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Jaguar Skills has announced the dates for his Smash up! tour taking in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds before ripping up the 02 Academy in Islington.
Honing his craft and love of music for the last 15 years Jag has remained true to his school and kept a mysterious edge to his character.
The first documented reports of the whereabouts of Jaguar Skills come from the rarely released scriptures of a secret mountain based Ninja camp in Japan.
Legend has it he spent 25 hours a day training his skills on the turntable (that’s right – Ninja DJ’s can bend the laws of the space-time continuum to suit their needs).
Jaguar Skills built up an extraordinary capacity for aural memory which meant that he was building a monumental back catalogue of music that he could draw on whilst behind the wheels of steel.
This ability to out-train his peers and mentally retain every record he heard meant he eventually developed his skills to such levels that he himself attained the rank and status of his mystical teachers.
Using his Japanese contacts, Jaguar Skills first gained recognition by producing a mixtape CD for fashion label Maharishi.
The 60 minute CD was created, looped, produced and cut entirely on two mini walkmen. It was the first of its kind and received top reviews in key publications.
The next few years saw Jag build his DJ profile, playing at various places across London including Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes in an arty east London bar; an uber-cool soiree that played everything from Hip-Hop, to Rock, Ragga to Disco.
Jaguar Skills’ finest moments yet came in 2006 – when he created the mixtape “1979-2006: A Hip-Hop Odyssey – 800 Tracks In 45 Minutes”.
A never been done before project, he mixed every Hip-Hop hit from 1979 to 2006, and played them in order of their release, from the first ever Hip-Hop record to the latest one to date. A simple task for Ninja with a now infamous mental catalogue of every track ever produced.
It naturally caused an internet storm and through its original idea and skillful mixing it really put Jag on the map. After one month on the net this monstrous mix had been downloaded over a MILLION times.
The summers of 2006 and 2007 saw a continuation of the Jezebel residency and more productions in the form of We On, again for Grammy-winning friend Lupe Fiasco and it was first signing to his label Gemstones. A video was subsequently made and created a healthy buzz on the Hip-Hop scene.
Fast forward to 2009 and Jaguar Skills profile has gone from strength to strength. The end last year saw Jag complete his sell out ‘Vodka Ninja Tour’ at a series of Revolution bars across the UK. This followed a jam packed year of shows at the likes of Bestival, V Festival, Snowbombing, T in the Park and clubs such as Pacha London and Fabric!
On top of the weekly 10 Minute Mash Up Mix for the Trevor Nelson Show the original ninja also has a quarterly ‘In New DJs we Trust’ slot on BBC Radio 1! Jag’s ’30 years of Hip Hop’ mix proved its already timeless quality as it formed an integral part of Radio 1’s Hip-Hop celebrations.
And the start of 2010 has been just as impressive. Jaguar Skills has already been invited back to Bestival as one of their residents for 2010, he has become a resident at Gatecrasher Birmingham, and of course there is the release of his first major label compilation release set for April, 26.
See Jaguar Skills:
Friday 4th June Leeds Faversham
Saturday 5th June Liverpool Korova
Sunday 6th June Manchester Deaf Institute
Wednesday 9th June London O2 Academy Islington
Tickets are £8 regional (£10 London) and are on sale at 24 hr cc hotline 0871 2200 260 www.gigsandtours.com