DJ Shadow
Endtroducing
1996, Mo Wax Records
When I was 15 years old, the local college station had a once a week hop hop show from 10-midnight that played deep cuts, b-sides and rare remixes. Best of all, they did NOT play radio edits, but let the F-bombs fly in the face of the FCC. Every week I'd stay up and tape the show, hitting the pause button during commercials and PSA's. Then I'd have a new mixtape to listen to for the week, and new tracks to pour over and give me inspiration to hunt down albums.
But one night everything changed. One night the 2nd half of the show was dedicated to playing AN ENTIRE RECORD! By an UNKNOWN ARTIST! A record with no VOCALS! 'whats going on???' I thought. 'should I even bother recording this?' Back then it didnt make sense to me that a song without words could hold yr attention. Nevermind an entire album.
But I listened. And by the middle of that record, I was addicted to this DJ Shadow person. I listened to that dubbed tape over and over. And when my birthday rolled around, I had my mom bring me to the 'big city' so that I could find a copy on vinyl. And once I realized the CD had a different tracklist, I got that as well.
This one record made a lot of confusion suddenly iron itself out to me. All the sudden jazz music made sense. I started to hunt down jazz records and soundtrack scores that would be sampled by the Pharcyde or A Tribe Called Quest or De La Soul. I started to investigate the burgeoning electronica scene. I started to consider a tracks producer as much of an artist as the musicians. A new world had been opened up to me by this album.
It's an album that even DJ Shadow couldnt live up to. So he's never tried. He's done it. So he's moved on to new sounds. He invented a genre, and then denounced it. DO NOT CALL IT TRIP HOP. But do listen to it. Many, many times. Like I have, still do and always will.