QBert has lost track of the number of awards he has won for his technical mastery of the turntables. But as a founding member of the pioneering Bay Area DJ crew Invisibl Skratch Piklz, known around the world for elevating the art of cutting up records, he remembers how it began.

In 1985, while attending Balboa High School in San Francisco, he watched a neighbor juggle beats with a vinyl copy of Egyptian Lover’s “What Is a DJ If He Can’t Scratch” on the turntables and QBert (born Richard Quitevis) rushed home to do the same with his own set, getting quickly swept up by the creative fervor that fueled the early days of hip-hop.

“I fell in love,” the San Francisco native said, during a drive through Guadalupe Canyon last week. “Once I figured out my own scratch pattern, I figured I can do stuff different from everybody else — pull stuff out of my head and make it sound unique.”

Since then, 48-year-old QBert has built a small empire around his distinctive turntable work: albums, instructional videos, DJ hardware, movies and video games, along with collaborations with an eclectic list of artists that includes Dr. Octagon and Mike Patton.

The four-time DMC Champion, named America’s Best DJ in 2010 (at least we’re keeping track), even runs his own online DJ school called QBert Skratch University.

Even as his percussion-heavy, rapid-fire turntable and mixer compositions have occasionally nudged toward the mainstream, QBert has largely managed to keep his work on the fringes.

“I’m more into the art of it,” he said. “I want to make something of its own world.”

On Saturday, July 21, QBert will join his former Invisibl Skratch Piklz bandmate Shortkut (Jonathan Cruz) to perform a rare collaborative set, using four turntables in the style of old Future Primitive Sound Session events, at the return of the monthly Filipino-themed night market called Undiscovered SF.

Following a successful opening season that drew some 35,000 people to the Old Mint, the monthly event will come back in a new location at 401 Minna St. (the parking lots behind The San Francisco Chronicle building). It will continue to be hosted every third Saturday through October to highlight cuisine, art, clothing and crafts by Filipino American vendors.

“We can’t think of any better way to kick off the new season of Undiscovered than to celebrate these two local heroes, and bring our worlds full circle,” said Mark Herlihy, music curator of Undiscovered SF. “Their influence on turntablism and DJ culture is immeasurable.”

While QBert is proud of his heritage, he said one of the main things that drew him into the world of hip-hop was its air of inclusivity.

More Information DJ QBert and Shortkut at Undiscovered SF: 4 p.m. Saturday, July 21. Free. Parking lots behind The Chronicle building at 401 Minna St. www.undiscoveredsf.com

Read More

“I never felt like an outsider,” he said. “You could be whatever — white, black, Latin, Asian, Samoan — every race possible. Maybe in New York it might not have been that way, but out here in the bay, it was everything. I was lucky to be in a multicultural environment.”

He’s mostly excited about sharing the stage with Shortkut again, and is thinking about performing material from his two forthcoming studio albums.

“The only challenge is you got to keep doing it,” QBert said. “If you stop, everything falls apart.”

Aidin Vaziri is The San Francisco Chronicle’s pop music critic. Email: avaziri@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MusicSF