MG Smith aka DJ Matman is one of London’s most skilled & in-demand club DJs, here is his story…

Back in the late 90′s a kid named Matt started out playing eclectic DJ sets in his hometown of Bristol, England, gaining his first residency before he was old enough to legally be allowed in the clubs.

Matt moved up north to study in the city of Leeds, managing to achieve a degree in Human Biology despite spending most of his time DJing in clubs, bars & house parties, on student radio and at the city’s biggest hip hop night ‘Drum Major’ – performing opening sets for many big name US & UK hip hop acts. Now nicknamed Matman, he gained further notoriety by entering and winning many dj contests, including the prestigious UK DMC Supremacy, UK ITF, and European Turntable Techniques championships.

Matt headed to London in 2005, where his refined combination of raw skills, party-rocking talent & mastery of multiple music genres soon earned him residencies in London’s hottest nightspots – from celebrity hangouts Bungalow 8 and The Box to world famous concert venues such as Jazz Cafe and HMV Forum. He has since rocked star-studded parties for the likes of Wella, Bloomberg, the BAFTA awards, the Mercury Awards, NFL, NBA, Absolut Vodka and the Gumball Rally, and shared stages with big name acts such as De La Soul, Roy Ayers, A-Trak, Guru, Jazzy Jeff, Pete Rock, Estelle, Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, Public Enemy, The Noisettes, Grandmaster Flash, The Pharcyde, Q-Bert, DJ Spinna, Marley Marl, DJ Premier, Asher Roth, and many, many more. Matt has performed in over 15 different countries across the globe, and DJed at many major festivals including Glastonbury, Bestival, Lovebox, Parklife, and Soundwave in Croatia.

Matt DJs (and VJs) a diverse range of styles for many kinds of audiences, from House to Rock and everything inbetween, in his ethos there are ultimately just two kinds of music – good, or bad. Nevertheless he still expresses his Hip-Hop roots by championing underground forms of the genre as co-founder, promoter, podcaster, DJ and writer for London-based hip hop collective Droppin’ Science, as a Hip Hop ambassador for Mixcloud, and as tour dj and producer for the 8-piece hip hop/rnb covers band ‘Soul Symphony’.

Alongside his brother Daredevil, Matman produced the soundtrack for the IOS app ‘Skillz the DJ Game’ remixing tracks from the likes of Ministry Of Sound, Stones Throw Records, Hospital records, Ninja Tune and Om records, scooping an IGF award for ‘Excellence in Audio’ in the process. In 2013 he released an acclaimed EP of mashups, one of which featured on the E4 TV show ‘Rudetube’. Earlier this year he spent some time working with Mark Ronson, helping him to create and perform the VJ segment of his recent TED talk.

In 2013 Matman was rated amongst DJ Yoda’s list of the top 100 DJs in the world.