You’ve been granted unlimited access to a music legend’s monstrous 40,000+ vinyl collection. What do you do?
Simple! You say to yourself, I’m already an incredible DJ. And so is my friend Lucas here. I think I’ll take a few of these records, along with six turntables, two mixers, and one drum machine, and go the f%^$ on tour!
Then you call up your buddies Edan and Paten Locke and ask them to join you. They, of course, say yes. After all, you are DJ Shadow – progenitor of the instrumental hip-hop scene. (See also: music producer, Guinness Book of World Records holder for “creating the world’s first all-sampled album”, vinyl enthusiast, crate digger, and serendipitous friend of one of hip-hop’s breakbeat originators: Afrika Bambaataa, who is likewise the owner of the aforementioned monstrous 40,000+ vinyl collection.)
Before you know it, you and your buddy Lucas (aka Cut Chemist of Jurassic 5 fame) have hit the road, on an aptly named musical tour dubbed the “Renegades of Rhythm.” Together, the two of you are known for your collective ability to switch records out on a turntable faster than Twista (Guinness Book of World Record’s holder for “world’s fastest rapper”) can say, “Nobody bought my first album.”
One night before your set, Rolling Stone catches up with you and Cut Chemist. They want to know your motive, what you two hope to accomplish by touring with such an insanely large portion of Bambaataa’s album collection. “We’re out to tell Bambaataa’s story in music, via the records he owned and made,” you say.
Cut Chemist adds: “We also chose anything directly connected to him whether it was related to him as an artist or if he made an appearance on it. We want to represent Bam’s legacy as a recording artist and as a musical tastemaker.”
By telling Bambaataa’s story, you know you’re essentially sharing part of the saga of hip-hop’s birth – a sort of musical Genesis, if you will. With visuals to boot. You are rigid, but ardently so, about visuals accompanying your sets.
Before Rolling Stone has the chance to ask another question, the audience erupts into chants and cheers. Onstage is your opening act: Edan and Paten Locke. They are mesmerizing the crowd with their brand of distortion-overdrive-pedal, xylophone-infused, swift-lipped, looped hip-hop.
You tell Rolling Stone that both you and Cut Chemist intend to convey to your audiences that the music being mixed is more than just an “old-school set.” Cut Chemists says, “An ‘old school’ set to me usually entails the idea that there will be no new ideas or concepts happening, but just ‘Hey, remember this one?’ type of party,” says Cut Chemist. “That’s never been how Shadow and I roll. We’re looking forward to seeing how we can flip certain now-famous songs and breaks into a new context while staying true to Bambaataa’s legacy and taste for that music.”
Well put, you think. And with that, the two of you bid Rolling Stone farewell. After all, you’ve got a show to put on.
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