Joshua Paul Davis is an American music producer and hip hop/electronica DJ, better known by his stage name, DJ Shadow.
Born on 29 June 1972 in San Jose, California, Shadow began his music career during his time as a student at the University of California at Davis radio station as a disc jockey. With Shadow combining different styles of funk, hip-hop, jazz and soul, he was part of the first group of artists that developed what is now known as trip-hop. Between 1991 and 1992 Shadow’s remixes were released on Hollywood BASIC, a short-lived subsidiary of Hollywood Records, and in 1993 he, along with Blackalicious and Lyrics Born, was a part of the creation of Solesides, an underground hip-hop label. Along with working with Soleside, Shadow also worked with London based Mo’ Wax studios, releasing his tracks “In/Flux” and “Lost And Found.”
Shadow’s first full length album, “Entropy” was released in 1996 and was met with great acclaim; eventually earning the Guiness Book of World Record’s “First Completely Sampled Album in 2001. In 1998 he released a compilation album of his early work entitled “Preemptive Strike” followed by a soundtrack for the documentary “Dark Days” in 2000. Shadow didn’t release a new full-length album until six years after “Entropy,” but when he did, he made a limited 1000 copy release of “Diminishing Returns” in 2003.
While continuing to tour, DJ Shadow made a few announcements for new music, however it wasn’t until 2011 that he released “The Less You Know, The Better.” Shadow ran into a bit of controversy in 2012 when he was replaced as a performer for the Miami nightclub, Mansion; Shadow was quoted (via Twitter) that “I don’t care if I get kicked out of every rich kid club on the planet. I will never sacrifice my integrity as a DJ…ever.” In 2014 he launched his own launched his own label that he named Liquid Amber.
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