RJD Who?

I've had this conversation on so many different occasions I am starting to feel that I do not even have to ask the question, "Oh, have you heard of RJD2?" anymore. The answer is the same every time. "Who?" So, today I've decided to grace you all with the name and information of a DJ (disc jockey if you are new to music, hah) who is incredibly creative both in his music and videos. Some of you have probably seen the stunning new video, "Work it Out", on MTV as RJD2 recently broke into the limelight, appearing frequently on MTV2 and MTVU. My first encounter with RJD2 was completely by chance. The year was 2002, and I was just a young lad going to see the progressive rock phenomenon Umphrey's Mcgee in one of the most beautiful cities in the world...my town...Chi-town. I was not thrilled to find out a DJ was to open for Umphrey's Mcgee, but about half an hour later I was forced to open my mouth and insert my foot. He took the stage with an ambient, slow beat. In the background gentle streams of blue, green, and orange light swept across the stage. A break dancer emerged from backstage and began to put on an amazing performance of gymnastics style moves. Just when I began to wonder when the musician would take the stage, the dancer back flipped in front of the DJ podium and began to spin. His insanity ensued throughout the show making it, at the time, the most off-the-wall concert of my youth. RJD2 records, performs, arranges, and produces his full length studio albums entirely by himself in his basement studio (XL Recordings is his original record label). He works with an MPC2000XL Sampler/Sequencer (used to make beats/percussion), synthesizers, keyboards, guitars, and his own voice to create entirely original compositions. Although his website does have mp3's from his latest 2007 release, "?The Third Hand?", in my opinion these are not his best tunes. For his finest work, I can not stress enough that "Work it Out" is one of the coolest music videos out there right now. His style is difficult to embody in words. It lays somewhere in a void between hip-hop and electronica. Just take a listen, it is no wonder that with his genre bending music he has been dubbed the "Instrumental Wizard".