Roc Raida

Roc Raida began his DJ career in the early eighties at the age of ten. Inspired by his father (a member of the Sugar Hill Records act Mean Machine) and hip hop impresario Grandmaster Flash, Roc Raida has brought the art of Turntablism and Party rocking to a fresh new level. Raida cultivated his interest in DJing into an absolute passion and his desire to constantly push the envelope as a turntabalist has earned him the title as one of the best DJs in the world.

In the late eighties Raida gained prominence as a member of the New York-based crew the X-Ecutioners. Champions of furthering the turntablist movement, the X-Ecutioners made their reputation by utilizing the techniques of beat-juggling (the manual alteration between individual kick and snare sounds to create original drum patterns in real time). This practice has been an inspiration and a force in Roc Raida's style.

The more DJ contests Roc Raida entered the more the competition began to appreciate his style and determination. Raida began to get noticed on a national level while simultaneously raising the standards for judging DJs. His impressive titles and awards in some of the most infamous DJ battles include; first place in the 1991 "As One" Battle, second place in the 1992 DMC US Finals and his ultimate victory took place in London when he became the 1995 DMC World Champion.

The past several years have seen Raida traveling around the globe to such exotic locations as Singapore, Turkey, Japan, Australia, China, Hawaii, Moscow, and the South of France. Last year on a panel at the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Raida was appointed "Grandmaster", by some of Hip-Hop's founding fathers, Kool Herc, Grand Wizard Theodore and scratch evolutionist DST. To round out a phenomenal decade, Raida was inducted into the DMC Hall of Fame at the 1999 DMC World Finals in New York City.

Raida has taken his DJ style to soaring heights. He has been featured on an episode of "Saturday Night Live" (the first DJ to ever share the stage with the fabled SNL band) and Radia has also garnered some serious production credits in the last 8 years. He has produced records for Big L, Smif ÔN' Wessun, Fat Joe, Ghostface, Black Thought of The Roots, and Linkin Park. He has also performed some of the most memorable scratches in hip hop history on O.C.'s classic "Time's Up" to pop sensastion Pink's new album "I'm Not Dead." You can also currently check Raida as the star of national Pepsi commercial "Speakerboxx." From Raida's experience's and touring attributes he has released 3 DVD's documenting The Adventures of Roc Raida and has created The Gong Battle, which has brought a new light on the turntabilism world of battles. With many more projects to come in the near future and now a part of the Heavy Hitters crew you will hearing and seeing a lot of Raida for many years to come through his music, his visuals, his style and very possible through the air waves of radio.