RJD2

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RJD2
Background information
Birth name	Ramble John Krohn
Also known as	RJ
Born	May 27, 1976 (1976-05-27) (age 32) Eugene, Oregon, United States
Origin	Columbus, Ohio, United States
Genre(s)	Hip hop, electronica, rock, pop
Occupation(s)	Producer, Instrumentalist, Singer
Years active	1993–present
Label(s)	Definitive Jux XL
Associated acts	Soul Position
Website	www.rjd2site.com

RJD2 (born Ramble John "RJ" Krohn on May 27, 1976) is an American music producer, singer and musician. RJD2 was born in Eugene, Oregon, and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was signed to the Definitive Jux label where he released two largely instrumental hip hop albums and has produced tracks for many prominent rappers. However, he has now left Def Jux and has signed with XL Recordings.^[1] His latest album, The Third Hand, is a striking departure from his usual style and features RJD2 singing and playing instruments on nearly every track.

[edit] Biography

RJD2 originally began his career in Columbus, Ohio, DJing in 1993 with a pair of turntables bought from a friend. He went to High School at Fort Hayes School of the Arts and graduated in 1994. He claims his name originates from another friend who referenced him as "Rjd2" in his raps, and the name stuck.^[2] Originally working the role of DJ in the Columbus rap group MHz, he later signed to Bobbito Garcia's Fondle 'Em label, releasing the self-proclaimed "mix CD" Your Face or Your Kneecaps. A year later he signed to El-P's record label Definitive Jux and released his solo debut album Deadringer to much acclaim. Rjd2 later collaborated with Columbus rapper Blueprint under the name Soul Position, releasing Unlimited EP in 2002 and 8 Million Stories in 2003. He released his second solo album Since We Last Spoke on Definitive Jux in 2004 and released Soul Position's third album Things Go Better with RJ and AL in 2006 under Rhymesayers Entertainment label. He still continues to produce tracks, working with many independent rappers, such as Copywrite, Cunninlynguists, Cage, MF DOOM, Diverse and Aceyalone. Recently he contributed a cover of "Airbag" by Radiohead for the 2006 album "Exit Music". He has recently announced that he has left Def Jux and will be going for more of a 'pop route'. RJD2 has been extremely popular in the skateboarding and skateboard filming subculture, frequently used in montages. RJD2 has a new track called "Christmas Eve Montage" from the new Nightmare Before Christmas album "Nightmare Revisited".^[1]

On his blog, RJD2 recently stated he has an album slated for 2009.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Main albums

• Deadringer (2002)
• Since We Last Spoke (2004)
• The Third Hand (2007)

[edit] EPs

• The Horror (2003)

[edit] Mix albums

• Your Face or Your Kneecaps (2001)
• Loose Ends (2003)
• Lobster and Scrimp (2003)
• In Rare Form: Unreleased Instrumentals (2004)
• The Mashed Up Mixes (2004)
• Constant Elevation (2005)

[edit] Instrumental albums

• 8 Million Stories Instrumentals (2003)
• Magnificent City Instrumentals (2006)
• The Third Hand Instrumentals (2007)
• Things Go Better Instrumentals (2007)

[edit] Singles

• "Rain"
• "Pilot study (Genital Edit)"
• "Here's What's Left"
• "Let the Good Times Roll"
• "June" (w/Copywrite)
• "1976"
• "Through the Walls"
• "The Horror b/w Final Frontier (Remix)" (w/Blueprint, Vast Aire, Aesop Rock & Murs)
• "Ghostwriter (Cat-Gut Edit)"
• "Exotic Talk"
• "Counselling" (w/MHz)
• "True Confessions"
• "Get Off My Spaceship Bitch"
• "You Never Had It So Good"
• "Final Frontier"
• "Holy Toledo"
• "Hondo" (w/ Nyles Sanna and Delicious Memories)

