A small group of DJs are bringing it back Sunday nights at Hell’s Kitchen. This isn’t one dude in a fake Versace shirt swapping shiny Top 40 singles, kids. This is Fab 5’s DJ Reign, Olympia cutmaster SlimRock and new-face-in-town Kuh-Kutz showing what some artistic MFs can do with a pair of turntables. Or three. Or six.



“We really need more people using turntables as instruments,” says Reign. “This is real hip-hop for Tacoma.”



The recently launched weekly event at Hell’s Kitchen is an attempt to resurrect DJing as an art, says Reign, who adds he is not particularly fond of prevailing trends such as half-assed synth-pop beats or rapping about bitches and hos.



Reign notes somberly that in Tacoma the title “DJ” is most often associated with stationary platter switchers rather than the nimble-fingered mix masters honored by true hip-hop heads. At Hell’s Kitchen, crowds should expect to see one DJ on three tables and two mixers, three DJs on six tables, crazy mixes, scratches and other techniques employed by underground masters such as Krush, Qbert and DJ Shadow.



Fellow cutmaster SlimRock — a 10-year veteran hailing from underground hip-hop haven Olympia — says the night is a chance for Tacomans to witness what he considers a drowning art form.



“We’re offering something that Tacoma doesn’t have anywhere else,” he says. “There’s plenty of Top 40, shake-your-ass kind of stuff out there. We don’t do rehearsed sets. This is like jazz improv. We’re making music — not just playing other people’s. ”



Beyond the turntables, Reign and company promise to rear several of hip-hop’s six heads. Expect appearances from Tacoma b-boys the Dance Brooms and a rotating roster of local MCs, including Tacoma’s own Can-U, who is rumored to be wrapping up his second full-length album, due out later this year.



[Hell’s Kitchen, Sundays, doors at 9 p.m., $2 ladies, $3 guys, 3829 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003]