Tiesto, Paul D, David Guetta

jimmy (fix it) saville & alan fluff freeman og' legends

Joe Cooley, Q-Bert, and Jazzy Jeff fa sho

thx guys for your responses...

charlie chase

The biggest legend in the game would prob be francis grasso, without him, Im willing to bet NONE of us would be dj'ing in the style that we currently do. So if ur giving props to dj's make sure to mention him.

dj kool herc
afrika bambaataa

grand master flash

jmj

Adam Goldstein

Joseph Rizzo

Eric Jao

Alain Macklovitch

Cassidy Podell

Little Louie Vega
Kenny Dope

Kool DJ Red Alert

Mixmaster Mike

Nice! I was thinking on putting Luis Fernando Vager for the next batch of A lister DJ legends. The great thing about NYC is that clubs run 7 days a week and if your visiting here or live here the person and venue that holds down the crown for Wednesday evenings for more than a decade goes to Cielo with Luis Vager aka Louie Vega amazing. I never seen/heard someone rock out a 3band isolator the way he does.

Some familiar and unfamiliar names in the batch..thx for all the input..

Bad Boy Bill

Roc Raida

+1

I have watched him a few times in person. Dude is amazing. I think my favorite shows were seeing him do a 6 turntable set with Kenny Dope and Roger S in the early 90s and then watching him playing a dope house set where he dropped in a remix of Herb Albert's "Rise" that he transitioned into Biggie's "Hypnotized." The crowd went insane.

I also forgot to add David Morales.

+100

Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim

My Dj's Gods
Grandmaster Flowers
Grandmaster Flash
Grandwizzard Theodore
Dj Afkika Bammbatta
Dj Whiz Kid
DJ Afika Islam
Dj Tony Tone
Dj Charlie Chase
Dj Darrly Cee
Dj Breakout
Dj Hollywood
Dj AJ
and many more

More
Dj Johnathan Fearing
Dj John Jellybean Benitez
Dj Frankie Crocker
Dj Magic Mike
The Whole Uncle Jam's Army

This!

DJ Irie
DJ Vice
Skribble
Rectangle
Kid Capri
Paul Oakenfold

Def the Orginal KDAY Mixmasters
Tony G
Joe Cooley
Jammin Gemini
Julio G
M Walk
Ralph M
Battlecat
Bobcat
Egyptian Lover
Dr Dre

DJ Franzen

frandalaybay.tumblr.com

Top 5 most influential dj's of all time.

1.
Franciss Grasso - This guy is reported to be, but isprob one of many early pioneers of the mixing style we now all use. Beat Matching.

2. DJ Kool Herc - Brought the jamaican style of sound clash battle concepts to hip hop dj'ing. Also the founder of looping breaks.

3. DJ Cash Money - 1st Guy to use the battle style dj set (@ the dmc which was the 1st time i had seen it) as opposed to the european house style

4. Steve D - Inventor of the Beat Juggle (Member of the legendary X-Men) Nuff said!

5. Grand Wizzard Theodore - Inventor Of the Skratch

6. DJ Q-Bert - Took Theodores skratching & turned it into an artform!

For the reasons above I have listed these five dj's as the most influential dj's to date.

I'm sure a few will disagree. But these are the guys who get my vote.

Honourable mention to DJ Noize (Denmark) My fave battle dj of all time.

Great list, I would add Grandmaster Flash, Bambaataa, Jam Master Jay, Terminator X, Roc Raida, Shadow, Z-Trip & Radar and DJ AM all as innovators.

+100000000 in DJ Noize, I had a tape of him in the semi or quarter finals of the DMC 1995 where he took KRS-1's Hip Hop vs Rap and mixed it with the verses from the original songs. I probably watched it 1000+ times and wore the tape out. Wish I still had that one, online I can only find the finals with a different routine on it.

