Dj Yoda 50th Anniversary of HIP HOP AV Show

DJ Yoda is a multi-award-winning hip-hop DJ and producer, headlining festivals and clubs around the world. No typical club DJ, his interests lie in finding fresh and unique ways to bring turntables out of the club and getting involved in bespoke collaborations. Working with classical composers to neuroscientists; brass bands to film directors; Dr Dre to Dame Evelyn Glennie; Banksy to Mark Ronson; BBC Radio 4 to the BFI, he reinvigorates his craft with wry invention and humorous intent.

Internationally respected for his turntablism, the viral success of his Stranger Things Mix racked up more than a half million plays on Soundcloud, culminating in his UK Tour of Stranger Things The Mixtape Live. He was Dr Dre’s first choice to record a guest mix on his inaugural Beats 1 show for Apple Music in 2015, and was one of a select band of artists to perform at Banksy’s pop-up Bemusement Park, Dismaland. His eclectic series of How to Cut & Paste mixtapes offer a uniquely British take on hip-hop music and culture.

DJ Yoda pioneered a new form of audio-visual entertainment, unifying hands-in-the-air clubbing with a night at the movies, chopping and splicing classic movies with the same exceptional style that he repurposes music samples. One of the first DJs to master the art of re-scoring classic films, in 2014 he was commissioned to create DJ Yoda Goes to the Sci-Fi Movies as part of the BFI’s Sonic Cinema event. BBC Radio 6 Music gave him the platform to make history with the world’s first audio- visual radio mix, and, as part of their BBC Music Day, Radio 4 invited Yoda to mash-up the entire station, remixing The Archers, The Shipping Forecast, John Humphries and more in one of his most sublime and surreal adventures yet.

Ever pushing the boundaries of live audio-visual performance his journey into popular culture, DJ Yoda: A History of Gaming premiered at the London Film Festival on the UK’s largest screen at the prestigious IMAX, charting best loved and most fondly remembered games from the early 1980s to the present. His experimental audio-visual ventures, including a painstaking cut-n-paste homage to Quentin Tarantino, have ventured across the country’s venues-as-domes, offering a fresh take on AV performance to widen the senses – something Yoda ensured with regular Twitch ‘gigs’ during lockdown.

His latest project ‘Prom Nite’ pitches retro Americana, Morcheeba/Nightmares on Wax-style trip hop, and Yoda’s bread and butter of cuts, beats and rhymes. No stranger to retro sounds, Yoda’s puppy love vibe spreads from the sweet and mellow ‘Home Cooking’, his 2019 jazz-informed album described as ‘boundary-breaking’ by Mojo. Eva Lazarus’ expression of ‘My Energy’, with Yoda on jukebox cut-ups, captivated its way onto the BBC Radio 2 playlist and BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends show. Featuring his most wide-ranging guestlist to date - Hollywood A-lister Lily James, LA rapper Choosey, underground favourite Homeboy Sandman, Nottingham’s finest Liam Bailey and jazz doyen Jamie Cullum among those adding to the entertainment - and with bespoke artwork from London’s ENDLESS, Yoda’s evolution continues, ‘Prom Nite’ promising good clean fun capable of stirring your soul.

With his ever-evolving DJ sets taking in a diverse array of styles, genres, decades and continents, things are never dull when DJ Yoda is at the controls. Long may he reign over eyes and ears.