Starting from Scratch

A child prodigy is not always loved, but is always respected.
An exceptionally talented kid is an expression of the random and truly
perplexing nature of life and destiny; while most of us spend years of
our lives trying to find something we’re good at, the wunderkind is
seemingly born with his path set before him. Anyone who has witnessed
the growth of Portland’s DJ FlipFlop has seen such a person develop in
the local hiphop scene—long before he could drink in bars,
FlipFlop was cutting it up with the best turntablists the world has
ever nurtured.

DJ FlipFlop (real name Kenny Vanderberg) just turned 23 and has been
DJing for eight years now.

“In my freshman year of high school I happened to see some DJ battle
on MTV between Infamous and Precise and I was hooked after that,” says
Vanderberg. “Pretty soon I had bought a ‘DJ in a box’ set and was going
at it.”

In a few short years Vanderberg mastered skills that some scratch
DJs never harness—complex techniques and truly funky rhythms on
the cut.

“I’ve always been pretty good at just listening to something and
then knowing how to do it,” he says.

Such an innate skill has served Vanderberg well. One of Portland’s
illest DJs, he caught the ear of the CunninLynguists in 2007, when he
opened up for their Portland appearance. They kept in touch, and after
several other DJs proved unworthy of the task, FlipFlop accompanied the
group on a West Coast tour.

“On that first tour I just kept my mouth shut and did what they
wanted,” Vanderberg says. “It worked, I hung in there.”

In April he will be part of their European expedition.

“I’ve never been out of the country before,” he says. “I’m pretty
excited.”

Portland should share his enthusiasm—seldom do we see a kid
with as much talent as DJ FlipFlop rise up out of our mix and make
noise on an international level. The old adage about “getting
discovered” still rings true: If you are good enough it will happen.
While that mix of baby face and ill techniques will surprise some and
confound others, there’s only one good reaction to have at Vanderberg’s
shows: complete and total awe.