DJ Format AKA Matt Ford's debut album "Music For The Mature B-Boy" is one of the slowburn success stories of 2002. An album of soulful, funk fuelled hip hop packed with infectious beats and lyrical dexterity, it delivered in spades on the promise of his early releases for Mo' Wax and Bomb Hip Hop. Received with quiet acclaim in the press it quickly became a word of mouth triumph, going on to establish itself as one of the most successful debut artist album's in UK hip hop/alternative urban/dance scene. The campaign was successful for a number of reasons not least it's supporting batch of three incredible music video's all directed by then unknown Ruben Fleischer. ...show more

DJ Format AKA Matt Ford's debut album "Music For The Mature B-Boy" is one of the slowburn success stories of 2002. An album of soulful, funk fuelled hip hop packed with infectious beats and lyrical dexterity, it delivered in spades on the promise of his early releases for Mo' Wax and Bomb Hip Hop. Received with quiet acclaim in the press it quickly became a word of mouth triumph, going on to establish itself as one of the most successful debut artist album's in UK hip hop/alternative urban/dance scene. The campaign was successful for a number of reasons not least it's supporting batch of three incredible music video's all directed by then unknown Ruben Fleischer.

The most famous of these will undoubtedly be the rap and breakdancing costumed animals of 'We Know Something You Don't Know' featuring the vocals of Chali 2na and Akil of Jurassic 5 - played out by a shark and tiger respectively on the big screen it is an unforgettable piece of feel good hip hop. "Music For The..." also led to Matt supporting Jurassic 5 on their European tour, and through subsequent touring in 2003 establishing Format & Abdominal as one of the hottest live hip hop tickets in town culminating in triumphant appearances at the Reading & Leeds festivals of 2004 and worldwide touring taking in the whole of Europe, North America and (most recently) Australia. "We played a lot of shows, but Leeds & Reading was an amazing moment for me because it had been a while since the album, a while since me & Abs had toured and the first time doing shows with D-sisive, explains Matt." So we didn't know what to expect. But when we came out on stage, the tents were packed with kids going crazy, and I realised at that moment things were gonna be ok this year." Now DJ Format is ready to climb back into the ring with his new album "If You Can't Join 'Em...

Beat 'Em". A masterpiece of loop-digging construction, "If You Can't Join 'Em..." sees Format stepping up a gear, tightening the loops still further for a tougher, leaner sound. Like the Tarantino of beats, Format seeks out lost musical odds & ends, splicing and pasting favourite moments together to create future hip hop with a classic feel. Format's signature b-boy instrumentals, down-tempo sketches and body rocking backdrops are interwoven seamlessly throughout the record, simultaneously hooking in both the casual initiate as well as the most hardened crate spotting freak. ...show less