Jaguar Skills

With the likes of Mark Ronson, Lupe Fiasco, Trevor Nelson and Chris Moyles unable to get enough of the original ninja - Mr Jaguar Skills - the rise (and rise) of this ground-breaking artist has been well documented. Honing his craft and love of music for the last 15 years Jag has remained true to his school and kept a slightly mysterious edge to his character; with details of his real name, age and home town etc left largely unconfirmed…

Starting in 1993 Jaguar Skills was a Hip-Hop journalist. He published a Hip-Hop fanzine and worked as editor for the genre at the esteemed Blues & Soul Magazine. During his editorship he interviewed and met almost every prolific Emcee and Producer of the time – legends such as Biggie Smalls, Tupac, Eminem, Dr Dre, Snoop, KRS-One and Public Enemy. These meetings inspired Jag and set him on a path spanning 2 decades and counting. Wanting to be more ‘hands on’ 1995 saw Jag move into a music PR role for Profile Records; Profile was home of Afika Bammbaataa and Run DMC at the time.

The more he learnt about the Hip-Hop scene the more passion he had for the music, with the passion came creativity and in 2002 he made a mixtape CD for fashion label Maharishi. The 60 minute CD was created, looped, produced and cut entirely on 2 mini walkmen. It was the first of its kind and received top reviews in key publications. The next few years saw Jag build his DJ profile, playing at various places across London including ‘Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes’ in an arty east London bar;  an uber-cool soiree that played everything from Hip-Hop, to Rock, Ragga to Disco. Here he developed his signature sound of lightning speed mixing.

Things moved up a notch in 2004 when Jaguar Skills caught the eyes (and ears) of fashionista and renowned music lover Jade Jagger. He was invited to move to Ibiza and become resident at her world famous Jezebel parties. Ibiza turned into the world as Jag started to play globally with the Jezebel parties including Russia, Hong Kong and across Europe. In 2005 he produced the tune “We Love You” for US mega rapper Lupe Fiasco. It featured UK emcee Sway and has subsequently been released on the net.

2006 was one of Jaguar Skills finest moments yet - he created the mixtape “1979-2006: A Hip-Hop Odyseey - 800 Tracks In 45 Minutes”. A never been done before project, he mixed every Hip-Hop hit from 1979 to 2006, and played them in order of their release, from the first ever Hip-Hop record to the latest one to date. It caused an internet storm and through its original idea and skilful mixing it really put Jag on the map.

After one month on the net this monstrous mix had been downloaded over a MILLION times. It was also played twice in a row on Mistajam’s BBC 1xtra show and BBC Radio 1 star Colin Murray split the mix up, and played a part of it every week on his show for a staggering 10 weeks.

The summers of 2006 and 2007 saw a continuation of the Jezebel residency and more productions in the form of “We On” again, for Grammy-winning friend Lupe Fiasco, it was first signing to his label, Gemstones. A video was subsequently made and created a healthy buzz on the Hip-Hop scene.

Fast forward to present day and Jaguar Skills has a weekly 10 Minute Mash Up Mix for the BBC Radio 1 Trevor Nelson Show. It has grown to one of the key features on his show. Chris Moyles has also played a mix on his show, and had a mix especially made for him.

Jag continues to receive love generally across the board at Radio 1, 1xtra and from a host of respected musicians that are now peers of his.

http://jaguarskills.com/