Paths of Rhythm (Formerly Once A DJ)

Paths of Rhythm is a Remote-CTRL production. If you're looking for audio or video production, then check out https://remote-ctrl.co.uk to see how they can help.
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This week I'm sitting down with a guy whose name might not be as famous as the records he made, but whose fingerprints are all over some of the most important hip hop of the last 35 years: Scotty Hard.
Scotty grew up in Vancouver on a diet of classical guitar, jazz camp and free jazz shows, then fell hard for punk, no wave and the Ornette Coleman school of harmolodic funk before Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions convinced him New York was the only place left to go. He landed at Calliope Studios — the 24-hour home base for the Native Tongues, De La Soul, Stetsasonic and Queen Latifah — with almost no formal engineering training, learning by the skin of his teeth on sessions that ranged from editing Tone Loc's mink-coat 900-number ad to filling in on De La Soul Is Dead when the regular engineer didn't show. That one shift turned into a decades-long run with Prince Paul, which led him into the orbit of Gravediggaz, RZA and the Wu-Tang Forever sessions, New Kingdom, the Stereo MCs and PM Dawn.
We talk about how he found his footing as the guy trusted to give creative input rather than just push faders, the eleven-minute Lisa Stansfield remix that became bigger than anyone in the room expected, and mixing the second Gravediggaz record and Wu-Tang Forever in neighbouring rooms at the same time — including the day RZA walked in and asked him what exactly he was doing in there. We also spend a good chunk of the conversation on his long, deeply loyal relationship with Ka, one of the most singular and uncompromising voices in hip hop, and on the accident that left Scotty with a spinal cord injury and how he's kept making some of the best music of his career since. We close out talking about his new record with Steven Bernstein, Ultra Resonance / Resonation Trio, which takes the hip hop chop-and-flip approach and applies it to acoustic jazz.
This is a long one and every minute of it is worth your time. Topics covered:
Growing up in Vancouver: classical guitar, jazz camp, and opening for Ornette Coleman
The no wave and punk funk scenes that pulled him toward New York
Landing at Calliope Studios and learning to engineer with zero formal training
His first-ever session: editing 2-inch tape for a Tone Loc ad
Getting the call to fill in on De La Soul Is Dead and starting his run with Prince Paul
Making beats on the SP12 and S900 synced to 24-track tape
Knowing when to offer a creative opinion and when to just be the engineer
The Lisa Stansfield "Been Around the World" remix that blew up bigger than anyone predicted
New Kingdom and being "too ahead of its time"
How Gravediggaz came together and meeting RZA
Mixing the second Gravediggaz record and Wu-Tang Forever at the same time in LA
What actually made Gravediggaz sound so dark and eerie
The challenge of mixing records you didn't record yourself
His parallel life in jazz: Teo Macero, Medeski Martin & Wood, and Sex Mob
Working with Ka on Days with Dr. Yen Lo and why Ka refused to compromise his art
Remembering Ka and the Legacy Open Studio celebration of his life
His car accident, his spinal cord injury, and adapting his life and work around it
Surprising mic choices that worked for rappers who didn't have "perfect" voices
His one piece of outboard gear he'd tell any beatmaker to buy
His new album, Ultra Resonance / Resonation Trio with Steven Bernstein

Paths of Rhythm is a Remote-CTRL production. If you're looking for audio or video production, then check out https://remote-ctrl.co.uk to see how they can help.
Other ways to support the show
Follow the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Any feedback or questions? Hit up https://www.instagram.com/pathsofrhythmpodcast/