Kool Herc was the 1st to rock the break beat part all credit and honor due. But it wasn't seemless Joseph Saddler aka Grandmaster Flash saw what Herc was doing and improved it by coming up with the back spin or Flash states The Clock Theory.

Grandmixer DST
Took Theodore's scratch to the next level he's featured on Rockit by Herbie Hancock The cuts on that were light years ahead of any Dj from that era well maybe only Dj Whiz Kid (dj on MC G.L.O.B.E "Play That Beat"

Grandwizard Rasheen
Philly's pioneer on Hip Hop Dj'n was the 1st to turn the table battle growing up on the East Coast we called it Philly Style set. He was Casdh Money mentor and Jeff's also amd many more out of Philly

DJ Chuck Chillout

Thats knowledge right there!!!!

Thank you , I wasnt aware that It was Grand Wizard Rasheen who invented the battle style, it's gonna be heartbreaking to take cash money off my top 5 :( But still great to know.

Also good to see legends of the game just on the boards. Big up!

Big Up!!!

somebody said terminator x??? BAHAHAHA! he was the most useless "show" DJ there was. might as well say DJ EZ rock too. lol

Thank you for the kind words!

I have to stick up for for my friend Norman aka Terminator X. While on tour with PE late 80's early 90's night after nite he never missed a cue to bring Chuck or Flav right on time.
Now Dj Johnny Juice who was the man who did the scratches on PE's is nice with his.

Fellow's in the golden era of hip hop that was the difference when groups had a phenomenal Dj you knew about it but if he was good enough to keep the show routines straight it was still cool at least two elements of Hop Hop were being rep'd back then

thx for the responses...might tackle a few of these djs...legendary and influential are very subjective traits..

just finished DJ Afrika Bambaataa..if anyone is interested in hearing the godfather of hip hop

www.mixcrate.com

+10000 on this list!

Another thank you for the knowlede on this one!

NICE!!

cant believe no one mentioned 45 King

this is a great read for all you dj history guys
www.amazon.com

Klutch is fucking sick with it,
Vice is sick with it as well

WHO?

DJ Johnny M

so who invented the cue system? Francis Grasso or GMF?

This is a buddy of mine from college..His book does touch on some of the DJ legends that were previously mentioned..if any avid hip hop fans want some info on one history of hip hop culture, do check him out

neither

Alex Rosner, Rudy Bozak
www.google.com

^ good reading!

Grandmaster Flash has stated many time's that he put together a spdt=Single Throw Double Throw switch that acted like a what he called a peek a boo switch thus creating the cue sysytem. I not sure how true that is but being that the pioneers were so creative in the craft that could be a fact.....

That was my impression, but Wiki says Francis Grasso invented it.

Tough to argue with a Cornell Thesis...

I'm proud to be a member of The Zulu Nation !
Bambaataa the Amen Ra of the culture practically over night used his influence in the Bronx since he was a gang leader to start the 4 elements of Hip Hop and crime almost became a thing of the past. Hip Hop events always been kinda rough
1, Djing
2Mc'ing
3 Writing or Graffiti - did subway cars and party flyer's
4 B Boys n Gals+ Breakdancing or Beat Boys or Gals that danced

I was just reading that and I'll go with Francis Grasso I 1st heard that name after reading "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life...

"When Flash originally set out in his goal to find a way to seamlessly play breaks, he didn’t know DJ mixers had cueing systems. Only by begging a disco DJ to let him look at his mixer did Flash find out that beat mixers pre-listen to their songs."
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life : The History of the Disc Jockey

www.rane.com - check the cue section in the upper right
subvertedsoul.blogspot.de
www.rane.com

KDAY 1580 Mixmasters

www.mixcrate.com

Check out the rest of the series( so far)

www.mixcrate.com

yeah,seriously + infinity

Never really heard of him but being the 1st grants you some credence.

@ this point in the game I would like to retract that statement!

Have to agree, Mark is a genius behind the decks. He is also a really nice guy.