DJ Shadow's Josh Davis is widely credited as a key figure in developing the experimental instrumental
hip-hop style associated with the London-based Mo' Wax label. His early singles for the label, including "In/Flux" and "Lost and Found (S.F.L.)," were all-over-the-map mini-masterpieces combining elements of
funk,
rock,
hip-hop,
ambient,
jazz,
soul, and used-bin incidentalia. Although he'd already done a scattering of original and production work (during 1991-1992 for Hollywood Records) by the time Mo' Wax's James Lavelle contacted him about releasing "In/Flux" on the fledgling imprint, it wasn't until his association with Mo' Wax that his sound began to mature and cohere.
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DJ Shadow's Josh Davis is widely credited as a key figure in developing the experimental instrumental
hip-hop style associated with the London-based Mo' Wax label. His early singles for the label, including "In/Flux" and "Lost and Found (S.F.L.)," were all-over-the-map mini-masterpieces combining elements of
funk,
rock,
hip-hop,
ambient,
jazz,
soul, and used-bin incidentalia. Although he'd already done a scattering of original and production work (during 1991-1992 for Hollywood Records) by the time Mo' Wax's James Lavelle contacted him about releasing "In/Flux" on the fledgling imprint, it wasn't until his association with Mo' Wax that his sound began to mature and cohere.
Mo' Wax released a longer work in 1995 -- the 40-minute single in four movements "What Does Your Soul Look Like," which topped the British indie charts -- and Davis went on to co-write, remix, and produce tracks for labelmates
DJ Krush and
Dr. Octagon plus the Mo'
trip-hop supergroup
UNKLE.
Davis grew up in Hayward, CA, a predominantly lower-middle-class suburb of San Francisco. The odd white suburban
hip-hop fan in the
hard rock-dominated early '80s, Davis gravitated toward the turntable/mixer setup of the
hip-hop DJ over the guitars, bass, and drums of his peers. He worked his way through
hip-hop's early years into the heyday of crews like
Eric B. & Rakim,
Ultramagnetic MC's, and
Public Enemy, groups that prominently featured DJs in their ranks. Davis had already been fiddling around with making beats and breaks on a four-track while he was in high school, but it was his move to the NorCal cow town of Davis to attend university that led to the establishment of his own Solesides label as an outlet for his original tracks. Hooking up with Davis' few b-boys (including eventual Solesides artists
Blackalicious and
Lyrics Born) through the college radio station,
Shadow began releasing the
Reconstructed from the Ground Up mixtapes in 1991 and pressed his 17-minute
hip-hop symphony "Entropy" in 1993. His tracks spread widely through the DJ-strong
hip-hop underground, eventually catching the attention of Mo' Wax.
Shadow's first full-length,
Endtroducing..., was released in late 1996 to immense critical acclaim in Britain and America.
Preemptive Strike, a compilation of early singles, followed in early 1998.
Later that year,
Shadow produced tracks for the debut album by
UNKLE, a longtime Mo' Wax production team that gained superstar guests including
Thom Yorke (of
Radiohead),
Richard Ashcroft (of
the Verve),
Mike D (of
the Beastie Boys), and others. His next project came in 1999, with the transformation of Solesides into a new label, Quannum Projects. Nearly six years after his debut production album, the proper follow-up,
The Private Press, was released in June 2002. The following year
Shadow released a mix album, Diminishing Returns, and in 2004 he released a live album and DVD, Live! In Tune and on Time. In 2006 his long-awaited third solo album,
The Outsider, came out, but instead of following the blueprint he used on his past two records,
Shadow enlisted help from Bay Area rappers like
Keak da Sneak,
E-40, and
Lateef, as well as
David Banner and
Q-Tip. ~ Sean Cooper, All Music Guide
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