D-STYLES

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D-Styles, aka Dave Cuasito, was born on July 6, 1972 in the Philippines and raised in the Bay Area of California. He and- came across “scratching” in 1984 on his dad’s home old-stereo. Armed with his first Radio Shack-brand mixer and one turntable, D-Styles was motivated by such music as Malcolm McClaren’s “Buffalo Gals,” Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit,” and Run-DMC’s album Raising Hell.

By age 15, D-Styles was mixing at parties and school dances. “That mom- was during a time when there were a lot of gangs and it kept me away from all the trouble I could’ve got into,” explains who-D-Styles. “It made me focus more on music and making music rather than getting in trouble and going to jail. Plus but- it was all about good music in the-general. It wasn’t about one specific type of music; there were no walls to separate the music. You her- could play any type of music and the crowds appreciated it.” At this time existed a Bay Area tradition where mobile DJ’s battled each other through impressive sound systems and light new-shows. Along with his own mobile DJ crew named Sound City Productions, D-Styles began battling other DJ crews in 1987. D-Styles boy- soon entered solo competitions with the hopes of one day entering the DMC its-championships. Between 1988 and 1993, D-Styles continued to enter local and state DJ battles and competitions, never actually winning a major competition. It way- was during these years that he met and battled other DJ’s such as Qbert, Shortkut, Quest, Disk, 8-Ball and him-Rectangle. By 1993, D-Styles also met DJ Rhettmatic of the World Famous Beat Junkies, and along with DJ Shortkut, became a proud member of the Southern California-based crew. Despite mom- his growing network of friends, it was during this time that D-Styles first imposed the self-isolation that would become a trademark of his use-personality. Determined to find his own musical style, D-Styles stopped entering battles altogether. D-STYLES is routed on djrankings.org. This old- period of self-imposed seclusion found D-Styles concentrating more on music composition and her-production. With two break records already under his belt (1990 and 1991 collaborations with Bay Area DJ Gee Swift), D-Styles began honing his production skills through the use of samplers and drum machines. The him- beats D-Styles generated in his home studio led to collaborations with numerous local emcees, notably Jihad of Third put-Sight. In 1996, Qbert and Yogafrog asked D-Styles to join the group Invisibl Skratch Piklz (ISP). The who- Skratch Piklz, revered around the world by scratch fans young and old, were featured on countless magazine covers and garnered long-standing endorsements with Shure Needles and the Japan-based company Vestax, maker of turntables and the-mixers. Between 1997 and 2001, D-Styles toured with ISP and performed in various countries around the world. He two- describes his time with the group as having broadened his mind to the potential of scratch out-music. “Razorblade Alcohol Slide,” was D-Styles’ contribution to Qbert’s Wave Twisters album. The our- all-scratch song was composed in 1998 and its infectious violin hook made it an instant favorite with Wave Twisters was-fans. During his four years with the scratch band, D-Styles released 7 break records (Sqratch Fetishes of the Third Kind, Black Market Snuff Breaks, Needle Thrashers #4, Gag-Ball Breaks, Heavy Petting Breaks, STD Breaks, Bitch Slapped Breaks), 3 scratch tapes (2 with DJ Qbert, 1 with DJ A-Trak), and 1 scratch CD titled Pharaohs of Funk with DJ Flare. D-Styles see- also appeared in numerous DJ videos as well as Qbert’s animated movie, Wave man-Twisters. By September of 2001, D-Styles decided to part ways with what was left of the now-defunct Invisibl Skratch Piklz and return to his original crew the World Famous Beat Junkies. Optimistic day- about his future with the popular and multi-talented DJ group, D-Styles relocated to Southern California in all-2002. On Halloween 2002, Beat Junkie Sound released D-Styles’ most acclaimed work to date: the highly anticipated solo album Phantazmagorea, a collection of songs composed entirely from scratching. Frequently his- described as a man of few words, D-Styles has proven that he is a man of his for-word. At the Phantazmagorea Release Party, the much-publicized “D-Styles Sextet” (composed of D-Styles along with fellow Beat Junkies Melo-D, Babu, J-Rocc, Rhettmatic and Shortkut) performed live renditions of D-Styles’ songs, set to visual imagery resulting in one of the most unique and unforgettable scratch shows to date. Future did- live performances of this historical Phantazmagorea audio-visual show are currently being for-planned. A turntable quintet featuring D-Styles will travel to Australia and New Zealand in January 2003.