ARTIST INFO

 

How a nice Jewish boy from the suburbs became one of the most influential producers in hiphop, sampling, and cut & paste.

 

Dropped out of 2 colleges (Temple U, Franconia College), never went back. Worked as an advertising copywriter for 6 years – Polaroid, Volkswagen, Atari, etc. Taught copywriting at The School Of Visual Arts. Spent all disposable income on records. Promoted and DJ’ed dances in Brooklyn, hung out at early downtown Manhattan hiphop clubs; Negril, the Roxy. Quit advertising. With partner Double Dee (Douglas DiFranco; a prince), co-produced the series of records known as The Lessons: The Payoff Mix, Lesson 2 (The James Brown Mix), Lesson 3 (The History Of Hiphop) for the Tommy Boy label. These analog tape cut-and-paste collages, still widely bootlegged (and wildly illegal), are generally acknowledged as three of the most influential works in the world of hiphop and dance music production. Cited as defintive influences by DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, and Fatboy Slim, among others.

Freelanced as creative consultant to MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Lifetime, Showtime, The Movie Channel. Produced TV commercials. Spent all disposable income on records and women. As a solo producer, crafted The Motorcade Sped On, turning historic broadcasts of the Kennedy assasination into a hiphop record. The NME (British music magazine) gave away a quarter-million copies of the song as a Flexidisc stapled to the cover of the magazine. Produced We’ll Be Right Back for Island Records. Music and video of this advertising satire were licensed to Ovaltine UK for television advertising for 6 months. Go figure.

 

Solo productions for Ninjatune include It’s Up To You and I’m Wild About That Thing, a satire on sex licensed to Pretty Polly Bras (UK) for TV advertising campaign. Go figure. Reunited with Double Dee (a prince) after 10 years to produce Jazz for Tommy Boy’s 10th Anniversary. Also illegal, also bootlegged.

 

Other recordings include:

 

- Numerous 12” remixes and collages (available upon request)

- Remix of Relax (Frankie Goes To Hollywood) for the film Zoolander

- Burning Out Of Control, an album length mix of the Sugarhill Records catalogue for the Antidote label (UK)

- 12” collage Ain’t No Thing for the Stone’s Throw release of The Third Unheard (Connecticut Rap) compilation

 

 

Nothing To Fear, a mix CD reviewed extensively and favorably by Entertainment Weekly, The Village Voice, URB, Salon.com, Metro, The Wire and Hiphop Connection. Composed and produced dozens of soundtracks for various TV and radio commercials and industrial films. Client list on request. Press available: interviews with The Village Voice, Urb, The Wire, NME, Spin, numerous other publications. Featured in the documentary film Scratch.