Richard Quitevis (born October 7, 1969) known by his stage name DJ Qbert or Qbert, is a Filipino American turntablist and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

who has heavily influenced the History of DJing. He was awarded America's Best DJ in 2010, was DMC USA Champion 1991 (solo) and achieved titles as DMC World Champion in 1992 and 1993.

Early life

Richard Quitevis was born on October 7, 1969, to Filipino immigrant parents hailing from Bacolod, Negros Occidental and

Ilocos Sur Ilocos Sur (), officially the Province of Ilocos Sur (; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region in Luzon. Located on the mouth of the Mestizo River is the capital of Vigan, while Candon is ...

. Growing up in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

's Excelsior District on Moscow Street, he graduated from Luther Burbank Middle School and in 1987 from Balboa High School. Qbert started playing with records at the age of 15, although he got his first

Fisher-Price Fisher-Price, Inc. is an American company that produces educational toys for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, headquartered in East Aurora, New York, East Aurora, New York (state), New York. It was founded in 1930 during the Great Depression ...

turntable as a toddler. He was influenced by the street performers and graffiti artists of the local hip hop community in the mid-1980s. It was at Balboa's school cafeteria that he first met Mix Master Mike in a DJ battle; the two have been good friends ever since.

Career

Qbert started his musical career in a group called FM20 with Mix Master Mike and DJ Apollo in 1990. In

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

when playing a show, FM20 was spotted by Crazy Legs, who invited them to join the Rock Steady Crew. They accepted the offer to join the crew. Going by the name Rock Steady DJs, they then proceeded to take the 1992 Disco Mix Club World DJ Championships (DMC) world title. Qbert was also one of the founding members of the band Invisibl Skratch Piklz. Although there were other turntablist crews before the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, the Skratch Piklz were the first to apply the band concept to

turntablism Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating new music, sound effects, mixes and other creative sounds and beats, typically by using two or more Phonograph, turntables and a cross fader-equipped DJ mixer. The mixer is plugged into ...

, layering drums, basslines, and scratch solos on top of each other. Qbert, along with other Skratch Piklz, created a series of videos entitled ''Turntable TV''. Now out of print, the first 5 episodes were released on VHS and contained demonstrations, showcases, skits, and other DJ related content. Qbert's solo efforts include 1994's '' Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Musik'', and 1998's '' Wave Twisters''. The latter album was created mainly with samplers and beat machines versus the turntable, and later turned into an animated feature of the same title. 2001's '' Wave Twisters'' movie was somewhat unusual in that the animators and digital artists had to invent images and movements to the pre-recorded music, as opposed to the other way around (Disney's '' Fantasia'' was made the same way). More recently, he has worked with Vestax to develop the QFO, an all-in-one scratching instrument. The QFO combines a turntable with a mixer's crossfader. In 2006, he introduced the Qbert turntable cartridge, a model put out by Ortofon. QbertInBerlin

In May 2009, Qbert launched the Qbert Skratch University, an interactive online learning school and community for DJs through the ArtistWorks website. At the 2016 edition of the DMC World DJ Championships, DJ Q-Bert was awarded with a DMC Legend jacket.

Personal life

In a 2011 interview with the website WeBeVegan.org, Qbert stated that he is a vegan.

Media appearances

Qbert's music was featured in the video game ''

Tony Hawk's Underground ''Tony Hawk's Underground'' is a 2003 skateboarding video game and the fifth entry in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series, following ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4''. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 ...

''and he appeared as himself on the Slam City Jam level. He also appeared as himself in '' DJ Hero 2''.

Awards and credentials

* America's Best DJ 2010 * DMC USA Champion 1991 (solo) * DMC World Champion 1992 – Rock Steady DJs (Qbert, Mix Master Mike & Apollo) * DMC World Champion 1993 – Dreamteam (Qbert & Mix Master Mike) * DMC DJ Hall of Fame (along with Mix Master Mike) * Featured in '' Hang the DJ'' by Marco & Mauro La Villa **

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

, France * Appears in the documentary film ''Modulations'' ** Sundance Festival, Utah * Appears in the documentary '' Scratch'' ** Sundance Festival, Utah * Appears in his own animated/live action movie ''Wave Twisters''

References

External links

Djqbert.com

Qbert Skratch University
*
Full Discography

Video of Q-Bert Live Set in UKTwitch pageDJ Qbert Interview
at NAMM Oral History Collection (2020) ;Interviews
Interview with ''DJ Times'', 2001

The Career Cookbook Interview with Qbert

The Some Assembly Required Interview with DJ Qbert (2008)
HHC Digital interview about his DMC legacy

Conspiracy Worldwide Radio October 2010 Uncensored Interview

Interview with We Be Vegan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Qbert, DJ 1969 births American musicians of Filipino descent American hip-hop DJs Filipino hip-hop DJs Living people Psychedelic rappers DJs from San Francisco Composers from San Francisco Culture of San Francisco