Baby scratch - The simplest scratch form, The Baby scratch is performed with the scratching hand only, moving the record back and forth in continuous movements while the crossfader is in the open position.
Scratch or Scratching, Baby scratch, is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the 1990s, it has been used in some styles of pop and nu metal. Within hip hop culture, scratching is one of the measures of a DJ's skills, and there are many scratching competitions. In recorded hip-hop songs, scratched hooks often use portions of different rap songs.
Scratching was developed by early hip hop DJs from New York such as Grand Wizard Theodore and DJ Grandmaster Flash, who describes scratching as, "nothing but the back-cuing that you hear in your ear before you push it [the recorded sound] out to the crowd." Jamaican-born DJ Kool Herc also influenced the early development of scratching. Kool Herc developed break-beat DJing, where the breaks of funk songs—being the most danceable part, often featuring percussion—were isolated and repeated for the purpose of all-night dance parties.