[edit] Collaborations

• MHz - Table Scraps (2001)
• Pryor Convictions - The Dirty Birds (Rjd2 & Poppa Hop)
• Unlimited EP - Soul Position (Rjd2 & Blueprint) (2002)
• I Really Like Your Def Jux Baby Tee - Definitive Jux Presents II (Rjd2) (2002)
• 8 Million Stories - Soul Position (Rjd2 & Blueprint) (2003)
• Rjd2 Meets Diplo from Hollertronix - Diplo (Rjd2 & Diplo) (2004)
• Haul & Mason 11th Hour Mega Mix - (Haul & Mason & Rjd2)
• Magnificent City - Aceyalone (Aceyalone & Rjd2) (2006)
• Things Go Better with RJ and AL - Soul Position (Rjd2 & Blueprint) (2006)

[edit] Appearances

• The track "Ghostwriter" has been featured in a number of advertisements, including those for Washington's Lottery, Wells Fargo financial services, Anadin Extra painkillers in the UK, also in Habitat skateboard company's video "Mosaic", it was used by Brian Wenning and Tim O'Connor and Saturn. It is also the theme song to TNT's "Inside The NBA", and appears in the soundtrack for the movies Prime and Wimbledon. The song also appears in the freestyle skiing movie, The Hit List in 2004. It's also featured in the now defunct rollerblade magazine/DVD, "LIFE PLUS VIDEO MAG #5". Finally, the radio talk show "Design Matters with Debbie Millman" on Voice America Business uses this track as a lead-in and on air theme to introduce guests, monologues, and to signify the start of the show itself.
• The track "The Horror" is featured in a Levi's commercial in the UK (titled "Moonbathing").
• The track "Clean Living" appears in the video game "NFL 2K5".
• The track "Act 2" appears in the video game "NBA 2K5".
• The tracks "Schoolyard Scrimmage Intro" and "Schoolyard Scrimmage Outro" appear in the video game "NBA 2K6" and its soundtrack.
• The track "Good Times Roll Pt. 2" has appeared in PBS station WTTW's advertisements.
• The tracks "Welcome To New Radius", "Vandal Squad! Laylo Mix", "Opening Scene", "C.C.K. Turf", "Still Free Crew", "VaNR Turf" and "Hello My Name Is Mr. 9_06" in the video game "Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure". All of the tracks apart from "Opening Scene" also appeared on the CD bundled in the limited edition of the game which formed the soundtrack.
• The track "De L'Alouette" appears in Adidas José + 10 aired during the 2006 FIFA World Cup
• The Track "Since We Last Spoke" appears in the Mountainbike Film ROAM from 2006. The song also appears in the freestyle skiing movie, The Hit List in 2004.
• Multiple tracks have appeared in Paul Rodriguez's skateboarding video, "Forecast".
  • Since We Last Spoke - First Montage
  • Smoke and Mirrors - Paul Rodriguez's Part
  • Final Frontier - Credits
• A short edit of the instrumental track "A Beautiful Mine" is used on the intro for the television series Mad Men on AMC.
• The instrumental for the track "Final Frontier" appears in snowboarding movie "Paradox".
• The Absinthe films snowboarding movie "POP" covers two tracks: "1976" in Gigi Rüfs part and "Since we last spoke" in Matt Beardmore's part.
• The Track "Get it" was used in Time's Up from CSI:NY season 4 episode 4.
• His song, “It’s Your Crew” is the official anthem for the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer. ^[3]
• The track entitled "De L'alouette" was featured in the international Train Graffiti film "Reasonable People"

[edit] References

Good Times Roll(Part 2) plays for the introduction and The Horror plays for Travis Rice' part in Absinthe Films "Saturation."

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Definitive Jux website
• Caught In The Crossfire Interview
• Synthesis Magazine Interview
• JamBase: Got To Do What You Got To Do - Interview
• RJD2 Discography on Discogs.com
• RJD2 Live at SXSW 2007 on 89.3 The Current
• RJD2 Playlist from The Breezeblock on BBC Radio 1
• RJD2 Concert Jam Review
• "Droid and Bass: RJD2" --interview with starwars.com
• Camp Bisco RJD2 Concert Review