Anthony Williams (May 17, 1972 – September 19, 2009), better known as Roc Raida or Grandmaster Roc Raida, was an American DJ,

turntablist 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 turntables and a cross fader-equipped DJ mixer. The mixer is plugged into a PA syste ...

and producer. He was also a member of the DJ group

the X-Ecutioners The X-Ecutioners, originally known as X-Men, are a group of American hip hop DJs/ turntablists from New York City, New York. The group formed in 1989 and currently consists of three DJs, including Total Eclipse, DJ Boogie Blind, and DJ Precis ...

Biography

Williams joined the X-Men in the late 1980s, but due to copyright reasons, the group later became known as

. The group released three studio albums, 1997's ''

X-Pressions ''X-Pressions'' is the debut studio album by New York City turntablist band the X-Ecutioners, the first of its kind, according to ''Rolling Stone''. The album was released in 1997 for Asphodel Records and was produced by four members of the X-Ecut ...

'', 2002's ''

Built from Scratch ''Built from Scratch'' is the second studio album by New York City DJ group The X-Ecutioners. It was released on February 26, 2002, through Loud Records and Columbia Records. The album was produced by Beat Junkies, Chris Frantz, CJ Moore, Dan the ...

'' and 2004's ''

Revolutions In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elemen ...

''. In the 1990s he and

MF Grimm Percy Carey (born June 11, 1970), also known by the stage names MF Grimm, Grimm Reaper, GM Grimm and originally Build and Destroy, is an American underground rapper, music producer, CEO, and Eisner Award-nominated comic book writer from New Yor ...

were an emcee/DJ team, and his DJ contributions can be heard on MF Grimm's Scars & Memories compilation. In addition to his work with MF Grimm and the X-Ecutioners, Roc Raida released albums as a solo artist, his most famous being 2005's ''Rock Phenomenon'', a mash-up album he released with DJ Vlad that blended rock and hip hop, which won the Mash-Up Mixtape of the Year at the Justo Mixtape Awards. He also produced songs for artists including

Ill Al Skratch Ill Al Skratch (also known as Brooklyn/Uptown Connection) is a hip hop duo consisting of two rappers, Big Ill from Brooklyn and Al Skratch from Harlem (Uptown). They are best known for their singles " Where My Homiez (Come Around My Way)” and ...

Showbiz and A.G. Showbiz and A.G. (also shortened as Show and AG) is an American hip hop duo from The Bronx borough of New York City, composed of record producer Rodney "Showbiz" Lemay (born July 7, 1969) and rapper Andre "A.G." Barnes (born September 26, 1970) ...

, the

Jungle Brothers Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop trio composed of Michael Small (Mike Gee), Nathaniel Hall (Afrika Baby Bam) and Sammy Burwell (DJ Sammy B). Hailed as pioneers of the fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and house music, they were the first hip-hop g ...

Mad Skillz Donnie Shaquan Lewis (born June 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Skillz (or Mad Skillz), is an American rapper. He first became known for his debut album '' From Where???'' (1996), titularly in reference to his origins in Virginia, co ...

Smif-N-Wessun Smif-N-Wessun, also known as Cocoa Brovaz and Tek-N-Steele, is an American hip hop duo from Brooklyn, New York City. It is composed of rappers Tekomin "Tek" Williams (born June 3, 1973) from Bedford–Stuyvesant and Darrell "Steele" Yates (born ...

Jehst William G. Shields (born 21 August 1979), better known by his stage name Jehst, is an English Rapping, rapper and co-founder of hip hop label YNR Productions. Biography Born in Kent in 1979, Jehst spent his early childhood in Crowborough in Su ...

, and

Big Pun Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was an American rapper. Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx, he came to prominence upon discover ...

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

and he served as

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...

' DJ. He won the 1995 DMC World DJ Championship and was inducted into the DMC Hall of Fame four years later. He was the DJ for rapper

through the mid-1990s, during both of the early stages of their careers. He also appeared in the 2001 film ''

Scratch Scratch or scratching may refer to: Science and technology * Scratch (programming language), an educational programming language developed by the MIT Media Lab * Scratch space, space on the hard disk drive that is dedicated for only temporary ...

'' and the international television series ''

Kung Faux ''Kung Faux'' is an international action comedy television series and audiovisual art assemblage created by Mic Neumann, an American creator–developer showrunner, conceptual artist and multimedia entrepreneur, who remixes classic kung fu fil ...

''. He had made an appearance in Linkin Park's album ''

Reanimation Reanimation may refer to: * Reanimation (facial surgery) * Reanimation (science fiction), reanimation of the dead, as in Frankenstein * Reanimated collaboration, Reanimated collaborations, a type of collaborative Fan labor, fan-made animation proj ...

'' (2002) in participating in the song "X-Ecutioner style". He died on September 19, 2009, from cardiac arrest due to complications a few weeks earlier relating to an accident while training in

Krav Maga Krav Maga ( ; , ; ) is an Israeli Hand-to-hand combat, self-defence system. Developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), it uses techniques derived from aikido, boxing, judo, karate and wrestling. It is known for its focus on real-world situat ...

On March 20, 2012,

Rob Swift Rob Swift (born Robert Aguilar; May 14, 1972) is an American hip hop DJ and turntablist. He was an original member of the turntablist group The X-Ecutioners until 2004. Over his career, he has released numerous solo albums and collaborated w ...

released the album ''Roc for Raida'', a collection of songs (some unreleased) and battle style routines that defined Roc Raida as an artist, lost interview archives (from John Carluccio), and other material, with proceeds going to Roc Raida's family.
DJ Rob Swift Releases Roc for Raida, March 20, 2012

Discography

Solo

*1997: ''The Adventures of Roc Raida... One Too Many!'' *2000: '' Crossfaderz'' *2001: ''We Them Niggas'' *2003: ''Champion Sounds'' *2004: ''Kung Faux'' *2005: ''Rock Phenomenon'' which went on to win the Justo Mixtape Awards- Mash Up Mixtape of the Year w/ DJ VLAD *2007: ''Beats, Cuts and Skits''

With The X-Ecutioners

*1997: ''

'' *2002: ''

'' *2004: ''

External links

Interview with IGN (2004)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roc Raida American hip-hop DJs African-American DJs Mixtape DJs 1972 births 2009 deaths American hip-hop musicians Musicians from New York City 20th-century American musicians 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American musicians