* En anglais uniquement
One of the handful of DJs to make the jump from mixtapes to the major labels,
DJ Clue? hooked up with
Jay-Z's Roc-a-Fella Records camp for a bit in the late '90s, then moved on to his own camp, Desert Storm Records. The Queens native built his reputation with street-level mixtapes and quickly became one of the city's leading DJs, graced with the latest tracks by the biggest names. Popular New York hip-hop station Hot 97 brought him aboard for a while in the late '90s alongside fellow DJ heavyweight
Funkmaster Flex. The air time furthered his reputation, and
Jay-Z in turn invited him to join forces with Roc-a-Fella, which released
Clue?'s major-label debut,
The Professional (1997). The album featured primarily exclusive tracks, each boasting one of New York's top rappers, everyone from
Nas and
Mobb Deep to
DMX and
Ja Rule. A second volume followed in 2000, and in the meantime
Clue? toured with Roc-a-Fella in support of
Jay-Z's
Hard Knock Life album as documented on Backstage (2000). He then parted ways with Roc-a-Fella and embarked on his own path, establishing Desert Storm Records and debuting
Fabolous in 2001. Years later, once
Jay-Z ascended to the position of president of Def Jam,
Clue? recorded The Professional, Pt. 3 (2006). ~ Jason Birchmeier