Matt Ford, better known as DJ Format (a near-inversion of his birth name), is a hip hop DJ born in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, England who lives in Brighton. He collaborates frequently with

Abdominal The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso ...

on the album '' Music For the Mature B-Boy'' and with Abdominal and fellow Canadian rapper

D-Sisive Derek Christoff, better known by his stage name D-Sisive, is a Canadian rapper, best known for his Juno-nominated EP ''The Book'', his hit single "Nobody with a Notepad" (for which D-Sisive and collaborator Muneshine won the 2009 annual SOCAN So ...

on the second full album '' If You Can't Join 'Em… Beat 'Em'', as well as with Akil and Chali 2na from

Jurassic 5 Jurassic 5 is an American alternative hip hop group formed in 1994 by rappers Charles Stewart (Chali 2na), Dante Givens (Akil), Courtenay Henderson (Soup aka Zaakir), Marc Stuart (Marc 7); and disc jockeys Mark Potsic ( DJ Nu-Mark) and Lucas Ma ...

Career

As a youth, Ford's first hip hop influences included A Tribe Called Quest and

Main Source Main Source was an East Coast hip hop group based in New York City/Toronto, composed of Toronto-born DJs and producers, K-Cut and Sir Scratch, and Queens MC and producer Large Professor. Later, another Queens MC, Mikey D (Michael Deering), re ...

to name a few. One of his first releases was The Underground Strikes Back by Suspekt (Move. Germany 1996) features DJ Format on production and scratching. He established a relationship with

and initially travelled with them as their bus driver. He came to national attention in 2002 when he opened on tour for

DJ Shadow Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ, songwriter and record producer. His debut studio album, '' Endtroducing.....'' was released in 1996. Biography Early years (1989–1995) DJ Sh ...

. In 2005, ''If You Can't Join 'Em… Beat 'Em'' reached the top 10 of the UK indie albums chart. 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 its three music videos directed by the then unknown

Ruben Fleischer Ruben Samuel Fleischer (born October 31, 1974) is an American film director, film producer, television producer, music video director, and commercial director who lives in Montclair, New Jersey. He is best known as the director of '' Zombieland' ...

. The most famous of these was 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. "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. In 2005 Format released his second album "If You Can't Join 'Em… Beat 'Em" and toured extensively throughout 2005/06. In 2006 Format's ''fabriclive 27'' in the Fabric DJ mix series 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 off 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. In 2008 Format released another mix album, this time for the Fania label, applying his b-boy style to a catalogue of Latin music. Alongside this, Format also discreetly released a 12" tribute to James Brown, ''Stealin' James''.

Discography

Albums

* '' Music for the Mature B-Boy'' (2003) * '' If You Can't Join 'Em… Beat 'Em'' (2005) –

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

No. 73 * '' Statement of Intent'' (2012) *''The Foremost'' DJ Format & Phill Most Chill (2013) *''Still Hungry'' DJ Format &

(2017) *''Devil's Workshop'' (2021)

Mixes

* ''A Right Earful Vol. 1'' (2005) * '' FabricLive.27'' (April 2006) * ''European Vacation'' (2006) * ''Fania DJ Series – DJ Format'' (June 2007) * ''Stealin' James'' (2008) * ''Holy Shit'' with Mr Thing (2008) * ''Kings of Rock'' (2009) * ''The Simonsound – Have You Heard...'' (2009)

Singles

* "Vinyl Overdose" – Bomb Hip Hop (1997) * "English Lesson" – Bomb Hip-Hop (1999) * "Ill Culinary Behaviour" Featuring Abdominal – Genuine Records (2001) * "B-Boy Code" Genuine Records (2002) * " We Know Something You Don't Know" With Akil and Chali 2na from

(2003) –

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

No. 73 * "The Hit Song" (Feat.

) (2003) * "Vicious Battle Raps" (Feat. Abdominal) (2003) * "Rap Machine" (2005) (Feat. Abdominal) * "3-Feet Deep" (2005) (Feat. Abdominal &

) * "Separated at Birth" (2005) (Feat. Abdominal & D-Sisive) * "Mr. D.J." (2011) (Feat. Sureshot La Rock)

References

External links

Official website
*
Interview with ilikemusic.com

Music videos

* ttp://www.ruben.fm/work/music_videos/djFormat_viciousBattle/index.html "Vicious Battle Raps", directed and hosted by Ruben Fleischer
"3 Feet Deep", directed and hosted by Keith Schofield
{{DEFAULTSORT:Format, DJ British hip hop DJs Year of birth missing (living people) Living people