Not all heroes wear capes. Some of them wear masks and obsess about music at a
painfully nerdy level…
Meet Jaguar Skills; part man, part mystery, ALL pop cultural encyclopedia. Here is a human being who has taken the technical art of DJing to such intense dexterous
levels he can weave full narratives into club sets without ever losing focus of the
groove. Here is a human being who won’t just be able to identify a sample, he’ll
source the date and the studio it was recorded and the musicians and engineers
behind it. Give him enough time and he’ll find out what they had for breakfast that
day, too.
Here is a human being so driven by a hunger for the most miniscule musical details
that it’s characterised, influenced and inspired every single event that’s happened in his life since his teens. First came his time as music journalist, launching Downlow – one of the UK’s earliest hip-hop magazines – and amassing a full editorial and publishing team before the age of 20. A wild ride that placed him in eye of the perfect hip-hop storm during one of its most golden ages, it triggered an ambitious trip that continues with the same full throttle sense of sonic activism to this day… As an artist, DJ, producer, curator and archivist and so many other high profile roles in between.
It’s a trip where you’re just as likely to see him tour with The Prodigy as you are see him making Netflix theme tunes for Romesh Ranganathan or writing entire scores to movies that only exist in his mind, with some of the most respected players in soul and funk. He’s told full musical histories on every radio station worth waving an aerial at without so much as saying a word. He’s been invited into record label vaults and given access to recordings and materials that no one knew even existed. He’s played on some of the world’s biggest stages and soundtracked the entire
entertainment spectrum from catwalk fashion to comedy… Can you think of any
other DJ whose CV includes being resident for Jade Jagger’s exclusive parties and
making monkey-themed mixes with Ross Noble?
Joining so many musical dots you’d swear his life was magic eye picture, the list of credits, collaborations and creative accomplishments this man has amassed since
his first DJ set in 2002 is endless and an attempt to list theme comprehensively has the same dizzying effect you get when you stare into deep space and ponder the
meaning of life. Whether it’s producing Lupe Fiasco’s breakthrough hit ‘We Love
You’ in 2006, creating a brand new KRS-One banger from an old forgotten acapella in
Nervous Records basement (‘Big Up New York’) in 2014 or his most recent Hip-Hop
Timebomb project in 2023, hip-hop’s 50th anniversary (an opus that takes his hunger
for detail to outrageously nerdy new levels), this human being consistently,
categorically and continuously pushes his passion for music to the most extreme
levels he possibly can… And for no other reason but out of pure love, nerdy
obsession and devout celebration of culture.
The man, the mystery, the encyclopedic knowledge continues…