Josh Davis (born June 29, 1972 in San José, California), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American record producer and DJ. He has a personal record collection of over 60,000 records. He cofounded the Solesides label which was transformed into Quannum Projects in 1999. In 2014 he launched his own record label Liquid Amber and he has also managed Cali-Tex Records. Publishing companies include: Reconstruction Music, Yolo Boy, New Futility Music, Tallcat Tunes. DJ Shadow is widely credited as a key figure in developing the experimental instrumental hip-hop style associated with the London-based Mo Wax label. Davis had already been experimenting with making beats and breaks on a four-track recorder while he was in high school in the Northern California college town of Davis, but it was during university that he co-founded the Solesides label as an outlet for his original tracks. Hooking up with Davis' few B-boys (including eventual Solesides artists Blackalicious and Lyrics Born) through the college radio station, Shadow began releasing the Hip-Hop Reconstruction mix tapes in 1991, eventually catching the attention of The Source magazine and Dave Funkenklein. Shadow was featured in the magazine's Unsigned Hype column in 1991, and Klein signed him to a production deal with Hollywood BASIC records. Concurrently, Shadow provided beats and scratches for Bay Area rapper Paris and was featured on his second album. In 1993, Shadow pressed his 17-minute beat-head symphony Entropy. His tracks spread widely through the DJ-strong hip-hop underground, eventually reaching James Lavelle of Mo Wax, who would release his groundbreaking debut Endtroducing ... in late 1996. He is also well known for his involvement in U.N.K.L.E., a longtime Mo' Wax production team that gained superstar guests including Thom Yorke (of Radiohead), Richard Ashcroft (of The Verve), Mike D (of Beastie Boys), and others.
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