The Dilated Peoples cyclops was created by Brent Rollins / Ego Trip NYC in 1997 for "Third Degree," the band's first 12" on ABB Records. One of the members, DJ Babu, coined the phrase turntablism and hails from Oxnard. Oxnard! Go figure. Oxnard was in fact one of the first places on the West Coast to play hip-hop with any regularity. The prime mover of this movement was a DJ named H.T., who, last I'd heard, died in a car crash in the late '80s or so. When I brought the subject up to DJ Babu, he replied, "What?! HT! KMIX 106!!!!! I used to stay up every Saturday night to record HT...I remember when he passed and all they did was replay old HT recordings for a week, then the station folded...that brings me back!!!!!!!"Howard David Thomas, November 22, 1962 - August 14, 1988. Rest in peace, Mr. DJ.
