Shots, Breaks & Beats

Event Details

This event took place at The Lab - Shots & More, 101 Phạm Ngũ Lão, Phường Phạm Ngũ Lão, Quận 1, Ho Chi Minh City, from 9 PM on 28 February 2020 until 2 AM on 29 February 2020, with the original location retained for archive accuracy even though the venue has since closed. Scientific Sound Asia brought Shots, Breaks & Beats to the District 1 venue for a free-entry night centred on Hip Hop, Breaks, Funk and turntable culture.

The concept kept things straightforward, combining party music with records selected for movement rather than a narrowly defined club sound. Hip Hop foundations, break-driven rhythms and Funk provided the backbone of the night while the DJs worked with the classic Technics SL-1200 turntable format.

The Technics SL-1200 became closely associated with DJ culture through its use in clubs, Hip Hop, scratching and turntablism. For Shots, Breaks & Beats, the decks were more than decoration because the event deliberately highlighted the physical side of record selection and mixing.

Free entry made the night accessible to anyone moving through the Phạm Ngũ Lão nightlife area. Guests could arrive without an advance ticket and spend the five-hour session moving between the music, drinks and different areas inside The Lab.

The venue had already become familiar to Scientific Sound Asia audiences through events including Hip-Hop Don’t Stop and Our House. Its laboratory-themed interior, multiple levels, bars and rooftop gave the organisation a flexible setting for smaller underground music nights in central Ho Chi Minh City.

Musically, Shots, Breaks & Beats returned strongly to Hip Hop and the Funk and breakbeat foundations that played such an important role in the development of DJ culture. Rather than concentrating only on current rap releases, the programme left room for older records, breaks, party cuts and selections built around groove.

DJ Psycho-UK, also known as Bearhead, brought a long history of record collecting and underground music to the event. He began DJing at the age of fourteen in East London with a pair of Soundlab DLP1 turntables and a four-track mixer.

Hip Hop was one of the earliest styles to shape his musical development before his interests expanded through House, Acid House, Hardcore, Jungle and Drum and Bass. That progression placed him close to several major changes in underground British music as imported records, pirate radio and rave culture created new scenes around London.

His early involvement with Hip Hop also meant that turntables remained central to his understanding of DJing. Mixing records manually, working with vinyl and building sets from physical collections formed part of his approach long before digital DJ systems became standard.

As Acid House developed in Britain, his DJing moved further into underground parties and warehouse events. Hardcore, Jungle and Drum and Bass followed, giving him a musical background that connected early Hip Hop influences with several generations of British rave culture.

DJ Psycho-UK also played on London pirate radio stations including AXE FM and Fantasy FM. Pirate broadcasting was an important route for underground DJs and new music at the time, allowing records to circulate beyond clubs, record shops and private tape collections.

His wider activity included underground party networks associated with Outcry Syndicate, OTT and London Overground. Those events kept him connected with warehouse and squat-party culture while his record collection continued to expand across different areas of dance music.

For Shots, Breaks & Beats, however, the focus returned to Hip Hop, Breaks and Funk rather than the harder rave styles found elsewhere in his history. The format gave him an opportunity to draw on older influences and use the Technics decks in a setting built specifically around records and turntable culture.

His DJ career eventually extended beyond Britain through appearances in the West Indies, Australia and Vietnam. After becoming based in Ho Chi Minh City, he played venues and events including Piu Piu, Basement, Indika, Cargo Remote, Pogo Beach Club and Dragon Beach.

DJ Psycho-UK also developed Scientific Sound Asia as a wider underground music platform in Vietnam. His involvement connected DJing with the organisation’s radio station, events, DJ agency and music news activity.

DiJay Arsan brought a different musical background to the night as an American record producer, songwriter, DJ and independent recording artist. Born in New York and raised between New York and California, she developed her sound through exposure to different American music scenes rather than one fixed regional identity.

Her DJ sets moved between Hip Hop, House and Trap, giving her enough flexibility to adapt to different dancefloors while retaining a strong connection with contemporary urban music. Energetic selections and sharp transitions became part of an approach designed to keep the room active rather than simply present a sequence of individual tracks.

For Shots, Breaks & Beats, that background gave the line-up a contemporary contrast with DJ Psycho-UK’s older Hip Hop and Funk foundations. The two DJs could approach the same night from different generations and musical starting points while remaining connected through rhythm and club-focused selection.

At the time of the event, ARSAN was also resident DJ for the Saigon Heat basketball team. That role placed her music in a very different performance environment from a small underground bar, demonstrating the range of settings in which she was active around Vietnam.

She also performed at venues around the country and had become part of Ho Chi Minh City’s wider DJ community. Her presence at The Lab brought an American Hip Hop and Trap influence into a night already strongly connected with British turntable culture.

The pairing of DJ Psycho-UK and ARSAN therefore gave Shots, Breaks & Beats two distinct approaches to party music. One drew heavily from vinyl, Hip Hop history, Funk and breaks, while the other brought more contemporary production and modern club influences into the programme.

Breaks provided a useful meeting point between those musical backgrounds because break-driven rhythms sit deep within the history of both Hip Hop and later forms of electronic dance music. Funk records supplied another connection, linking the source material sampled by early Hip Hop producers with later club selections and DJ edits.

The event’s use of Technics SL-1200s reinforced that historical connection. These turntables became deeply associated with mixing, scratching and battle DJ culture, making them especially appropriate for a night that placed records and DJ technique at the centre of the programme.

The Lab itself helped keep the event informal rather than turning it into a specialist turntablist showcase. People could enjoy the music as a party while anyone interested in DJ culture could also appreciate the connection between the records, decks and musical history being represented.

That balance suited Scientific Sound Asia’s broader approach to Hip Hop events during this period. Earlier nights had ranged from live performances by Too Many T’s to JFB’s turntablism and the more relaxed rooftop format of Hip-Hop Don’t Stop.

Shots, Breaks & Beats occupied another position within that history by concentrating on the relationship between Hip Hop, Funk, breaks and vinyl DJing. It was neither a live rap concert nor a conventional electronic club night, but a free-entry session built around records, groove and turntable culture.

The Phạm Ngũ Lão location also made the event easily accessible from one of District 1’s busiest nightlife areas. Guests could discover the party casually while regular Scientific Sound Asia followers had another opportunity to hear music outside the organisation’s House, Techno and Drum and Bass programming.

The Lab - Shots & More has since closed, but preserving the venue address and event details helps document another former space connected with Ho Chi Minh City’s independent nightlife. The bar hosted several Scientific Sound Asia concepts and provided a temporary home for House, Hip Hop and other underground music events during this period.

Shots, Breaks & Beats brought DJ Psycho-UK and DiJay Arsan together for five hours of Hip Hop, Breaks, Funk and related party music on the last night of February 2020. With free entry and Technics SL-1200s behind the decks, the event kept the focus on records, rhythm and the culture that grew around DJs using turntables to keep a room moving.