DJ SHADOW AND CUT CHEMIST PRESENT RENEGADES OF RHYTHM NATIONWIDE TOUR
VINYL-ONLY TOUR HONORING AFRIKA BAMBAATAA'S INFLUENCE ON HIP HOP'S BEGINNINGS
Tickets On Sale Friday, June 20, 2014
"Hip-Hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa's records are the most important in the history of the genre; the patient zero whose breadth of genres influenced, knowingly or not, every subsequent DJ and hip-hop producer."
ROLLING STONE
(Artwork by Paul Insect) |
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"I would consider Bambaataa to be one of the three biggest musical influences in my life, along with Grandmaster Flash and Kurtis Mantronik," Shadow tells Rolling Stone. "He was a DJ with a vision and a sense of purpose, with a desire for social change. He wanted to use the music to help foster a revolution, and the reverberations of this concept are still being felt today, and probably will be forever. His ability to embrace and incorporate all different types of music and art, and contextualize them with a hip-hop mentality, is what the entire culture is based on."
DJ Shadow on Afrika Bambaataa in Rolling Stone
Read the full exclusive interview HERE |
*For Immediate Release June 16, 2014*
Music fans are in for a once-in-a-lifetime experience when turntablists supreme DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist celebrate the legacy of Hip-Hop vanguard and Universal Zulu Nation founder, Afrika Bambaataa on their Renegades of Rhythm tour this fall.
“This has never been done before, definitely not on this scale. They’re HIS records, with his blessings. This isn’t just ANY copy of ‘X’ breakbeat, it’s THE copy, THE copy that started everything. Not just any records, the MASTER OF RECORDS' records.” - DJ Shadow.
Using only vinyl pulled from Afrika Bambaataa’s historic collection – over 40,000 strong and permanently archived at Cornell University – DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist aim to present Bambaataa’s legacy in all its genre-busting and socially-minded complexity. DJ Shadow states, “His collection includes not just Soul and Rap, but also Soca, Calypso, Dub, Salsa…it’s obvious that this music was important to him, and it’s reflected in his own music. For example, when the Soulsonic Force is singing an African chant, it actually comes from a Manu Dibango record. That’s when being a crate-digger comes in handy – you have to be able to pick up on the references and reiterate them.”
Johan Kugelberg, who in 2007 established the Cornell Hip Hop Archive, and a member of Zulu Nation, brought the idea of this tour to Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow, and introduced the two to Afrika Bambaataa. "Hip Hop ultimately is multi-generational and communicative, and an ongoing grassroots network" he says. "This tour will bring together hip hop fans over generations."
Sorting through the collection with this holistic aim in mind was daunting. “The first sort was to make sure we didn’t leave anything important behind. We definitely over-pulled,” adds Cut Chemist. To help them narrow their selections, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist focused on the appearance of the records themselves, “It was pretty clear what he played a lot and what he didn’t. The sure-shots were covered with tape and the jackets were beautifully tattered; that made it easier after a while to pull records.”
“The program will be multifaceted,” DJ Shadow explains. “Bambaataa as artist, exploring the influence of his classics like ‘Planet Rock;’ Bambaataa as collector, and the genre-defining breaks he discovered; and Bambaataa as peacemaker and force for social change. He influenced an entire generation worldwide, so we feel a great obligation to get it right.”
Naturally, it was paramount to the two DJ’s that the tour have the full blessing and support of Afrika Bambaataa himself. “I call on all who love Hip-Hop to come out, see them, hear them,” says the Godfather. “My story is our history in DJing.”
The Renegades of Rhythm tour will use six turntables and a variety of real-time effects. “It adds another performance level, real-time sampling from the record that’s being played,” says Cut Chemist. Visuals for the tour will be supplied by acclaimed video director, multimedia producer and regular DJ Shadow collaborator Ben Stokes. The tour is produced by Jamal Chalabi and Backlash Management.
The tour may be rooted in a historic vinyl collection, but both DJs are quick to point out that people should not come to this expecting strictly an ‘old-school’ set. As DJ Shadow sums it up, “DJ Shadow + Cut Chemist + Bambaataa’s records + his blessings: it’s going to be epic. That’s all you really need to know.” Or, as Afrika Bambaataa puts it, “DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist are going to blow your funky mind.”
