DJ Qbert

Richard Quitevis was born on October 7, 1969, to Filipino immigrant parents hailing from Bacolod, Negros Occidental and Ilocos Sur.{{cite web |title=DJ Qbert: Musician of the world |url= https://www.rappler.com/entertainment/music/dj-qbert-musician-world |website=Rappler |last=Imbong |first=Peter |date=December 21, 2013}} Growing up in San Francisco's Excelsior District on Moscow Street, he graduated from Luther Burbank Middle School and in 1987 from Balboa High School.

{{Cite news| url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/11/01/PK84287.DTL| title=A Dilly of a Career / The Bay Area's Invisibl Skratch Piklz have become world stars of turntablism| access-date=April 10, 2007| date=November 1, 1998| last=Chonin| first=Neva| work=San Francisco Chronicle}}

{{cite web

|url=http://www.thudrumble.com/images/headlines/RuckusMagazineArticle.pdf

|title=Get on your P's and Q's : Ten Things You Don't Know About QBERT

|access-date=April 10, 2007

|publisher=www.ruckusmag.com

|year=2005

|author=de Leon, Krishtine

|work=Ruckus - Bay Area Rap Culture: July/August 2005

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929002826/http://www.thudrumble.com/images/headlines/RuckusMagazineArticle.pdf

|archive-date=September 29, 2007

|url-status=dead

}}

Qbert started playing with records at the age of 15, although he got his first Fisher-Price 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.

{{cite web| url=http://www.lyricalswords.com/articles/mixmastermike.html| title=The Trigger Man: Face to Face with Mix Master Mike| last=Banjoko| first=Adisa| access-date=April 10, 2007 | quote=(Mix Master Mike): In a cafeteria lunchroom, at Balboa High School in San Francisco, CA. Then we battled again in Stockton, CA. He won in Stockton. I won at Balboa.}}

File:DJ Q-bert in France (cropped).jpg World Championships 2006 in Lyon, France.]]

File:DJ QBert at Rainbow Warehouse, Birmingham UK.webm (Video with close-up photography at the DJ mixer, though without sound)]]

Qbert started his musical career in a group called FM20 with Mix Master Mike and DJ Apollo in 1990. In New York City 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.[http://www.beastiemuseum.com/web/skratchpiklz/ DJ Qbert: A Legend In His Own Time] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080421205012/http://www.beastiemuseum.com/web/skratchpiklz/ |date=April 21, 2008 }} 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, 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.vestax.com/v/products/players/qfo.html |title=Vestax Corporation |access-date=July 8, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704141543/http://www.vestax.com/v/products/players/qfo.html |archive-date=July 4, 2007 }} In 2006, he introduced the Qbert turntable cartridge, a model put out by Ortofon.{{cite web |url=http://www.djdeals.com/ortofonOMQBERT.htm |title=Ortofon OM Q-BERT Cartridge Free Shipping! |publisher=Djdeals.com |access-date=December 19, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130122012711/http://www.djdeals.com/ortofonOMQBERT.htm |archive-date=January 22, 2013 }}

File:QbertInBerlin.JPG, February 2008]]

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.

In a 2011 interview with the website WeBeVegan.org, Qbert stated that he is a vegan.{{cite web|url=http://webevegan.org/2011/11/16/dj-qbert/ |title=DJ Qbert: Connecting hip hop with veganism « |website=Webevegan.org |date=November 16, 2011 |access-date=December 19, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425231558/http://webevegan.org/2011/11/16/dj-qbert/|archive-date=April 25, 2012}}

Qbert's music was featured in the video game Tony Hawk's Underground and he appeared as himself on the Slam City Jam level. He also appeared as himself in DJ Hero 2.

• 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, 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

• Filipino hip hop

{{reflist}}

{{commons|DJ Q-bert}}

• [http://www.djqbert.com Djqbert.com]
• [https://artistworks.com/skratch-lessons-dj-qbert Qbert Skratch University]
• {{IMDb name|0702579}}
• [http://www.discogs.com/artist/DJ+Q-Bert Full Discography]
• [http://www.vimeo.com/6579455 Video of Q-Bert Live Set in UK]
• [https://www.twitch.tv/djqbert Twitch page]
• [https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/dj-qbert DJ Qbert Interview] at NAMM Oral History Collection (2020)

;Interviews

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061021012335/http://www.djtimes.com/original/djmag/mar01/qbert.htm Interview with DJ Times, 2001]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927065921/http://thecareercookbook.com/article.php?article_id=157 The Career Cookbook Interview with Qbert]
• [http://www.some-assembly-required.net/blog/2008/12/episode-221-some-assembly-required_13.html Radio Feature] The Some Assembly Required Interview with DJ Qbert (2008)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090822095213/http://hhcdigital.net/blog1/2009/08/19/hhc-digital-004-%E2%80%93-out-now HHC Digital interview about his DMC legacy]
• [http://conspiracyworldwide.podomatic.com/entry/index/2010-10-16T08_06_35-07_00/ Conspiracy Worldwide Radio October 2010 Uncensored Interview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110702170630/http://conspiracyworldwide.podomatic.com/entry/index/2010-10-16T08_06_35-07_00/ |date=July 2, 2011 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120425231558/http://webevegan.org/2011/11/16/dj-qbert/ Interview with We Be Vegan]

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Category:1969 births

Category:American musicians of Filipino descent

Category:American hip-hop DJs

Category:Filipino hip-hop DJs

Category:Living people

Category:Psychedelic rappers

Category:DJs from San Francisco

Category:Composers from San Francisco

Category:Culture of San Francisco