Biography of Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock is a jazz keyboardist who has succeeded in a variety of styles, from the free-jazz of the '60s, when he played with Miles Davis and made a variety of groundbreaking albums for Blue Note, to the fusion of the '70s and beyond, which have seen him invading the pop charts regularly.Hancock moved from Chicago to New York in 1961 and worked with a variety of jazz stars before joining Davis's quintet in 1965, a unit that also included Ron Carter, Tony Williams, and Wayne Shorter and is now remembered as among the best bands Davis ever led. In addition to the memorable music turned out by this group (some of it written by Hancock), the pianist also contracted to Blue Note for a series of solo albums, starting with Takin' Off in 1962. In 1966 Hancock scored the film Blowup, which made the pop charts.Leaving Davis in 1968, Hancock eventually began to divide his time between acoustic-piano work and electric playing, the result being that he became a major star in both genres. His "straight" jazz dates included the V.S.O.P. group (which was the old Davis quintet with Freddie Hubbard substituting for Davis) and albums with fellow keyboardist Chick Corea. His fusion albums included the gold-selling 1974 release Head Hunters. In all, he charted 11 albums during the '70s, amazing for a jazz musician.Of course, there are few who like all of his work. This became even more true when Hancock scored on the dance floor and the singles chart with "Rockit," a hip-hop track with a successful video that went gold in 1983. Since then, Hancock has continued to move back and forth between the worlds of purist-jazz and outright pop. ~ William Ruhlmann

Biography of Mix Master Mike

Mix Master Mike (born Michael Schwartz in 1970) first attracted attention as a member of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, one of the most acclaimed DJ collectives of their era -- three-time winners of the annual world scratching competition, they were eventually barred from entering as a result of a lack of any solid competition. Debuting in 1996 with Michristmasterpiece Muziks Worst Nightmare, Mike's skills eventually brought him to the attention of the Beastie Boys, who recruited him to serve as the DJ on their 1998 LP, Hello Nasty, and on tour; his second solo record, Anti-Theft Device, appeared that same summer. ~ Jason Ankeny

Biography of Rob Swift

Turntablist hero Rob Swift debuted with one of the top scratching groups of the '90s, the X-Men (later known as the X-Ecutioners). A mixtape favorite, after one album with the group Swift widely released his own debut, Soulful Fruit, in 1997 on Asphodel, followed by The Ablist in 1999. Thereafter, he released a succession of mixes for Triple Threat (Airwave Invasion), Tableturns (Sound Event), and Six Degrees (Under the Influence). ~ John Bush

Biography of DJ Babu

Born Chris Oroc, DJ Babu is a member of Dilated Peoples and the on-again/off-again DJ crew Beat Junkies. The California-based DJ began making mix tapes in the early '90s and joined the Beat Junkies in 1994. Babu has won multiple competition titles including the DMC Championship in 1997 and multiple ITF titles. As a revered battle DJ he has appeared in and hosted numerable videos and -- under the name Turntablist -- produced perhaps the genre's most popular battle record, 1996's Super Duck Breaks, which sold over 10,000 copies, and its inevitable follow-up, Super Duper Duck Breaks, in 2000. ~ Wade Kergan

Biography of GrandMixer DXT

No biography available

Biography of Qbert

No biography available

Biography of Shortee

Hailing from the D.C. area, Shortee (born Shannon Burke) was the most successful female turntablist of the late '90s. With a style that ranged from hard house, swing, hip-hop, and drum'n'bass to dub, she was a strong force in both group and solo efforts. Shortee brought nearly two decades of percussion/drum playing to her DJ work, and it showed in tight, complex rhythms that used what had been accomplished before by other turntablists as a mere jumping-off point. She was a quick study to the DJ style: only three months after learning how to maneuver turntables, she issued her first tape, the aptly named Its in My Nature. In 1997, she issued her second mix tape, No Shortcuts, which showed off the skills that helped her win the 1997 Fever/Buzz Battle of the DJs, the largest techno/house/jungle mixing competition in the U.S. A series of projects with DJ Faust (born Bobby Bruno), who was romantically as well as musically linked to her, provided some of her first formal record releases. She appeared on Faust's 1998 album Man or Myth, which featured a kind of turntablist tribute to musicians who she and Faust admired, from the Steve Miller Band to Public Enemy.Faust's next effort, 1999's Inward Journeys, displayed a greater sense of creativity as she and Faust manipulated the samples that they used so that their sources were indistinguishable and the records that they used became more like tones and textures than recognizable pieces of music. She was a founding member of the Citizenz (with Faust and T-Rock), and also worked with the Space Kadets Collective and recorded a limited-edition vinyl EP in 1999 called Fathomless (with Faust and Craze). Her first solo album, The Dreamer, was the first DJ/turntablist album ever released by a female performer on an established label. Beyond that, the album was original and inventive with a fascinating concept: Shortee created songs that were supposed to characterize the transformation of a person's brain patterns as they dreamed, with the dreams being transformed into sound. The result was beautiful, surprising, and a great hint of the things that were yet to come. ~ Stacia Proefrock