Jaguar Skills
| Jaguar Skills | |
|---|---|
| Born | United Kingdom |
| Genres | Hip hop, Drum and bass, Dubstep, House |
| Occupation(s) | Record producer, DJ |
| Instruments |
Sampler Turntable |
| Years active | 2002 – Present |
| Labels | Insanity Artists.[1] |
| Website |
www |
Jaguar Skills is a British DJ who has gained notoriety since 2002 for his eclectic multi-genre, cut-n-paste style Djing mixes. The DJ has released hundreds of mixtapes through various outlets, including BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra and has a weekly 10-minute mix on The Trevor Nelson Show.
Biography
Jaguar Skills' breakthrough came in 2002 when he started DJing at East London arts bar Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes.[2] From this, fashion label Maharishi asked him to produce a mixtape CD.[3] The 60 minute CD was created, looped, produced and cut on 2 mini Sony Walkman. The next few years saw Jaguar Skills playing at venues across London. Jade Jagger invited Jaguar Skills to become a resident at her Jezebel parties in Ibiza, Russia and Hong Kong.[4]
After producing "We Love You" for US rapper Lupe Fiasco, Jaguar Skills put out the mixtape 1979-2006: A Hip-Hop Odyssey - 800 Tracks In 45 Minutes. In it he mixed every hip-hop hit from 1979 to 2006, playing them in order of their release. One month after release the mix had been downloaded over a 1,000,000 times. It was also played twice in a row on MistaJam's BBC Radio 1Xtra show,[5] and Radio 1 presenter Colin Murray split the mix up, playing a part of it each week on his show for 10 weeks. On top of the weekly 10 Minute Mash Up Mix for The Trevor Nelson Show,[6] Jaguar Skills also had a quarterly "In New DJs we Trust" slot on BBC Radio 1.[7] His 30 years of Hip Hop mix formed an integral part of Radio 1's hip-hop celebrations. Radio 1 continued to champion Jaguar Skills as he completed his "Gaming Mix", mixing retro game tunes with works of recording artists.
Other notable mixes also include his "History of DnB" mix and also a "History of Ayia Napa" mix on Radio 1. This musical output led to Island Records requesting a mix for their priority artist Devlin, being commissioned to remix and produce a Renault Clio advert soundtrack, and also receiving the Gold Award 2010 at the New York Radio Awards for his BBC World Cup Mix.[8]
In 2011 he release his first major mix compilation on Toolroom Records.[9] The Toolroom Knights Mixed by Jaguar Skills CD. He has also released two mix compilations for Ministry Of Sound, the Jaguar Skills & His Amazing Friends Volume 1 and Volume 2.
Jaguar Skills has played at many festivals. In 2013 he introduced a 'live' show which comprised graphics and large interactive stage props.
At the end of 2013 Jaguar Skills was one of the newest DJs to sign to Global Radio, with his Jaguar Skills Shooooow[10] launching on Capital XTRA on Fridays and repeated on Capital FM on Saturdays.
In 2014 Jaguar Skills released a one-off project with him moving away from his usual genre-defying style and into hip-hop, working with US label, Nervous Records' hip-hop back catalogue.[11] The compilation features 65 tracks, remixes and acappellas.[12] Jaguar Skills reconstructed and remixed every track that features on the compilation from the original Nervous 24 track master tapes, using the same raw production techniques so as to retain the character of the original versions. This led Def-Jam to ask Jaguar Skills to mix their entire catalogue, resulting in 30 Years of Def Jam.
In 2014 Jaguar Skills worked as a producer on an EP with Chords on Andy C’s RAM Records. The track "Lust" was released in October and was premiered by MistaJam on his BBC Radio 1xtra show where Jaguar Skills gave his first radio interview. To compliment the release, he also premiered a "60 minutes of RAM" on the show, featuring only music from the imprint’s back catalogue.
Also in 2014 Jaguar Skills playing at festivals Parklife, Creamfields, Global Gathering, Glastonbury, Bestival, Exit, Snowbombing and others. He also toured Asia, Australia and New Zealand - specifically Japan where he headlined the Womb nightclub. He sold out three dates at KOKO in London, which he also holds the record walk up for any show there.
After supporting The Prodigy at Ushuaia in 2014, they asked him to remix "Roadblox", the fourth single from their album The Day Is My Enemy (2015).
Character
Jaguar Skills wears a balaclava while performing. This is designed to add mystery to his persona with his name, age and hometown unknown.[1]
References
- 1 2 "Jaguar Skills". Insanity Artists. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
- ↑ "Jaguar Skills". Beatnik PR. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
- ↑ "Jaguar Skills | Primary Talent International". Deckedout.linkworks.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
- ↑ "Jaguar Skills - DMC World Magazine". Dmcworld.net. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
- ↑ "MistaJam: 1979-2006: A HipHop Odyssey". BBC. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
- ↑ "Radio 1 - Trevor Nelson - Tracklistings". BBC. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
- ↑ "BBC Radio 1 - In New DJs We Trust, Jaguar Skills". BBC. 2009-11-02. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
- ↑ "BBC Radio 1 - Trevor Nelson, Jaguar Skills World Cup Mix - Jaguar Skills World Cup Mix". BBC. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
- ↑ "Jaguar Skills - Toolroom Knights (CD)". Discogs.com. 2011-06-26. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
- ↑ "Jaguar Skills Shooooo | Every Friday and Sunday - 6pm | Radio". Capital XTRA. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
- ↑ "Jaguar Skills Creates Audio History Book With "Nervous 90's Hip Hop Revisited" | Life+Times". Lifeandtimes.com. 2014-05-15. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
- ↑ "Jaguar Skills New Releases: Nervous 90's Hip Hop Revisited on Beatport". Beatport.com. 2014-04-08. Retrieved 2016-11-22.