Introductions

DJ SKATE OR DIE

I chose DJ because although the lyrical content of rap is important I am really interested in the beat making side of things.

My introduction to hip-hop came when I was very young and was also new to skateboarding.  Where it all started was actually skateboarding.  As a kid, almost all of the music I listened to came from skateboarding videos.  I would spend hours in my basement playing Tony Hawk and watching skate videos with my friends.  I thought that all the music in skateboarding videos was so cool because it captured the talents and lifestyles of the skateboarders so well.  I was always inspired to look up a song after hearing it in a skate video because it was immediately validated to me if I liked that skater’s part in the video.  I was very young and didn't quite understand the context in which the music existed culture wise, but I was still very picky and opinionated about what type of hip hop I wanted to listen to.  Also, when I was playing the early Tony Hawk Pro Skater video games I was introduced to artists such as Gang Starr, A Tribe Called Quest, and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien.  Around the summer of my fourth grade I went out to buy a Gang Starr record and A Tribe Called Quest record to bring to summer camp with me.  I played those records until I had every song memorized.  I was so attracted to the grooves that DJ Premier could find and stick to so well.  I loved the subtle harmonies, melodies, and hooks that he would find and stick to for a satisfying four or so minutes.  The Guru’s voice would glide effortlessly over those tracks and I was hooked.  It wasn’t always about the lyrical content to me but more so just about the beats and the beautiful repetition that they contained.  
Skating videos also led me to artists such as The Smiths and Joy Division whose music although being of the post-punk genre, had the appeal of DJ Premier’s beats with beautiful guitar harmonies and repetitive drum beats.  I then moved onto artists such as MF Doom when I picked up Madvillany at a small record shop in Missoula, MT in the end of my fifth grade.  The beats Madlib created for that record inspired me to try out beats that were a little more experimental and unpredictable.  I remember how I used to go to the library to get Outkast and Jurassic Five records to listen to with my friends as we skated a half pipe we built in a garage.  
Hip-hop has always been an obsession of mine and still influences the music I make and listen to even outside of hip-hop.  As a drummer, I owe my roots in rhythms and grooves to that of the hip-hop I grew up with.  People find it odd when they discover I have been such an avid hip-hop fan for my whole life, but it only seems natural to me.  I still listen to the same records I did in fourth grade and have only learned to appreciate their impact on me even more as time goes on.

Here are some of the songs that introduced me to hip hop:

This is A Gang Starr track that I discovered from a DC Shoes skateboarding video in 2003.  It's guitar sample beat by DJ Premier that immediately had me hooked especially when combined with the aggresive East coast skating of Josh Kalis.

This next one is A Tribe Called Quest track that I found in a BMX video game I used to play in middle school. Still remains a favorite record of mine :

And lastly, my favorite track from the best hip-hop record of all time, an early and current favorite of mine:

Some more current ones:

Spaceghostpurrp

And an instrumental by Clams Casino

-Fritz