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Re-Endtroducing DJ Shadow.
For those of you too young or too far removed from the development of the hip-hop Scene, I will try to summarise the significance of DJ Shadow.
Having risen to prominence with the mythical North Californian West Coast hip-hop collective Solesides, a crew that included the now celebrated Lyrics Born and Blackalicious, DJ Shadow began to be recognised on our side of the pond after dropping several singles on the cult UK imprint, James Lavelle’s Mo’Wax.
Quite possibly riding the same wave of hip-hop instrumentalism that propelled Portishead to fame with their 1994 downbeat, trip-hop magnum opus ‘Dummy’, in 1996 Davis released his groundbreaking debut LP ‘Endtroducing’, a record revered as the very first album to have been created by using samples only. The album is, by all means, a most timeless and ultimately seminal hip-hop/trip-hop instrumental masterpiece. Subsequently, DJ Shadow went on to produce the acclaimed 1998 UNKLE album ‘Psyence Fiction’ that featured the likes of Kool G Rap, Richard Ashcroft, Ian Brown and Thom Yorke, cementing his name amongst the listeners of non-mainstream music and underground vibe seekers across the UK.
His list of collaborations with many of rap’s royalty pay testimony to the respect afforded to him by his peers, including the likes of The Roots, Q-Tip, Jurassic 5’s DJ/Producer Cut Chemist, Japan's enigmatic hip-hop mastermind, DJ Krush, and more recently, with Run The Jewels on the politically satirical track 'Nobody Speak'.
Since those earlier heady, reputation-forming days, DJ Shadow has been fighting the battle of any great artist; trying to redefine himself in light of the changing musical environment, without either clinging on too hard to the music that came to define him publicly or totally trampling over its memory.
In honour of his ongoing tour and to accompany our mini review of DJ Shadow’s latest album ‘The Mountain Will Fall’ and his performances at Secret Garden Party and Electric Brixton which you can read here, here are 7 of Guestlist’s favourite DJ Shadow tracks to get you vibsin’!
@PhillyTea
DJ Shadow - Six Days
DJ Shadow - Enuff (feat. Q Tip, Lateef & The Truth Speaker)
DJ Shadow - Walkie Talkie
DJ Shadow - Midnight In A Perfect World
DJ Shadow - Nobody Speak (feat. Run The Jewels)
Blackalicious (DJ Shadow & Chief Xcel) - Swan Lake
Organ Donor (Extended Overhaul)
