Hip Hop On Wax: DJ Format + DJ Andy Smith

2 TITANS of Hip Hop and Wax, DJ Format and DJ Andy Smith join to deliver you one of the finest Hip Hop nights this side of the Atlantic.
DJ Format’s debut album “Music For The Mature B-Boy” was one of the slowburn success stories of 2003. An album of soulful, funk-fuelled Hip Hop packed with infectious beats and lyrical dexterity, it delivered the promise of his early releasesfor ‘Mo Wax and Bomb Hip Hop. Received with quiet acclaim in the press it quickly became a word of mouth triumph, going on to establish itself as one of the most successful debut artist albums from the UK alternative/urban scene. The campaign was successful for a number of reasons not least it’s supporting batch of three incredible music videos all directed by the then unknown Ruben Fleischer. The most famous of these being the rapping and breakdancing costumed animals of “We Know Something You Don’t Know” featuring the vocals of Chali 2na and Akil of Jurassic 5 – played out by a shark and tiger respectively on the big screen it is an unforgettable piece of feel good Hip Hop. “Music For The…” also led to Format supporting (alongsideMC Abdominal) Jurassic 5 on their European tour, and through subsequent touring in 2003 establishing Format as one of the hottest live Hip Hop tickets in town culminating in triumphant appearances at the Reading & Leeds festivals of 2004 and worldwide touring taking place in the whole of Europe, North America and Australia.

Andy Smith was the first DJ to release a multi-genre mix album on a major label. When his mix-CD The Document hit the streets back in 1998, it became the soundtrack for a generation who had heard Coldcut's Journeys By DJs but needed to hear more - The Document filled the void. It segued tracks from artists such as Tom Jones (way before he came back in vogue with Reload and newer tracks such as recent top ten hit Stoned in Love); Peggy Lee (sample source for the Beastie Boys single Ch-Check It Out); The Jungle Brothers and even The Spencer Davis Group. This was new to record buyers but for Smith a mixed bag of treasures has always formed the typical contents of his DJ set. This appreciation of different genres made Smith the ideal person to provide sample material for Portishead on their first two albums. He went on to make his name as the band's international tour DJ – reflecting their respect for both the art of digging for breaks and hip-hop scratch DJ-ing. Hip-hop elements formed the basis of the unique Portishead sound.