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Renegades Of Rhythm
Tour Dates
(More Dates TBA / Ticket Links Below)
9/1 - Toronto, ON - Guvernment [tickets on sale HERE]
9/3 - Boston, MA - House of Blues [tickets HERE]
9/4 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza [tickets HERE]
9/6 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts [presale tickets HERE]
9/8 - Washington, DC - The Fillmore Silver Spring [tickets HERE]
9/9 - Baltimore, MD - Baltimore Soundstage [tickets HERE]
9/11 - Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore Charlotte [tickets HERE]
9/12 - Atlanta, GA - The Loft At Center Stage [tickets HERE]
9/14 - Orlando, FL - House of Blues [tickets HERE]
9/16 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues [tickets HERE]
9/18 - Austin, TX - ACL Live [tickets HERE]
9/19 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues [tickets HERE]
9/20 - Houston, TX - House of Blues [tickets HERE]
9/22 - Louisville, KY - Mercury Ballroom [tickets HERE]
9/23 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues [tickets HERE]
9/24 - Minneapolis, MN - Skyway Theater [tickets HERE]
9/26 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre [tickets HERE]
9/27 - Aspen, CO - Belly Up Aspen [tickets HERE]
9/29 - Las Vegas, NV - Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas [tickets HERE]
10/1 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues [tickets HERE]
10/2 - Anaheim, CA - House of Blues [tickets HERE]
10/3 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium [tickets HERE]
10/7 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater [tickets HERE]
10/8 - Seattle, WA - Neptune [tickets HERE]
10/9 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom [tickets HERE]
*On view from June 26th through July 26th at Gavin Brown Enterprises a major visual overview of early hip hop including artwork,clothing, records and manuscript from Afrika Bambaataa, Buddy Esquire, Joe Conzo and Charlie Ahearn drawn from the Cornell Hip Hop Collection, staged by Johan Kugelberg/Boo-Hooray Gallery. More information at www.boo-hooray.com
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ABOUT DJ SHADOW:
Regarded as one of the most influential and consistently innovative artists to emerge in the last 20 years, Josh “Shadow” Davis is widely credited as a key figure in developing the experimental hip-hop style associated with the London-based Mo’ Wax label. Shadow began experimenting with beat making in high school, but it was during college that he co-founded his own Solesides label as an outlet for his original tracks. DJ Shadow’s first full-length, Endtroducing…, was released to international acclaim and deemed by Time Magazine as one of the top 100 albums since 1954. DJ Shadow's follow-up LP The Private Press, was released in June 2002 and brought his sound to new territories beyond the use of sampling. His following release, The Outsider (2006), saw DJ Shadow showcasing the leading exponents of the Bay Area’s then burgeoning Hyphy scene, while his next release, The Less You Know, The Better (2011), was a testament to his enduring sampling genius.
Hailed for his innovative visual performances in both a live and DJ setting, DJ Shadow's 2010 and 2011 tour was cited by Beatport as one of the top 10 DJ shows of all time, and was capped off by two memorable performances at the Coachella Festival. His hard-hitting DJ sets coexisted with the rise of trap, juke, and the fledgling beat scene, and solidified his legacy by playing alongside large-scale electronic icons like Diplo and Bassnectar. DJ Shadow most recently released an ambitious and comprehensive retrospective of his finest recordings entitled Reconstructed: The Best of DJ Shadow (released on one single CD and double vinyl) and Reconstructed: The Definitive DJ Shadow (a multi-disc box set). DJ Shadow has been spending time in the studio and continues to perform his contemporary DJ sets only hinting of the upcoming Renegades of Rhythm performances stating a “very different” type of tour is planned for the Fall of 2014.
DJ SHADOW ONLINE
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ABOUT CUT CHEMIST:
Cut Chemist first picked up the turntable at age 11. He has been recording and performing for over twenty years. He founded the rap group Jurassic 5 and helped form the Grammy award winning Latin funk outfit, Ozomatli. Cut Chemist has developed a taste for music and rhythms from around the world while keeping his ethic for the hip hop tradition. In 1999 Cut Chemist left Ozomatli and stayed in Jurassic 5 full time as they soon would become one of the biggest hip hop bands in the late 90s and 2000s. During this time, Cut Chemist also created the groundbreaking all 7" size record mix series with DJ Shadow. The series has included three releases, "Brainfreeze","Product Placement" and "The Hard Sell" all of which went on to become staples with both record collectors and turntablists all over the world. In 2004, Cut Chemist left J5 to release a solo album on Warner Bros entitled 'The Audiences Listening". This album highlighted Cut Chemist's music sensibilities as both a rap song producer and an instrumentalist with his single "Whats The Altitude" which became one of the most viewed videos on YouTube in 2006.
In 2007 Cut Chemist was given the opportunity to open for Shakira on her “Oral Fixation” tour. He won her audience with his invention of the cut ‘n’ scratch audio visual presentation. A milestone in his repertoire in which he films the audience and instantaneously manipulates the image by "scratching" it on screens for everyone to see. In 2010 Cut Chemist kept up with his reputation of pushing the boundaries of what a "DJ" can do by releasing a mix cd entitled "Sound Of The Police" that turned one turntable into a loop pedal performance with all African and South American records. In 2013 Cut Chemist joined Jurassic as they reunited for Coachella. 2014 marks the 20 year anniversary of Jurassic 5 and they are celebrating by headlining a tour with California hip hop legends Dilated Peoples, Beat Junkies and MC Supernatural. "J5 won't be the only reunion 2014 will see." Adds Cut. "Shadow and I will be collaborating once again with a very different 'set of tools'."
“Whatever comes next you can expect the same ethic of artistic integrity” says Cut Chemist. “Hip Hop is not a specific type of music, its how its presented. I feel I’ve always proved that and will continue to do so."
CUT CHEMIST ONLINE
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About Boo-Hooray Gallery:
Boo-Hooray works with the archives of 20th and 21st century subcultures and movements. Boo-Hooray Gallery handles everything from field excavations in attics and storage spaces all the way through to the placement of the archives with universities and museums. In 2013, Boo-Hooray excavated and preserved The Afrika Bambaataa Master Of Records Archive, which now resides as part of the Cornell University Library Hip Hop Collection, the largest collection of Hip Hop culture in the world. Boo-Hooray has previously placed archives on topics such as punk, hip hop, counter-culture, avant-garde theatre and post-war poetry with the institutional libraries at Columbia University, Yale, Cornell, Oxford, the Museum of Modern Art, Georgetown University and the New York Public Library among others.
For more info on Boo-Hooray, visit: Boo-Hooray.com
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