This week I'm joined by KnowleDJ — and this is a slightly different one for the show. He's the first Canadian I've had on since about episode two, and he's built a career that doesn't really look like anyone else's. He grew up in Kelowna, a small city in British Columbia, started out as a hip hop promoter to pay his tuition, and got talked into DJing by a club owner who wanted him to do college nights. He was a "hip hopper for life" who couldn't stand the idea of playing anything else — until the money, and then the music, changed his mind. From there it's cruise ships playing to wildly diverse crowds, an economics degree feeding into how he thinks about the whole game, and eventually opening for the Backstreet Boys, Ice Cube and Ariana Grande, and running the after-parties for No Doubt's Sphere residency.
What I really wanted to get into was the thinking underneath all of that. We talk about cultural deference and why you have to prove you've done the digging before a crowd trusts you. We get into ADHD, diet and the idea of conscientiousness as a cheat code. He walks me through the worst gig of his life — a Vegas set he says was sabotaged, which blacklisted him for years — and the fate-tipping opportunities that came after. There's a genuinely moving stretch about Fat Man Scoop, who mentored him and passed away the very night Knowledge told him he'd played "Be Faithful." And we finish on the economics of it all: why he built himself a "category of one," what blue ocean strategy and ikigai have to do with DJing, and why, with his book The DJ Diaries on the way, he still believes music is the answer.
In this episode we get into:
Growing up in Kelowna and going from hip hop promoter to open-format DJ
Reading diverse crowds on the cruise ships, and learning that people hear music differently
Showing cultural deference — proving you've dug deep before a crowd trusts you
Rebuilding the No Doubt set from scratch, and the real story behind "Don't Speak"
ADHD, diet, and conscientiousness as a cheat code (the OCEAN model)
The brain science of doing hard things, and telling yourself a realistic story
Learning the mic, the art of the warm-up, and getting over stage fright
The worst gig of his life and being blacklisted in Vegas
Opening for Ariana Grande, Backstreet Boys and Ice Cube — and reading GA crowds
Fat Man Scoop's quiet, huge influence on hip hop — and a tragic full-circle moment
The economics of DJing: supply and demand, a "category of one," blue ocean strategy and ikigai
The DJ Diaries, what's next, and the idea of the "otrovert"

I thought I'd re-publish this one for any of the heads who missed it first time round.

He doesn't really need an introduction round here — one half of the production team behind Jurassic 5, and honestly one of the best DJs I've ever seen live. I got Nu-Mark on to talk about his new book Amunu, which is part Persian cookbook, part memoir, part travel guide, and really a celebration of togetherness — family, food and music all woven together. What I love is how much ground we covered getting there.
He told me about the mum who raised him with total freedom (and who, 24 years ago, told him to start making Middle Eastern beats — advice he's only just taken), about growing up half-Iranian in the States during the hostage crisis, and about buying 20,000 records for $500 as a teenager, a haul that ended up powering 85–90% of those early J5 productions. We got deep into the group: how it became Jurassic 5 when there were six of them, why he refused the single deal that everyone else signed, the fact that the UK recognised them before the US would, and the whole first EP being made on an eight-track. He's wonderfully honest about confidence too — something he says he's still working on — and about losing his father, and how it was putting his dad's old records on that finally let him cry. We finish on Lesson 6, two record collections meant to meet, and the kebabs-on-site book launch in LA. A proper one, this.
In this episode:
His mum, Nowruz, and the Middle Eastern beats advice he ignored for 24 years
Growing up half-Iranian during the Iran hostage crisis
The alphabetised 35,000-record collection (and the $500 haul of 20,000 records that built J5)
Making peace with a tough upbringing, and music as therapy
Losing his father, and the records that brought it out
Drumming, Brazilian rhythm, and house parties that ended on slow jams
Bum Rush Productions, $2 on the door and the 40 ounce posse
Why it's Jurassic 5 when there were six of them
Turning down the Blunt single deal — and signing Kanye at Correct Records
The chemistry with Cut Chemist, and the art-first philosophy
Breaking in the UK before the US, and touring like a rock band
Retaining the publishing, the long life of "What's Golden", and a surprise Pandora hit
The whole first EP made on an eight-track
The Interscope era alongside Dre, Eminem and 50 Cent, and the Scott Storch sessions
Going solo with the toy set, and building his own ecosystem
How Amunu came together — and the LA launch

