Music Essentials: J.Rocc

Pivotal from the younger years of hip-hop, J.Rocc represents an era when DJs were considered turntablists and hip-hop sounded much more soulful. Founder of the prolific Beat Junkies with Melo-D, Rhettmatic, and later joined by DJ Babu, Shortkut and D-Styles, J.Rocc’s seminal make-up not only provides timeless appeal in his DJ sets, but narrates a long list of stellar releases spanning funk, soul to his own productions for Stones Throw. Having worked closely with the late great producer J Dilla as a member of Jaylib, in addition to being the tour DJ for Madlib, J.Rocc’s eloquent and often rare music selection coins him as a DJ’s DJ.

A nonstop globetrotter, J.Rocc’s Music Essentials shows the long-term DJ’s adaptation with the times, with Serato, MacBook Pro and iPod Nano proving his tech-savvy side. Other gadgets include a one terabyte hard-drive, a device which not only holds stacks of music and Ableton sessions, but some of hip-hops most coveted — unreleased J.Dilla tracks. While J.Rocc’s Tour Mix CD provides 14-tracks of solid goodness,  the 20th Anniversary Beat Junkie timecode vinyl and astute needles case extends J’s ethos in true-school hip-hop.