DJ Stretch Armstrong
{{About|the DJ|other musicians also named after the toy|Stretch Armstrong (disambiguation)}}
{{short description|New York-based DJ and music producer}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
| image = Stretch_Armstrong_2011.jpg
| caption = Armstrong in 2011
| birth_name = Adrian Bartos
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1969|9|30|mf=y}}
| birth_place = New York, New York, U.S.
| other_names =
| alma_mater = Columbia University (BA)
| occupation = {{hlist|Disc jockey|radio show host|record producer}}
| years_active = 1988–present
| known_for = The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show
| module = {{Infobox musical artist
| embed = yes
| genre = {{hlist|East Coast hip hop|underground hip hop}}
| instrument = Turntables
| label =
| associated_acts = Bobbito Garcia
}}
}}
Adrian Bartos (born September 30, 1969) known professionally as DJ Stretch Armstrong is a New York-based DJ and music producer, known as a former co-host of hip hop radio show The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show, alongside Bobbito Garcia.
Early life
Bartos grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City.{{cite book | last1=Owerko | first1=L. | last2=Lee | first2=S. | title=The Boombox Project: The Machines, the Music, and the Urban Underground | publisher=ABRAMS | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-61312-810-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZtWdBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT39 | access-date=2020-04-20 | page=39}} He was obsessed with boomboxes as a child and had an older sister who was into early disco music in the seventies, bringing records home to listen to.{{cite web | title=On Their Debut Album, Stretch And Bobbito Are Taking 'No Requests' | website=NPR.org | date=2020-01-17 | url=https://www.npr.org/2020/01/17/797299976/on-their-debut-album-stretch-and-bobbito-are-taking-no-requests | access-date=2020-04-20}} He started DJing in downtown New York City, making his own concert flyers out of cardboard, scissors, and glue. Bartos graduated from Columbia University in 1994.{{Cite news |last=Telman |first=Nigel |date=February 24, 2021 |title=The Hip-Hop Project: A historical exploration into the relationship between Columbia University and the rap revolution |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/arts-and-entertainment/2021/02/24/the-hip-hop-project-a-historical-exploration-into-the-relationship-between-columbia-university-and-the-rap-revolution/ |access-date=August 4, 2022}}
Career
=Radio and music=
From 1990 to 1998, Bartos co-hosted The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show on Columbia University's WKCR. It featured exclusive demo tapes and in-studio freestyles from many then-unsigned pop artist such as The Brinson Club and hip hop artists such as Nas, Big Pun, Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe, Cam'ron, DMX, Wu-Tang Clan, Fugees, Talib Kweli, Big L and The Notorious B.I.G. who later found great success on major record labels.Bobbito Garcia in ego trip's Book of Rap Lists. Sacha Jenkins, Elliott Wilson, Chairman Mao, Gabriel Alvarez & Brent Rollins. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999 (pp. 110–11); {{ISBN|978-0-312-24298-5}} In 2020 the pair produced an album called No Requests with a group of musicians called the M19, named for a bus in Manhattan connecting the Upper East Side to the Upper West Side.{{cite web | last1=Cornish | first1=Audie | last2=Lonsdorf | first2=Kat | title=On Their Debut Album, Stretch And Bobbito Are Taking 'No Requests' | website=WFAE | date=2020-01-17 | url=https://www.wfae.org/post/their-debut-album-stretch-and-bobbito-are-taking-no-requests | access-date=2020-04-20}} The album is a reimagining of hip-hop's foundational songs with some updated lyrics and no sampling.{{cite web | title=Hip-hop radio DJs Stretch and Bobbito on their debut album No Requests - CBC Radio | website=CBC | date=2020-01-27 | url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/tuesday-jan-28-2020-stretch-and-bobbito-whoop-szo-and-more-1.5442122/hip-hop-radio-djs-stretch-and-bobbito-on-their-debut-album-no-requests-1.5442156 | access-date=2020-04-20}}
Bartos co-hosted NPR's podcast What's Good with Stretch and Bobbito which began in 2017.{{cite web | title=Adrian "Stretch" Bartos | website=NPR.org | date=2017-07-18 | url=https://www.npr.org/people/537945398/adrian-stretch-bartos | access-date=2020-04-20}}{{cite web | title=NPR is bringing back '90s hip-hop DJs Stretch and Bobbito | website=Nieman Lab | date=2017-04-19 | url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2017/04/npr-is-bringing-back-90s-hip-hop-djs-stretch-and-bobbito/ | access-date=2020-04-20}}{{cite web | title=Stretch & Bobbito On Race, Hip-Hop, And Belonging | website=WAMU | date=2017-07-26 | url=https://wamu.org/story/17/07/26/stretch-bobbito-on-race-hip-hop-and-belonging/ | access-date=2020-04-20}} The show which was about art, politics, and sports, as well as music, interviewed people such as Dave Chappelle and Stevie Wonder.{{cite magazine | last=Blistein | first=Jon | title=Pioneering Rap DJs Stretch and Bobbito Detail New NPR Show | magazine=Rolling Stone | date=2017-04-19 | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pioneering-rap-djs-stretch-and-bobbito-detail-new-npr-show-128762/ | access-date=2020-04-20}}
His musical career, along with Garcia, was made into a movie Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives, which was picked up by Netflix in 2015 on the 25th anniversary of the pair's radio show.{{cite web | title=DJ Stretch Armstrong Discusses 'Stretch & Bobbito' Documentary | website=Vibe | date=2016-11-03 | url=https://www.vibe.com/2016/11/dj-stretch-armstrong-no-sleep-book-documentary | access-date=2020-04-20}}{{cite web | author= officialdon | title=Stretch & Bobbito Film Highlights NYC Legends Who Put Lyricists On The Map | website=The Source | date=2015-10-09 | url=https://thesource.com/2015/10/09/stretch-bobbito-film-highlights-nyc-legends-who-put-lyricists-on-the-map/ | access-date=2020-04-20}}{{cite web | title=Stretch And Bobbito On Debut Album "No Requests," Radio Legacy | website=Vibe | date=2020-02-05 | url=https://www.vibe.com/2020/02/stretch-and-bobbito-no-requests-feature | access-date=2020-04-20}} The Source magazine called their show "The Best Hip Hop Radio Show of All Time" in 1998.{{cite web | title=The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show | website=Hip-Hop Radio Archive | date=1992-11-19 | url=https://hiphopradioarchive.org/browse/shows/The+Stretch+Armstrong+and+Bobbito+Show/ | access-date=2020-04-20}}
=Bibliography=
Bartos' first book, with archivist Evan Auerbach, No Sleep: NYC Nightlife Flyers 1988-1999 , was released through Powerhouse Books.{{cite web | title=No Sleep.: NYC Nightlife Flyers 1988-1999 | website=powerHouse Books | url=https://www.powerhousebooks.com/books/no-sleep-nyc-nightlife-flyers-1988-1999/ | access-date=2020-04-20}}{{cite news |last1=Caramanica |first1=Jon |title=Inside the Secret NYC Club Culture |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/644994773/ |accessdate=20 April 2020 |work=Sacramento Bee |date=December 25, 2016}} He explains that it's "a book that chronicles basically the history of New York City nightclubs from ‘88 to ‘99 as told through club flyer art."
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://stretchandbobbito.com/ Stretch and Bobbito film website]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stretch Armstrong, DJ}}
Category:American hip-hop record producers
Category:East Coast hip-hop musicians