The Daily Swarm

ROC RAIDA‘S FAMILY‘S STATEMENT:

Anthony Williams p/k to the world as The Legendary Grand Master Roc Raida has passed away unexpectedly today Sept 19 2009. He is survived by his wife, 3 lovely daughters, mother and friends. Raida was recently in an mixed martial arts accident, something that he has been practicing for several years. Although he had under gone 2 surgeries with great success, was released to an inpatient physical therapy facility and was in great spirits the past few days. This morning he started to have complications and passed. The family asks for privacy at this time.

Rap Weekly:

New York DJ, Roc Raida had passed away this weekend at age 37, the DJ real name is Anthony Williams was a member of a group called The X-Ecutioners. In 1995 he won the DMC World DJ Championship, He died on September 19, 2009, Is last solo album was released in 2007 and is called, Beats, Cuts and Skits.

His DJ group The X-Ecutioners Formed as a DJ crew in the early nineties and originally including 11 members, under the name X-Men, which was chosen partly because of their rivalry between Super DJ Clark Kent’s crew of DJs, known as the Supermen, and partly after the Marvel Comics characters, but had to change their name due to trademark infringement.

WATCH ROC RAIDA AT THE 1995 DMC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Hip-Hop DX:

At 37 years old, Roc Raida won numerous ITF and DMC championships for his turntable skills. Although he is remembered for his jovial character away from the decks, Raida was an innovator in cut-throat deejay battles that often involved incorporating competitor’s names into his mixes. Raida’s also known for his agile spin-moves, and often making acrobatic cuts on the turntable, through legs, over the shoulder, and using his mouth to cut the fader.

Through his AdiarCor imprint, Roc Raida released over half a dozen CDs and DVDs, that were both mixtapes, documentaries and instructionals for aspiring deejays. His mixtapes, including Crossfaderz, and WHAT! 187 FM are also remembered for their comedic interludes, often making mock commercials for malt liquors, car services and Jamaican nightclubs.

On records, Raida was present for The X-Ecutioners’ 2002 album Built From Scratch [click to read], released on Loud/Sony Records. Previously, the deejay crew was infamously recruited by Rick Rubin for his Def American imprint, but failed to reach an agreement.

With his scratching abilities, Roc Raida worked on dozens of classic albums. Highlights include O.C.‘s Word…Life, Big Pun’s Capital Punishment, Buckshot Lefonque’s self-titled debut and Immortal Technique’s two Revolutionary [click to read] volumes. As a producer, Roc Raida worked with numerous members of D.I.T.C. and Smif N’ Wessun.

WATCH ROC RAIDA KILLING IT AT THE RED BULL ACADEMY

RIP TWITTERS:

Busta Rhymes: I am sorry 2 say that on this day at 2:05 Sept 19th we lost another incredible life…Dj Roc Raida died 2day my personal Dj is gone… I just wanna thank everyone 4 ur love and support and ur prayers…We will never let ur name die Roc…We love u and will 4ever miss u…RIP.

Kid Capri: DJ roc raider was a real beast at his talent, and a very humble soldier, i will miss the homie, im deeply sadden, god bless his soul.

RZA: r.i.p. dj roc raida

Talib Kweli:

REST IN POWER
I love hip hop. Hip hop is light. Hip hop is life. Starting in the Bronx, ghetto youth experiencing city wide cuts to arts and education took the turntable and turned it into something magical. It has become the greatest instrument of our generation. These ghetto youth inspired a generation and gave us a value system that is respected from the corner hustler to our current president. Hip hop, in the words of John Forte, is powerful, beautiful, excellent. There are not many more powerful, more beautiful, more elegant, than the one and only legendary DJ Roc Raida. When I met him, the X-Men DJ he was in was in the process of becoming the X-Ecutioners, for copyright reasons. Me and Mos Def would often share the bill with them, and Total Eclipse used to DJ our shows. Roc was the smallest one of the crew, but the battle victories he constantly brought home made his stature larger than life. What I loved about this particular crew is the fact that I could relate to them on a different level. Often, the art of turntablism is associated with those on the outskirts of the hip hop culture. Many turntablist don’t know anything but break beats and old school classics. The X- Ecutioners, was real black men from real hoods that I could identify with. Roc Raida did not exist outside of the culture, he was front and center, and he was killin those decks.

