DJ Rob Flow

San Francisco born, DJ Rob Flow was born to spin records. Coming from a musical family, his father played upright bass in clubs on San Francisco's Broadway and his sister is an accomplished singer/songwriter and guitar player. His attraction to rhythm led him to start DJ-ing at the young age of 13. Growing up spinning in the dense DJ community of Daly City California with DJ's like the world famous Q-Bert, Apollo and Shortkut (Invisibl Skratch Piklz), gave Rob the opportunity to be influenced by the greats and taught by Q-Bert. He also formed his own original scratch patterns that were later praised by Total Eclipse of the X-ecutioners and Beastie Boys' DJ Mixmaster Mike to name a few.

In '93 and '94 Rob Flow, then known as DJ Robski, was notorious for his classic hip-hop mixtapes. After giving one to Del the Funkee Homosapien (Hieroglyphics The Gorillaz, Handsome Boy Modeling School), he asked Rob to become his DJ. Rob then worked extensively on Del's 3rd album Future Development and DJ'ed for Del on various domestic shows throughout the U.S. performing with Souls Of Mischief, De La Soul, Casual, The Alkaholiks and more.

In the winter of '97 Rob relocated to NYC to develop his style. In early ’98, his first club guest spot was given to him by the Reggae General, DJ Max Glazer (Federation Sound) for the now classic Indie 5000 parties. Green and fresh off the plane from Cali, Rob still rocked the house and became profoundly influenced by the traditional New York/East Coast style of party DJ-ing. Summer of '98 he toured Germany and Switzerland as part of the Marlboro Hip Hop BBQ Tour opening for the Invisibl Skratch Piklz and the X-ecutioners firmly planting his roots in turntablism. In '99 “DJ ROBSKI” didn’t feel like it fit anymore and Rob chose “Flow” to remind himself that great creativity comes from a constant flow of ideas. Soon after the name change, he produced "The Boogie Down BX" for the legendary Rock Steady Crew for their first single in 15 years. Rob also started working with a Brooklyn based promotions company called Blacklight Entertainment. Mr. Flow would go on working with Blacklight for 7 years under the tutelage of promoter Andre “Dre” Ricketts and being influenced by cats like DJ Snatch-One from Brooklyn and DJ Self.

It wouldn’t be until late summer 2000 that Rob got what he always wanted, a residency. It was at a small skinny bar in the Lower East Side called Angel with his crew homie DJ Clay Nice. Rob and Clay would go hard every week for 3 years straight helping to earn Angel the title of “Best DJ lounge of 2001” by Citysearch.com. Regulars to the famous Saturday Nights refer to those days as an “era”.

Now in ’06, Rob has successfully fused his West Coast style (emphasis on scratching and longer blends) with the East Coast style (juggling beats, quick cuts and mixes) to create a whole new style on the turntables as well as on the mic. To further the development of his style, he has also conceived and successfully thrown “F’Sho: all West Coast Music parties”, the only kind in NYC, where he and his crew play nothing but West Coast artists and East/West collaborations to celebrate the unity of both coasts on records, as well as playing everything from Snoop and Pac to Santana and Sly Stone.

Now 8 years deep in NYC, Rob Flow has carved his niche and is widely known for his style, energy, song selection, skills and presence behind the turntables on or off the mic. “Flow”, as the people call him now, currently has a residency at the slick downtown bar/restaurant Forbidden City (forbiddennyc.com) on Wednesdays and many quest spots when he’s not on the road performing with his band. Some of his current projects include producing LA based Hip Hop act LA Ricans (rudefunk.com) and working, performing and touring with Bacci (myspace.com/bacci), the Rock/Acoustic/Folk/Hip Hop band from Rochester selling out shows in upstate New York.