Rob Swift

== Rob Swift ==

Rob Swift

Born and raised in Jackson Heights, Queens, Swift (born Robert Aguilar) initially got into DJing in a pretty unique way- his pops. “My dad was a salsa and meringue 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 some of us who got influenced through hip hop records, DMC and NMS tapes, or movies (Juice!), Swift educated himself with the classic turntable beats of the early '80sNew 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 Grandwizard 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?”I think that purpose also translates into his cerebral style of scratching, juggling and making music. I think if you take into account all those influences, the psychology schooling, growing up the son of a DJ, his musical influences- you begin to piece together a really good understanding of Rob Swift the DJ.

Discography

Albums