Rob Swift

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Rob Swift (born Robert Aguilar) is an American hip hop DJ and turntablist. He was a former member of the turntablist group The X-Ecutioners in late 2005 and 2006, with Mike Patton’s project Peeping Tom.

From January 2010 through May 2015, Swift has hosted the online hip-hop radio show Dope on Plastic on Scion A/V Streaming Radio 17.

In August 2012, Swift became the resident DJ for a new late night college sports TV talk show on ESPNU called UNITE.

In September 2014, Swift became a Professor at the New School for Liberal Arts in New York City. He is currently teaching the Dj Skills & Styles course and his research includes Hip Hop History and culture as well as Musical Composition via turntable techniques. http://www.newschool.edu/lang/faculty.aspx?id=101905

Early life

Born and raised in Jackson Heights, Queens, by Colombian heritage, Swift (born Robert Aguilar) began DJing at the age of 12 by watching his father and brother. “My dad was a salsa and merengue DJ. My brother learned how to scratch and do all the hip hop deejaying stuff on my dad’s equipment (without his permission) and I’d sit there and watch him. When I entered the sixth grade, I decided I wanted to learn.” So unlike those who were influenced through hip hop records, DMC and NMS tapes, or movies, Swift educated himself with the classic turntable beats of the early 1980s New York playground pioneers while listening to funk and jazz at home. “My older brother exposed me to all that,” he says. “All the stuff I create as a DJ is rooted in the songs that I heard from Bob James, Herbie Hancock and James Brown to Quincy Jones and old DJs like Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizard Theodore. That’s where my roots are.”