| DJ Cheese | |
| Birth Name: | Robert Cheese |
| Instrument: | Turntable, Sampler |
| Genre: | Hip hop |
| Occupation: | DJ, record producer |
DJ Cheese (born Robert Cheese) is a disc jockey and record producer who won the 1986 DMC World Final in London, showcasing the art of scratching in turntablism for the first time.[1] [2] He also appeared in the 1986 UK tour with Run-DMC.[3] He is known as ‘master of the crossfader’.[4]
Cheese was born in Oak Hill, West Virginia. He lived in Edison, New Jersey from birth and later moved to Plainfield in 1977. In 1980, Cheese would become inspired by Grandmaster Flash and begin to develop an interest for hip hop and purchasing and collecting official DJ equipment.[5]
In 1984, DJ Cheese won the DJ Battle for World Supremacy at the New Music Seminar, becoming the first non-NYC DJ to win the title.[6] At the seminar, Cheese met and joined Tony Prince in competition. Cheese was later invited by Tony Prince to appear in the inaugural DMC DJ World Championship. Cheese's portion of the competition incorporated scratching, which initiated a different approach to deejay battling and changed the course of DMC competitions moving forward.[7]
From 1985-1986, under the label Profile Records, Cheese released two vinyl 12" singles with the group Word Of Mouth entitled 'Coast to Coast' and 'King Kut'. King Kut would be used in the coming years as a way of "basing songs around how great your deejay is."[8]
In 1986, Cheese headlined both performances (afternoon/evening) at the London’s "UK Fresh ’86" show at the Wembley Arena.[9] It was during these performances that DJ Cheese performed his set along with KMC and MC Original G from Word of Mouth.[10] Later that year Cheese would collaborate with Fats Comet on the song 'Eat The Beat'.[11]
After this, Cheese distanced himself from Word of Mouth due to a financial dispute with Profile Records.[12] Since then, he has spent periods of involvement in music, performing with Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, and 50 Cent.[13] In 2013, he reconnected with Word of Mouth to record the single "Life Without Hip Hop".