THE MAKERS (V.A.R.I) Video Audio Remix Industries Hop-Fu is the brainchild of Barry Cole and John Carluccio who have a vision of bonding film and DJ composition to create inspiring and exciting work. The first incarnation of Hop Fu (actually titled X-Fu) was done as part of the 1997 Ret-inevitable festival at the Brooklyn Anchorage with featured DJs Roc Raider and Rob Swift of the X-ecutioners scoring to a 15-minute segment from "The Bronze Man" and "Five Deadly Venoms". DJ IXL and DJ Excess of the Kolabz signed on for recent incarnations of Hop-Fu: The Prodigal Son. With V.A.R.I, Barry and John continue to produce new DJ and turntablists scores to a variety of motion pictures of various genres. John Carluccio is a Brooklyn-based artist who gained attention with the documentary film BATTLE SOUNDS, which debuted in the Whitney Museum Biennial in 1997 and has since been screened worldwide. From 1996 to 2001 John produced and coordinated the Battle Sounds Turntablist Festival in New York City. He was the Associate producer for the Motion Picture Scratch. He invented and coauthored TTM a booklet explaining a revolutionary scratching notation system and was recently sited as one of next 100 innovators by TIME magazine. Barry Cole (a.k.a. DJ Jes Grew) is a music supervisor and DJ with a commitment to merging music and film media. His music supervision credits include such films as New Jersey Drive, Sling Blade, American Psycho, O, Drum Line and Brown Sugar. Barry is a founder and president of Spot Music in New York City. THE PERFORMERS DJ IXL first came up through the battle scene in 1998 when he made his mark by innovating a specific Beat Juggling style, using only the up-faders on the mixer. He brought a whole new sound that influenced today's top turntablists all over the world. His technique has taken him into the I.T.F. U.S.A. Finals and controversial DMC World Supremacy where he was East Coast runner-up. Besides being known to take out heads in major battle competitions, IXL has DJ'ed for Gza of Wu-Tang Clan, and toured with J Records recording artist Jimmy Cozier. He recently produced original music for a LUGZ Boots commercial. DJ EXCESS is the 2000 I.T.F. U.S.A Advancement Class Champion and World Scratching runner-up. Excess keeps a very busy schedule including scoring spots for Sesame Street and Pepsi, and teaching a DJ curriculum at Florida’s Studio Engineering Academy. In 2001,Excess and IXL scored No Condition is Permanent for graffiti collective The Barnstormers (SKWERM, KR, RO STAR, ESPO and others) in a melding of graffiti art and live turntable compositions. "We are musicians, artists, and bands just like any other within the music industry, and it’s our time to progress to the next step where our music can be taught, written, and developed." Excess is also the chief operating officer of independent turntablist-based record label Styluswars (www.styluswars.com).