DJ Shadow famous quotes

04-14-2025

I was sort of like a kid in a candy store, realizing it was fun making beats without the perceived burden that every track I did had to be a some progressive sample masterpiece. It was nice to blow off steam and work on those songs. For me, thatâ€™s what 'The Outsider' was about in general: forget everything, Iâ€™m just gonna follow my own music, and make the music I want to make.
-- DJ Shadow

#Song #Fun #Nice
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.
-- DJ Shadow

#Integrity #Kids #Sacrifice
Cutting and pasting is the essence of what hip-hop culture is all about for me. It's about drawing from what's around you, and subverting it and decontextualizing it.
-- DJ Shadow

#Cutting #Essence #Drawing
I always managed to fly a bit below the radar, but high enough to avoid colliding into anything.
-- DJ Shadow

#Enough #Radar #Bits
I still consider myself a consumer of music more than anything else.
-- DJ Shadow

#Consumers #Stills
When I make music, it takes me two hours to get into the flow. To me it's like tapping into some kind of subconscious frequency: I just have to turn everything else off, open up part of myself, expose my fears and try to work through it in the music that I'm making.
-- DJ Shadow

#Two #Trying #Flow
So, in addition to being a full-time father of two and everything else in life, it isn't so much that I'm sitting around plotting an album. I just kinda follow my muse and wherever my interests lie, and at some point I decide, "Right. It's been a while, time to figure out how to get serious and make some music."
-- DJ Shadow

#Father #Lying #Two
My core values are still the same about music, and my work ethic, and what I want to represent to people.
-- DJ Shadow

#People #Work Ethic #Want
When I'm looking for DJ sets and stuff to drop, I look for music that I feel is gonna get the reaction I want from the crowd.
-- DJ Shadow

#Looks #Crowds #Want
Frequently, when I'm compared to someone, I'm like, "Is that really what people think I sound like?"
-- DJ Shadow

#Thinking #People #Sound
I've always feel like it's been my place to offer an alternative.
-- DJ Shadow

#Alternatives #Feels #Offers
I don't hate what I love. I love what I love and I hate what I hate.
-- DJ Shadow

#Hate #I Hate #Don't Hate
The music that I have always liked has always been more rooted in anger or sadness or alienation or any of those inspirational factors that drove rock'n'roll, gospel, and blues. I tend not to value a more pop aesthetic.
-- DJ Shadow

#Sadness #Rocks #Rock N Roll
Anything that sparks some eight-year-old's interest in music or DJing is great.
-- DJ Shadow

#Eight #Years #Sparks
The reason why it is that strong, and why HipHop is so inbred, is that there is a very structured wheel, a very definable system on how to get paid in HipHop. Busta Rhymes is someone who took that road and sure enough got paid. As long people like him are allowed to continue to do that it wont change. There is a very specific sound and a very specific attitude, and it changes every year, but as long as you stay in there and keep doing it, and keep narrowing your scope, dressing the rigt ways etc. you get paid.
-- DJ Shadow

#Strong #Attitude #Years
I personally feel the need to experience life and new music and ideas before I can sit down and start writing music again.
-- DJ Shadow

#Writing #Ideas #Needs
My main thing is constantly looking forward and trying to make music that I couldn't have made at any other time.
-- DJ Shadow

#Trying #Looking Forward #Made
When I play that music live nowadays, there's a lot of things I feel I'd like to do - even things I don't think the audience is aware of, like layering subs underneath the kicks, and layering crisp hats underneath the muddy, trashy hats of the '90s. If I tried to play the music as it was next to my contemporary music, it just sounds like you're closing up half of the sonic spectrum.
-- DJ Shadow

#Thinking #Like You #Audience
As for my store, most artists' sites send you to a third-party storefront like iTunes, whereas we're disseminating it ourselves. I was always uncomfortable with the thought of sending somebody who came to my site to buy something to some other store. It just occurred to me, "Why can't we do this?"
-- DJ Shadow

#Party #Artist #Stores
I always consider every album to be a snapshot.
-- DJ Shadow

#Albums #Snapshots
When I think about the stuff I turned down it's kind of insane.
-- DJ Shadow

#Thinking #Insane #Stuff
I couldn't make a real drum'n'bass or dubstep record to save my life. But I can be influenced by them in small ways.
-- DJ Shadow

#Real #Dubstep #Records
If I have a chance to positively impact how the populace views DJs, then I'm going to try to do my part to nudge things in the right direction.
-- DJ Shadow

#Impact #Views #Trying
It's satisfying to put out new music. And I think that's the context in which I'm comfortable revisiting things from the past.
-- DJ Shadow

#Past #Thinking
I would agree with you that there's 90% imitation and 10% innovation. That's true of any genre.
-- DJ Shadow

#Innovation #Imitation #Genre

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