DJ Cheese


DJ Cheese is the First World Champion of the DMC World DJ Championships in 1986. He appeared in the 1986 UK tour with Run-DMC.

Early life

Cheese was born in Oak Hill, West Virginia. He moved with his family to Edison, New Jersey and later to Plainfield. He eventually began deejaying for the True Brothers and was named "King Kut" by crew member True Love.

Career

DJ Cheese is an important figure in the history of turntablism. He won the 1984 DJ Battle for World Supremacy at the New Music Seminar, becoming the first non-NYC DJ to win the title. Invited by Tony Prince to appear in the inaugural DMC DJ World Championship, his winning performance from the UK Disco Mix Club 1986 competition incorporated scratching, which initiated a different approach to deejay battling and changed the course of DMC competitions moving forward. Eventually, his innovation modified the meaning of DJ battles, turning the DMC into a competition largely focused on turntablism, which had a significant impact on helping spectators perceive turntablists as musicians.
DJ Cheese and Word Of Mouth opened both shows at the legendary UK Fresh 86 concerts at Wembley Arena. Cheese released 12" singles with the group Word Of Mouth entitled 'Coast to Coast' and 'King Kut' in 1985 and 1986 respectively. Cheese also worked as an incognito scratcher with lesser known groups such as Z-3 MC's, Rap-O-Matic, Point Blank MC's, and K-Rob. Fats Comet used his techniques on the UK Worlds Records label with the 1986 song 'Eat The Beat' and also provided the scratching on the DJ version of Princess 12" single and top 20 hit "I'll Keep On Loving You". Cheese was featured on the Ultimate Trax album and soon put up against Chad Jackson in the "Battle of DJs" section, with neither DJ being aware of who they would compete against in advance, making for a unique contrast in styles with Cheeses' scratch mixing. DJ Cheese and Word Of Mouth, appeared on the Mike Allen Capital radio show as well as Dave Pearce's 'Fresh Start To The Week' Hip-Hop radio shows doing live sets throughout the rest of the 1980's.