| DJ Format | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Matt Ford |
| Origin | Southampton, England |
| Genres | Hip-hop |
| Occupations | DJ |
| Years active | 2003–present |
Matt Ford, better known as DJ Format (a near-inversion of his birth name),[1] is a hip hop DJ born in Southampton, England who lives in Brighton. He collaborates frequently with Abdominal on the album Music For the Mature B-Boy and with Abdominal and fellow Canadian rapper D-Sisive on the second full album If You Can't Join 'Em… Beat 'Em,[2] as well as with Akil and Chali 2na from Jurassic 5.[3]
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As a youth, Ford's first hip hop influences included A Tribe Called Quest and Main Source. He established a relationship with Jurassic 5 and initially traveled with them as their bus driver.[4] He came to national attention in 2002 when he opened on tour for DJ Shadow.[1] In 2005, If You Can't Join 'Em… Beat 'Em reached the top 10 of the UK indie albums chart.[5]
The Sun named his album If You Can't Join 'Em… Beat 'Em one of the top 100 of 2005,[6] and in 2008 called him "one of the leading lights in the UK scene".[3]
DJ Format's debut album “Music For The Mature B-Boy” was one of the slowburn success stories of 2003. Received with quiet acclaim in the press it quickly became a word of mouth triumph, going on to establish itself as one of the most successful debut artist albums from the UK alternative/urban scene. The campaign was successful for a number of reasons not least it’s supporting batch of three incredible music video’s all directed by the then unknown Ruben Fleischer. The most famous of these will undoubtedly be the rap and breakdancing costumed animals of ‘We Know Something You Don’t Know’ featuring the vocals of Chali 2na and Akil of Jurassic 5 - played out by a shark and tiger respectively on the big screen it is an unforgettable piece of feel good hip hop. “Music For The...” also led to Format supporting (alongside regular collaborator MC Abdominal) Jurassic 5 on their European tour, and through subsequent touring in 2003 establishing Format as one of the hottest live hip hop tickets in town culminating in triumphant appearances at Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds festivals and worldwide touring taking in the whole of Europe, North America and Australia.
2005's follow up album “If You Can't Join ‘Em… Beat ‘Em" saw Format step up a gear, tightening the loops still further for a tougher sound. A heavy schedule of acclaimed shows followed the release throughout 2005/06.
In 2006 Format was asked to contribute to the successful Fabric DJ mix series. Format's "fabriclive 27" was one of the most well received of the series. His DJ sets are renowned for their boundary-crossing selection of the funk, soul, rock & hip-hop and his fabric mix showed of a condensed version of the party set that he's built a solid reputation on. This was followed up by his own underground mix of obscure Eastern European beats, the now highly collectable 'European Vacation' CD. 2008 saw Format deliver another mix album, this time for the legendary Fania label, applying his signature b-boy style to the world's foremost catalogue of latin music. Alongside this, Format's discreetly released 12" tribute to James Brown 'Stealin' James', has been a huge success both with DJ's and dancefloors alike. DJ Format is currently hard at work on his third album.