DJing, the 38-year-old obsessively and completely immerses himself in the culture
LINKS OF INTEREST
 
 
Skeme Richards – Myspace

 
Anything Goes w/ DJ Skeme Richards

 
 
The $2 Dollar Soul Show!
“With comic books, you don’t start at issue 200,” he explains. “You say, ‘Let me know how this character got this way.’ How you can you jump into hip-hop in 2009 and say, ‘I know about hip-hop’? People need to stop and say, ‘Where did this come from?’”

Skeme seems to take the absence of such questions personally.

That’s because he’s the type of guy who prefers to stare at an album cover, look at the artists’ outfits, and wonder what was going through their heads rather than just download the music.

He’s the type of guy who’d rather meet people–and handle beef–personally at a jam than perpetuate drama online–the type of guy who’d rather go to an afterparty and drink and party than go home and watch battle footage.

“The Internet has brought the world together because it’s shown cultures and different things; by the same token, it’s made everybody lazy,” he says. “We’re living in a microwaved age. Everyone wants things now. It could be a jam in one place, and in five hours, everybody’s seen the jam. If I’m battling somebody, I don’t want to know what they dance like or break like. It’s almost like cheating.”

Skeme is also the type of guy who would rather hear a good myth or mystery than watch an Internet clip that leaves nothing to the imagination.

“We need more stories,” he says. “There were heroes in westerns and karate flicks. B-boying doesn’t have heroes anymore. I need the myth. I need to hear about this guy in another country that’s so ill that nobody’s seen him. This art of hip-hop and the story–it’s dying.”

And, most importantly, Skeme is the type of guy who’s willing to answer questions.

“That’s the only way the scene continues to grow–if people ask questions and people answer questions,” he says. “There’s more to a person than what we do. I like to give people information. Knowledge is definitely lacking. I think there’s a gap that needs to be bridged between old school cats and young cats.”

By “knowledge,” Skeme means shining the light into the past and clearing up younger generations’ misconceptions of the culture.

Like how b-boys should be more inspired by music than other b-boys.

“O.G. b-boys can make you see a move to do a move, but the music is what makes you move in a certain fashion,” he says.

Or how one should foster a love for that music that goes beyond just wanting to dance to it.

“I ask b-boys, ‘If you weren’t breaking, would you be listening to this music?’” Skeme says. “Nine out of 10 of them say no. You only listen to this music because you think this is what you should break to.”

Or even how b-boys should understand the true relationship between b-boys and Pro-Keds.

“People think a b-boy is supposed to wear Pro-Keds,” he says. “Okay, b-boys wore Pro-Keds back then. They wore them because they were cheap. And it’s the way you wear your Pro-Keds.

“It’s cool now. It wasn’t cool back then,” he continues. “We did this to be rebellious. You wouldn’t find every walk of life in hip-hop clubs [back then]. I’m glad it’s worldwide and its global now, but everything is too accessible for people.”

Which is why Skeme has designated 2009 to be a year of spreading knowledge.

Through several projects in the works, including the new Bboy Essentials mixtape, a documentary with YNOT, two widely popular podcasts, production for albums, countless events, and a More Than A Stance blog collaboration, Skeme hopes to help educate and inform younger generations of b-boys.

And as much as the hectic schedule sounds like it’d be a drain on his time, Skeme insists that it’s his passion.

After all, hip-hop is actually gaining him time by helping to keep him young.

“The day you get a day job and get married and have kids, the clock is ticking,” Skeme says. “I can come and go as I please. There’s nothing wrong with a day job, but the minute your day is revolved around 9 to 5, it becomes boring. Hip-hop is a hobby and a stress reliever at the same time. More people in the world need hobbies–if more people had hobbies, the world would be a better place.”