Life comes full circle. I hadn’t seen Roc in a minute, but recently I toured with him as he was Busta Rhymes DJ for the Rock the Bells tour. Baatin was on that tour too. (RIP). I guess I’m at the stage in my life where time takes my loved ones to a better place. Roc Raida’s influence may be lost on those who don’t participate in the culture. That’s OK though. We are here to hold him down. We will cement his legacy in stone. Roc Raida, you are loved, you are missed.
Bussa Buss, Spliff Star, Sean C, stay strong my brothers.

WATCH:ROC RAIDA BREAKING DOWN BODY TRICKS:

ROC RAIDA‘S BIO:

Roc Raida began his DJ career in the early eighties at the age of ten. Surrounded by such inspirations as his father, a member of the Sugar Hill Records act Mean Machine and hip hop impresario Grandmaster Flash, Raida cultivated his interest into an absolute passion. Now, Roc Raida is considered among the best of the contemporary DJ’s and has brought the art of Turntablism and Party rocking to a fresh new level.

In the late eighties Raida gained prominence as a member of the New York-based crew the X-Men who, for obvious of copyright reasons, later became known as the X-Ecutioners. Champions of furthering the turntablist movement, the X-Ecutioners made their reputation by utilizing the techniques of beat-juggling; the manual alteration between individual kick and snare sounds to create original drum patterns in real time. This practice has been an inspiration and a force in Roc Raida’s style.

In the beginning defeat was commonplace, as battles were mainly popularity contests. The more contests he entered the more the competition began to appreciate his style and determination. Pushing his limits and raising the standard with which DMC’s are judged, Raida began to get noticed. His impressive finishes in some of the premier DJ battles; first place in the 1991 “As One”; second place in the “Superman Battle”; and second place in the 1992 DMC US Finals were just the beginning. In 1995 Raida, was crowned the DMC World Champion in front of a massive London audience.

The past several years have seen Raida traveling around the globe in such exotic locations as Singapore, Turkey, Japan and Australia to China, Hawaii, Moscow, and the South of France. Two years ago on a panel at the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Raida was appointed “Grandmaster”, by some of Hip-Hop’s founding fathers. Rules for this dubious honor state that one may only be bestowed with the approval of another Grandmaster; Raida was not only approved, but also welcomed by Kool Herc, Grand Wizard Theodore and scratch evolutionist DST. To round out a phenomenal decade, Raida was also inducted into the DMC Hall of Fame at the 1999 DMC World Finals in New York City.

Roc Raida has been featured on an episode of “Saturday Night Live”; the first DJ to ever share the stage with the fabled SNL band. Proving, once again, that Raida is the perfect example of a master perfecting his art.

Raida has taken his DJ style to souring heights and has also moved into production in the last 8 years. He has produced record for artists, such as, Big L, Smif ‘N’ Wessun, Fat Joe, Bad Boy recording artist Aasim, Ghostface, Black Thought of The Roots and Linkin Park to name a few. He has also lent his hand’s scratching on records for artist’s like O.C.’s classic “Time’s Up” to pop sensation Pink’s new album “I’m Not Dead.” Recently Raida was the star of the National Pepsi commercial entitled Speakerboxx. From Raida’s experience’s and touring attributes he has released 3 DVD’s documenting The Adventures of Roc Raida and now created The Gong Battle (New York & London), which has brought a new light on the turntabilism world of battles.

With many more projects to come in the near future and now a part of the Heavy Hitters crew you will be hearing and seeing a lot of Raida for many years to come through his music, his visuals, his style and the radio where he is the newest edition to Washington D.C.’s 1 radio station WPGC 95.5. Stay tuned because The Adventures of Roc Raida are always going and going and going…