Cut Chemist has been on my list since the day I started this podcast, so getting him on for Episode 85 was a real full-circle moment. He's someone whose records genuinely shaped how I dig and how I think about putting samples together, and across this conversation he traces the whole arc — from kicking along to a Bobby Darin concert in the womb, to a McDonald's straw on a snare drum, to Star Wars soundtracks, to the moment hip hop landed for him in 1983.
We get deep into the Hollywood scene that raised him, the Rhino Records parking-lot quarter bins where he and his friends amassed beats nobody had touched, and the Jungle Brothers album that made him realise he could make "a record made out of records."
From Unity Committee into Jurassic 5, sharing the production chair with Nu-Mark, the all-45s leap into Brain Freeze with DJ Shadow, the solo tightrope of The Audience's Listening, and right up to his candlelit listening parties now — this one's a masterclass in following the unfamiliar. It's long, it's nerdy in all the right places, and I couldn't have asked for more from a guest who's influenced me this much.
In this episode we cover:
His earliest musical memories — parents, live drums, Carpenters and a deep sci-fi soundtrack obsession
Discovering hip hop in 1983 via KDAY, breakdancing, graffiti and the elements one at a time
Public Enemy, Bomb Squad and why Main Source is his production template
The Jungle Brothers album that turned him into a sampler
Learning gear the hard way — reel-to-reel, Roland S10, MPC, the Pro Tools learning curve
Forming Jurassic 5 out of Unity Committee, and the east-coast heart in a west-coast city
Pre-internet sample sleuthing and the legendary Rhino Records quarter bins
First DJ gigs at 15, learning to cut, and the up-and-down fader style that became his own
Qbert and the 1996 X-Men vs Scratch Pickles battle
A digging philosophy: is the juice worth the squeeze?
Sharing production with Nu-Mark, building Lesson 6, and breaking in Europe with Mr Format
The Rare Equations mix, the Number Song remix and the all-45s origins of Brain Freeze
Ozomatli, Brazilian and African digging, and constructing a set like a composition
The Audience's Listening at 20, The Garden in Brazil, and the Italy trip that changed everything
The Good Life Cafe education and record shopping with Biz Markie
Stable Sound, the Bandcamp subscription, and his candlelit psychedelic sound baths
On Keb Darge, on Edan, and the Expert of None shows coming next

Paths of Rhythm is a Remote-CTRL production. If you're looking for audio or video production, then check out https://remote-ctrl.co.uk to see how they can help.
Other ways to support the show
Follow the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Any feedback or questions? Hit up https://www.instagram.com/pathsofrhythmpodcast/

This week I'm joined by Eddie Otchere — a name that might be new to some, but his work absolutely won't be. Eddie is the photographer behind some of the most iconic images of 90s hip hop, jungle and drum & bass, garage and grime. He was Metalheadz's official photographer, shot Wu-Tang Clan, Aaliyah, Biggie, Jay-Z, So Solid Crew, Estelle, Chronixx, and pretty much every rapper you cared about coming up. His work is currently exhibited at the V&A East, and he's spent the last 30 years documenting London's black music and dance culture.
Eddie grew up in Brixton, Stockwell and Vauxhall, falling into record collecting at Groove Records in Soho when he was so small he couldn't see over the counter. He picked up his first camera in the late 80s — a Praktika left behind by a friend's granddad — and went on to build one of the most important visual archives of UK club culture. This is a long, deep, wide-ranging conversation, and one I came away from genuinely feeling like I'd learned something. I hope you do too.
Topics covered:
Growing up in South London and the village mentality of the area
Early days at Groove Records, Red Records, Dub Vendor and the record shops of Soho
Getting online in the mid-90s via Direct Connection in Stockwell — and how hip hop became the global language
Picking up a Praktika camera and falling into photography alongside record collecting
Why being analog matters in a "post-fact" world of remastered records and retconned history
The Canon EOS 10 and learning to shoot in pitch-black clubs
Shooting jungle raves, Metalheadz, and protecting young people from tabloid demonisation
How Red Bull, smoking bans and changing crowd behaviour shifted the look and feel of clubs
The art of the loop — Alchemist, Dilla, No I.D. and chasing perfect samples
Working with Wu-Tang as teenagers and learning to build a body of work
Photographing Aaliyah, Biggie, Jay-Z, Estelle and Chronixx
Around the early days of grime and why he gravitated toward So Solid in South London
Drum & bass being run by women, and the importance of Chemistry and Storm
The General Levy "cancellation", gatekeeping, and protecting a culture
The V&A East exhibition and the tension between DIY scenes and academic curation
Lee Scratch Perry, dub museums, and what music history should look like
Meta glasses, AI as a personal agent, and digital asset management for photographers
His advice for new photographers: intention is everything