D-Styles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

D-Styles (born July 6, 1972 in the Philippines) is generally regarded as one of the most skilled scratch DJs in the world. His Phantazmagorea album, which was released in 2002, was an all-scratched full length - the first of its kind.

D-Styles is a member of hip hop group Third Sight, alongside emcee Roughneck Jihad and producer/DJ Dufunk. He was also once a part of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz alongside DJs Q-bert and Mix Master Mike and the Beat Junkies alongside DJs J-Rocc, Melo-D, DJ Babu and Rhettmatic. Another frequent collaborator is Los Angeles-based producer Daddy Kev, who has featured D-Styles scratching on various recordings by underground emcees like Busdriver, The Grouch and AWOL One.

On October 31st/November 1st 2002, in conjunction with the release of Phantazmagorea, The D-Styles Sextet (consisting of D-Styles, Shortkut, J-Rocc, DJ Babu, Rhettmatic, and Melo-D) did live reconstructions of the tracks of Phantazmagorea and "Return To Planetary Deteriation" and "Razorblade Alcohol Slide". Ned Hoddings opened for them with their own scratch compositions. The event was documented in the DVD A Night At The Knitting Factory released by Fat Sack Films.

In 2003, D-Styles embarked on a tour alongside fellow turntablists Ricci Rucker, Toadstyle, Excess, and Mike Boogie aka Mike Boo. Fat Jack was also featured with an MPC set. Also involved was Daddy Kev. The tour was dubbed The Bastard Language Tour. The tour was also documented in a DVD of the same name also released by Fat Sack Films.

D-Styles had a pivotal role in the foundation of the now popular scratch music scene. His track "Razorblade Alcohol Slide" which features on the Dj Q-bert LP 'Wave Twisters' was composed entirely by scratching and was the first of its kind. As with most scratch music compositions each element of the song was scratched and then layered together simultaneously.

The bassline used for the song was a sample of guitarist Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine in their song 'Revolver'. Morello is a big fan of DJ-emulated sounds and has always credited the DJ with being a big influence in his guitar playing.

D-Styles also produced the beat for Kid Koala's track, "Annie's Parlour" on his record, Some of My Best Friends Are DJ's.