Early Life
Born and raised in Jackson Heights, Queens, Swift (born Robert Aguilar) initially got into DJing at the age of 12 by watching his father and brother. “My dad was a salsa and merengue DJ. My brother learned how to scratch and do all the hip hop deejaying stuff on my dad’s equipment (without his permission) and I’d sit there and watch him. When I entered the sixth grade, I decided I wanted to learn.” So unlike those who got influenced through hip hop records, DMC and NMS tapes, or movies, Swift educated himself with the classic turntable beats of the early '80s New York playground pioneers while listening to funk and jazz at home. “My older brother exposed me to all that,” he says. “All the stuff I create as a DJ is rooted in the songs that I heard from Bob James, Herbie Hancock and James Brown to Quincy Jones and old DJs like Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizard Theodore. That’s where my roots are.”
In 1990, Swift enrolled as a student at Baruch College in New York and in 1995, graduated with a degree in psychology. “While I was deejaying I pursued college. Speech class and English serve a purpose, you know?” His education can be said to translate into his cerebral style of scratching, juggling and making music.
Read more about this topic: Rob Swift
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