Turning Points: DJ Rashad

I like these “Turning Points” articles by Crack Magazine, like the one on DJ Bone, but I think there is a serious gap between 1996 and 2013 in the one they did on Rashad. Let me fill it in a bit:

1998: First production on vinyl
DJ Rashad and DJ Spinn got their first chance to put their productions on vinyl. On Dance Mania no less! Sadly their productions were ‘mislabeled‘ as DJ Thadz.

2002: Hooked up with DJ Godfather and the Databass crew
DJ Godfather:

DJ Clent introduced us all. I had reached out to him because I loved a lot of his tracks. So Clent started driving from Chicago to Detroit — it’s literally a four-hour drive. So Clent would start coming to Detroit a lot and a couple of times he brought Rashad and Spinn. They’d come kick it and stay at my house.

2004: First own record
After they hooked up with DJ Godfather and the Databass crew they released their first ‘own’ record on the newly formed Juke Trax label.
DJ Godfather:

I remember when he’d give me tracks to submit he’d give me two and three CDs of tracks. I’m like, Dog this is so much shit! I couldn’t keep up with it! When I first started putting out Rashad we were releasing vinyl before digital got really big. It was right before that transition. We were putting out vinyl, and I was like, Dude, we can only put out like four of your tracks. Otherwise, the more you go over 12 minutes on one side of vinyl the volume gets lower and the grooves get smaller. I tried to keep under 12 minutes, and he was giving me 17 tracks! [Laughs.] I tried to keep up with him.

2006 – 2010: Dominated the online Ghetto Tech/Juke game
In 2006 Juke Trax branched out as a digital label. Godfather now had a way to put out more of his stuff. As Rashad build up such a catalog of music, he dominated the label with his releases. Also was one of the founding members of TekLife in these years.

2010: Picked up by Mike Paradinas/Planet Mu
In 2010 Mike Paradinas picked up the juke/footwork sound:

There were a few people who were writing about it, but it wasn’t really taken on board by the underground outside of the scene itself. I think that, by releasing DJ Nate and DJ Roc and Rashad and Spinn—and then the Bangs & Works compilation—all quite quickly at the end of 2010, it made people sit up and notice the sound, as well as the quality and alien-ness of it.