If you want to learn the basics of DJ-ing, then DJ Shortee's your woman. The American scratch master is not just a highly acclaimed performer, but also a so-called professor of turntablism.
Shortee, who hops genres and countries with equal ease (she lands in Hong Kong on Saturday), has produced her own instructional DVD series. Shortee's DJ 101 and DJ 202 are aimed at budding spin masters who want to learn how to mix, scratch and juggle beats, with lessons from the mistress herself, as well as input from colleagues and MCs in the business.
Such was the success of the teaching series that Shortee was recruited to be a 'DJ professor' at the Scratch Academy founded by Run DMC's Jam Master Jay and she now teaches in Los Angeles, at the west coast branch of New York's top mixing school.
Shortee herself was a quick learner, but needed no schooling - just the tuition of flatmate DJ Faust (now her husband), who moved in with her 10 years ago when she was 20.
'He'd seen me playing drums and thought I'd be a natural at DJ-ing,' she told gurl.com website in a feature celebrating women DJs recently. 'I've been a turntablist since.
'I practise and perform scratching regularly. I experiment with different sounds, styles and forms of music.'
Shortee is a diverse and technically skilled DJ who is as adept spinning hip-hop or drum'n'bass as breaks, house, funk or soul. And she's also a black belt in tae kwon do.