His seminal How To Cut & Paste series showcased a tongue-in-cheek mixing style that prompted Q Magazine to declare him “one of the 10 DJs to see before you die”. Ready are you for DJ Yoda?
DJ Yoda is one of Britain’s most admired and original DJs, having built a reputation as the only DJ to single-handedly inject humour into UK hip-hop.
Admired for his originality as well as his sense of fun, he is possibly the only DJ in the world who can thrill a club cutting George Formby with Jurassic 5 or '80s pop with New York rap. Being a hip-hop DJ in the truest sense of the term, the namesake of a certain Star Wars character just plays any kind of music that will make people dance. Just ask Steve Martin and Dave Chapelle, Mark Ronson and George Lucas, or some random guy on the streets of Tokyo.
Born Duncan Beiny to a Jewish family in North London in 1977, he has evolved in the past 10 years, using his turntable skills and influences as varied as Funk, B-more, Kuduro, Reggae, Drum ‘n’ Bass and even Big Band Swing and Country & Western, to make unashamed party music.
“It's great to use the DVD and CD scratching equipment, laptops and that sort of thing," says Yoda, "but I think you should know that you can always turn up to a party with a box of records and do your job as a DJ like that as well.”
DJ Yoda can be found cutting the Indiana Jones theme with woofer-worrying Dubstep or the Muppet Show theme with MIA. His shows are peppered with film, TV and YouTube samples and visuals that lift his sets to new and stratospheric heights:
DJ Yoda’s recent achievements include:
- Selling out London’s Koko on his critically acclaimed ‘Magic Cinema Show’ tour.
- Performing alongside the likes of Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson and Fatboy Slim.
- Winning the Contemporary Classical Album of 2009 at the Independent Music Awards for the Heritage Orchestra feat DJ Yoda’s G Prokofiev Concerto For Turntables & Orchestra.
- Producing an hour-long music documentary for BBC Radio 1’s 40th birthday, mixing up highlights of their history as part of their official anniversary celebrations.
- Releasing the critically-acclaimed Fabric Live 39 mix CD.
- Mixing up the Champions League soccer highlights for the Champions League Final for British broadcaster ITV.
- Performing with Lily Allen providing exclusive visuals.
- Playing on the same bill as Steve Martin, Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock at the HBO Comedy Festival in Las Vegas.
- DJ’ing to packed-out clubs everywhere from China to Brazil to Australia.
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