"The definition of Chop Su is diversity," says Bionic as he describes the crew whose most regular gig as a collective is the "Booming back at ya" Tuesday Hip-Hop nights at 206 in Orange Grove. This is where the crew best showcases its underground affinities to an intimate crowd of appreciative heads. But when the need arises (which it often does) they can also "spin that jiggy shit" as Bionic puts it. On Friday nights at Rosebank's Club Enigma he and Blaize lace more sugar-coated, throw-your-hands-up tracks for the mainstream-oriented types.

The selling point of these DJ's is the flavor of the records they spin. They employ no visual effects to accompany their delivery of beats. Mista Bigga argues his point that a DJ should be heard and not seen when asked about the value of showmanship - "That whole showmanship vibe was hot in the eighties. There are still cats out there doing it, no disrespect to them, some of my favorite DJ's do it, but at the end of the day it doesn't do me one iota of justice to scratch with my ass!" So what role, then does the DJ fulfill if not as a well-rounded entertainer, which was the whole point of showmanship in the first place? Bigga's response is a heated attempt to convince us that what Chop Su's set may lack in terms of visual stimulation is compensated for by their use of turntables as instruments. They all cite the expected great turntable names as their influences: Dibbs, Q-Bert, Revolution, Rob Swift, Babu etc.

This raises the issue of the Invisibl Skratch Picklz crew leading the new school of DJ's years after they first put needle to record. Our question is whether Chop Su can foresee any one DJ picking up from where the arguably unchallenged Piklz left off and taking it to the elusive next level. Once again Bigga puts himself in the line of fire asserting that the notion of DJ's living up to the Piklz' standards is merely a public misconception. "We won't always live in their shadow because there are unsung people constantly elevating. Take DJ Flare for instance. Now that's someone who took DJ'ing a step forward. Before everyone was crabbing away, it was all about flares. What Q-Bert and them did was better what other cats came up with and took it to the masses."