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NYPD Lieutenant Scratches Old-School Itch as DJ Ace

 Lt. Acu Rhodes of the 78th Precinct is also known as DJ Ace and is a skilled scratch DJ.
Meet the 78th Precinct's DJ Lieutenant
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PARK SLOPE — At work, NYPD Lt. Acu Rhodes is in charge of keeping the entire Barclays Center safe, but in his off hours, he's the master of a smaller domain: two Technics 1200 turntables.

When he's not serving as the 78th Precinct's detail lieutenant for the arena and its third platoon commander, Rhodes is DJ Ace, an old-school scratch DJ.

Rhodes says his DJing is just a hobby, but at least one of the 1.2 million people who have watched a Facebook video of DJ Ace in action question Rhodes' career decision.

“Why is he a cop if he can scratch like a boss?” wrote one commenter on a 2014 clip of Rhodes performing.

Rhodes joined the NYPD 18 years ago, but his DJ roots go back even farther. The 1984 hip-hop movie "Beat Street" blew his 10-year-old mind, and Rhodes commandeered his mom's record player to imitate songs like "Roxanne, Roxanne" by UTFO.

"After that, there was no stopping me," Rhodes said. "I just kept practicing and practicing."

Inspired by pioneers such as DJ Scratch, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Jam Master Jay from Run-DMC, young Rhodes built his own DJ set. Making demo tapes at a local music studio with his friends in Bed-Stuy kept him out of trouble when he was young, he said, and he served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps before joining the NYPD in 1997.

These days, the 41-year-old married father of three practices every day in a mini studio he's built in a "man cave" at his house.

Rhodes has a low key demeanor and softspoken seriousness, but his turntable skills reveal a funkier side. He listens to classic records by James Brown and George Clinton to find parts he can put to beats.

He's made a mix that samples an old recording of the "Fantastic Four" TV series and another that uses the voice of James Earl Jones narrating an NYPD video that's shown at promotion ceremonies.

 

At National Night Out on Tuesday, Rhodes entertained the crowd with a mix that mentioned his precinct's commanding officer, Capt. Frank DiGiacomo, by name.

 

The tracks he creates were mostly for his own entertainment until last fall when he performed in a Cops vs. Kids DJ Battle organized by the NYPD.

A video snippet of his set has been viewed more than 1.2 million times on Facebook and received admiring coverage on EDMTunes.com.

Rhodes gets a lift when he sees the mostly positive comments on the Facebook video.

Like the recent video of an NYPD officer dancing the "Nae Nae," Rhodes says civilians get a kick out of seeing his musical side.

“Everybody loves a DJ," Rhodes said. "Everybody loves music. Of course, not everybody loves police officers. … If you look at the comments, people are like, ‘He’s a cop and he DJs — I guess not all these cops are bad.’ It shows people another side, that we’re human. We’re regular people, it’s just a job that we have.”

 

NYPD’s Lieutenant Rhodes getting busy at the “Cops vs Kids DJ Competition” at Tilden High School in Brooklyn!

Posted by Stanton Warriors on Wednesday, October 22, 2014
DJ Ace You're No Match For Me
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DJ Ace