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!