Kolabz Crew

EXCESS

Representing the Styluswars Team is the 2000 I.T.F. U.S.A Advancement Class Champion and World Scratching Runner up DJ Excess, of the Kolabz & Ned Hoddings. Beginning his DJ career as a house DJ, he shortly realized that house music wasn't the direction in which he wanted to pursue. It was during this time that he began to see the artistry and musicality that has made turntablism grow. In 1998 he began his battling career entering the I.T.F. Western Hemisphere Scratching competition. Though it was his first battle he made a mark showing that he would soon be a force within the competition circuit. In 1999 he decided to compete in the I.T.F. East Coast Advancment Class Competition, which he would win and become champion, gaining the opportunity to compete in the U.S. Finals, but it wasn't till 2000 that his breakthrough occured, winning both U.S. Advancement Class and Western Hemisphere Scratching Championships. Yet having both these titles, he has concentrated more recently on his production and plans to put out more music in the future.

Now Excess works with fellow Kolabz member IXL on projects further from the norm such as Hop-Fu, a project created by John Carluccio of battle Sounds and Barry Cole melding Hip-Hop and Kung-Fu into an exciting audio-visual performance. Other projects like Barn Stormers, a project put together by SKWERM, ESPO, KR and other respected graff artists which melds graffiti art and live turtable compostions into a performance.

"I've come to realize that through the years this art form has progessed in significant ways technically yet I feel it's next step is to harness simplicity. We are musicians, artists, and bands just like any other within the music industry, and it's our time to progress to the next step where our music can be recreated live." Excess does it with the TTM 56.

IXL

DJ IXL first came up through the battle scene in 1998 when he made his markby innovating a specific Beat Juggling style, using only the up-faders on the mixer. He brought a whole new sound the influenced today's top turntablists all over the world. His technique has got him into the I.T.F. U.S.A. Finals and controversial DMC World Supremacy East Coast runner up. Besides known to take out heads in major battle competitions. IXL has rocked raves and turntablist events. He DJ'ed for Gza of Wu-Tang Clan and toured with Jimmy Cozier from label J Records. IXL also experiments with synching the turntables with video. He produced original music for a LUGZ Boots Commercial, Utilizing different scratch patterns for all the action sound effects. And with his partner DJ Excess the I.T.F scratching category champion they score a feature length Kung-Fu Movie.A project created by John Carluccio of Battle Sounds titled Hop-Fu has been on the rise. With performances in collages in the U.S., The Bronx Museum and reviews in magazines like The Source and several others.

"I've been using Rane Mixers for years. The reason is they always had the rep of making the best club mixers, as in sound quality and durability. Once they had started coming out with scratch-based mixers they blew all the other companies away regardless of who they had promoting their product. Each generation of mixers Rane has put out continues to get better and better. Now with their latest edition, the Rane TTM 56 has yet again set the standard for all mixers with it's versatility from the battle scene to the studio. With the new fader technology Rane has helped me to achieve the sound I've been looking for."