DJ Shadow

Joshua Paul "Josh" Davis (born June 29, 1972) better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American music producer and DJ. He is considered a prominent figure in the development of instrumental hip hop and first gained notice with the release of his highly acclaimed debut album Endtroducing....., which was the first album to be recorded using only sampled sounds. He has an exceptionally large personal record collection, with over 60,000 records. He is the cousin of singer and guitarist Richie Kotzen.

Shadow's first full-length work, Endtroducing....., was released in late 1996 to critical acclaim. Endtroducing would go on to make the Guinness World Records book for "First Completely Sampled Album" in 2001. The only pieces of equipment Shadow used to produce the album were the AKAI MPC60 12-bit sampling drum machine, a pair of turntables and a borrowed-by-visiting Pro Tools setup from an early adopter of the technology, Dan "The Automator" Nakamura. Nearly six years after his debut production album, his second album, The Private Press, was released in June 2002.

The Outsider album was released on 18 September 2006. The Outsider, which prominently featured several artists from the local San Francisco Bay Area hyphy hip hop movement, got a mixed welcome among Shadow's fans. Responding to criticisms, the DJ/producer explained on his blog why he made no apologies: "Repeat Endtroducing over and over again? That was never, ever in the game plan.

Fuck that. So I think it's time for certain fans to decide if they are fans of the album, or the artist. " DJ Shadow has also collaborated with fellow DJ Cut Chemist. Together they have created three popular mixtapes entitled Brainfreeze, Product Placement, and the recent The Hard Sell.

These mixes fuse jazz, funk, and soul in the framework of a cohesive concept. He has also collaborated with several other artists, including Blackalicious, Zack de la Rocha, Keak Da Sneak, Mos Def, David Banner, and Dr. Octagon, an alter ego of Kool Keith. The Less You Know, the Better, the fourth studio album was released on September 27, 2011 by Verve Records.

The album was his first of original material since The Outsider. Like Shadow's previous efforts, the album relies heavily on sampling; the samples used span many genres and time periods. The album sees Shadow exploring many genres and production styles, from fast-paced tracks prominently featuring guitars and scratching to slow tracks featuring pianos.