This is one tribute night you don’t want to miss. Masters of their craft Cut Chemist and Dj Shadow are hitting the road together for a tour this September / October across the U.S.A paying homage to Hip-hop and Electronic music legend Afrika Bambattaa’s legacy in music. Not only touching on his own records, the dynamic duo will also be spinning vinyl handpicked from Bambaattaa’s extensive personal collection which stands at a staggering 40,000 records.

Approached by art curator Johan Kugelberg, the man behind acquiring Bambattaa’s collection for Cornell University, the pair were first asked to do a mix to honour the pioneering DJ’s legacy, which eventually transformed into the idea to do a live set with the actual records from his collection. Visiting a storage facility in Queens, where the collection were being kept before being transferred to their new university home the Chemist and Shadow combed through and chose which records they wanted to take with them on tour.  “As is usually the case when I’m spending long hours dealing with a large volume of vinyl, it was freezing cold, I was sitting on the floor, and food was scarce,” Shadow says, “such is the nature of the quest.”

“We were seeing ground zero for not just our generation, but many generations of music to come. His taste shaped hip-hop and modern music. Not to mention that these were the actual copies of the records that saw the original park jams in the Bronx at the very beginning. If these records could talk, imagine the stories they could tell. That’s what we’ll try to make them do with our set.” – Cut Chemist to Rolling Stone 

The show will consist of six turntables, two mixers, a drum machine and vintage gear that Shadow will play live to emulate Bambatta’s strongest period of influence but the focus will be “on the mix”. Seeking to on one hand create the ultimate ‘old school set’ the pair are also looking to transcend what people might expect and create something new essentially moving past the “Hey, remember this one?’ type of party according to Cut Chemist. “That’s never been how Shadow and I roll. We’re looking forward to seeing how we can flip certain now-famous songs and breaks into a new context while staying true to Bambaataa’s legacy and taste for that music.”

Tour Dates:
9/1 – Toronto, ON – Guvernment
9/3 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
9/4 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza
9/6 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts
9/8 – Washington, DC – The Fillmore Silver Spring
9/9 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage
9/11 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore Charlotte
9/12 – Atlanta, GA – The Loft At Center Stage
9/14 – Orlando, FL – House of Blues
9/16 – New Orleans, LA – House of Blues
9/18 – Austin, TX – ACL Live
9/19 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues
9/20 – Houston, TX – House of Blues
9/22 – Louisville, KY – Mercury Ballroom
9/23 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues
9/24 – Minneapolis, MN – Skyway Theater
9/26 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
9/27 – Aspen, CO – Belly Up Aspen
9/29 – Las Vegas, NV – Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas
10/1 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
10/2 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
10/3 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
10/7 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
10/8 – Seattle, WA – Neptune
10/9 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom

Via – Rolling Stone