Reid Speed began her DJ career in the New York City drum & bass underground. As a teenage raver full of passion for music she bought her turntables in early 1996 and began playing out less than a year later. Her early sets generated curiosity as one of few female DJs at the time but Reid quickly came to earn respect for her skills in the highly competitive NYC scene. By the summer of '97 she was a resident of rave promoters Stuck on Earth and the following year a member of the... Read more
Reid Speed began her DJ career in the New York City drum & bass underground. As a teenage raver full of passion for music she bought her turntables in early 1996 and began playing out less than a year later. Her early sets generated curiosity as one of few female DJs at the time but Reid quickly came to earn respect for her skills in the highly competitive NYC scene. By the summer of '97 she was a resident of rave promoters Stuck on Earth and the following year a member of the Direct Drive crew. At their numerous events she cut her teeth playing alongside the top names in US & UK drum & bass, 2 step and breaks.
At the same time Reid was serving as her college radio station's RPM director as well as working at Breakbeat Science, the US's first exclusively drum & bass store. Capitalizing on their large and widespread customer base, her demos soon spread across the country, which led to her travelling the US, Puerto Rico, Ireland, Canada, and Mexico. She also visited England and developed a love for UK Garage which inspired her to promote her own events. In 1998 she distributed her first garage/2 step mix and in 2000, Reid, DB and 4.0 Marketing came together to do a successful series of 2 step events, including the first UK Garage showcase at the 2000 Winter Music Conference.
By 1999 Reid had also begun working on original production, releasing "SIMPLOT" with FS on Jungle Sky, and in 2000 assisting Datcyde with a remix of NYC jungle anthem "Naughty Ride" featuring MC Blaise, which was released on Taciturn. 2001's saw the release of her debut mix cd, "Resonance", which yielded "Mr Fix It" with Ming & FS, and "Picture This" with DJ Seen. Then a remix of Le Tigre's "Dyke March 2001" followed. 2005 and into the '06 have seen Reid collaborate with Jon (S), Sense, MC Dino and DJ Swamp on an full length album of breaks and drum & bass that she hopes to release later this year. And In March 2006 her remix of Disorder's "Deadline" was released on Acumen Records.
In 2001, after thirteen self released mix tapes and one animated short movie for Showtime's Shonext channel, "Resonance" was released by Breakbeat Science. The mix garnered massive critical praise in publications like URB, Fader, Flaunt, and Paper, and was a commercially successful debut. In support of the release, a 40 date tour sponsored by Mixer magazine introduced her sound to an even wider audience. Immediately after wrapping that tour, Reid came home to NYC only to jump right on another tour, this time with Madhattan breakbeat kings Ming & FS. They did 28 dates in 30 days across America in an RV, like an indie band. Warming the crowd up for an average of 3 hours a night, Reid developed and fine tuned her now signature genre-blending style.
After that month on the bus Reid was primed for a massive change. She moved to Los Angeles, home of all things music to take her career to the next level. She found different audience on the West Coast, fans who embraced her love of breaks and house and welcomed her with open ears. She started Rude Sound, a party showcasing UK Garage and nu skool breaks.
Then in the summer of 2003, Breakbeat Science came calling for their second mix, a stormer entitled "Life After Dark". Inspired by the terrible tragedy of 9/11 and the bureaucratic decline of the NYC scene it was another step forward for Ms Speed. Another tour followed, supported by a number of full page ads and an extensive street marketing campaign with Triple 5 Soul, their "Define Your Soul" series with Jean Grae, Charlie Dark, and Peanut Butter Wolf. During that summer, Reid also recieved a call from a TV show looking for a special DJ to provide on-air flavor to the show. After competing against hundreds of male scratch/hip hop DJs, Reid was personally chosen by Jamie Kennedy to spin her own blend of drum & bass on his show, the Jamie Kennedy Experiment (WB). She went on to also appear as the DJ in an episode of Spike TV's MDN.
2005 saw Reid chosen to judge BPM Magazine & Rockstar Energy drink's "Beauty & the Beats" contest with Dj Rap and Colette. She and Colette then toured with the winner and appeared in more full page ads as well as on an episode of Bravo's "Blowout".
Her mixes and original tracks have recently been featured on Power 106's "Power Tools" show, Groove Radio, ibreaks.co.uk, and many of her original productions are currently being caned by some of the top djs and producers from around the world.
Stay tuned, keep it locked, for the best sounds are yet to come from the little beauty with the big beats! Show less
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