After years of absorbing his uncle’s mammoth record collection and witnessing Grandmaster DST perform with Herbie Hancock, Mix Master Mike set on a path to reinvigorate turntable experimentation. After playing weddings and house parties, he met like-minded record-manipulator DJ Q-Bert, and over the next half-decade, the two would team up to win several global DJ titles, before forming the seminal outfit The Invisible Skratch Picklz. The Beastie Boys would soon catch on to Mike’s unique assemblage of basic breakbeats and futuristic scratching and hire him to collaborate on HELLO NASTY, and become their resident DJ. On the heels of that exposure, Mike also released a handful of solo LPs and mix CDs, including the lauded ANTI-THEFT DEVICE in 1999.