DJ Rashad's Double Cup changed the way many of us listened to music forever. His use of evocative soul and R&B samples looped over syncopated triplet drum patterns, and the effortless way he manipulated them into frantic yet liquid mantras, was breathtaking. From Heavee to Kode9, Rashad dazzled those who watched him work up close. No one seemed to have a better grasp on rhythm, or a clearer idea of what they intended to do with it.

Born on October 9th, 1979, in Hammond, Indiana, Rashad Hanif Harden was the only child of Anthony and Gloria Harden. The family moved over the state line to the Chicago suburb of Calumet City shortly after. Rashad was drawn to beats early on, discovering the sounds of first-wave house, Detroit techno and electronic music from overseas at Jubilation, a local club for kids in sixth grade through high school. In 1992, still only barely a teenager, the bug bit Rashad and he started to dance and DJ.

His involvement in music mushroomed after meeting Morris Harper (AKA DJ Spinn) at Thornwood High School in South Holland, Illinois. Initially, they produced tracks together solely to perform at house parties, but before long each landed releases on legendary Chicago label Dance Mania during its fabled '90s run. In the early '00s, Rashad and Spinn began a collective and label called Ghettoteknitianz, which morphed into Teklife in 2011. By this point footwork was already spreading across the globe, establishing Rashad and Spinn as two of the genre's most recognisable and beloved advocates.

While the double cup on Rashad's statement record refers directly to lean—the treacly, codeine-infused drink sipped liberally in the footwork scene at the time—the album isn't limited to party tracks. Double Cup was flush with emotion. Tracks like "Feelin," "Leavin" and "Let U No" show Rashad's softer side and a generosity of spirit also evident in a life anchored around community and paying it forward.

On April 26th, 2014, Rashad died of an overdose on Chicago's West Side. His death had a J Dilla-like effect on the electronic scene, with people from around the world mourning the sudden loss of a pioneer, mentor and friend. We gathered some of Rashad's collaborators, protégés and family members to commemorate his life and honour his legacy.

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Anthony and Gloria Harden

"At our house, we played music every day," said Gloria Harden, Rashad's mother. "He loved all types of music." The young Rashad's penchant for records can be traced back to his parents. As their only child, they brought him to concerts like Kool & The Gang, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, and Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. In 1982—the year of Thriller—Rashad memorised every one of Michael Jackson's dance moves, and the Hardens showed off his talent at parties.

Gloria and Anthony Harden remember their son as a "good soul" and "kind-hearted." Rashad was, Gloria said, "complicated, personal and also shy. Believe that. He was very shy and [self-deprecating], so he would underplay who he was. He wasn't a braggadocious person. That's why we didn't know [success] was happening for him."

Anthony added: "He was very humorous. He could be very funny at times. Mischievous, most definitely. But very generous and family-oriented. One of the things I marvelled at was the bond he had with his son, Chad. The pride and nurturing he did with his son—he was just so kind and so thoughtful. We couldn't believe our child had grown up."

"Nobody can take his place. He's our Michael Jordan. Forever."

Traxman

Traxman met Rashad in 1997 through RP Boo. He had his own crew called the GETO DJz who were "allies" with DJ Clent's Beatdownhouse (which Rashad was initially a part of). Later on, Traxman became a formal member of Teklife.

"Rashad was a beautiful guy," said Traxman. "Likeable, too. He was the type of guy that would pick up strays—and I don't mean that in a bad way. But if he saw dogs that were lonely or needed a house, he would bring them home. He was just a people's person. He was a team player more than he would ever be a leader, and that's what people loved about him."

Traxman believes Rashad's influence goes beyond just electronic music. "He embodied so many sounds, like myself. Sometimes he took it a step further. He was an envelope pusher. He would take music from where it came from and bring it to other places on a whole other level. We would never think about merging footwork tracks with jungle and drum & bass. I called him the 'Track God.' Nobody can take those titles. Nobody can take his place. He's our Michael Jordan. Forever."

DJ Spinn

Rashad and Spinn met each other a few times in passing before serendipitously ending up at the same high school.

"He invited me over to his house after school, probably a week since we first really started locking in with each other," Spinn said. "I never touched a drum machine before that. That's when bro really gave me a shot at opening up about the music stuff."

The young pair made formative mixes like Track Factory together, as well as collaborating on tunes, before launching the collective that would eventually become Teklife.

"We hung so tight, we came up with our own language and our own codes for everything," Spinn added. "Every time I get on the beats, it's like his spirit never died. We just keep it alive. It's like he never went nowhere when it comes to the music. It's melancholic—it makes me sad, but it also makes me smile."

Released in 2013, Double Cup is one of footwork's defining albums.

Ashes57

Delphine Ettinger, AKA Ashes57, was involved in the dubstep scene as a photographer and the head designer of Swamp 81 before meeting Rashad. Living in East London, she quickly became entranced with footwork when Rashad and Addison Groove were booked together at London’s Corsica Studios in March 2010. Ashes57 connected with Rashad at an art gallery, before the pair listened to music together all night long at her place. "Like many others who met Rashad, I was totally charmed by his kindness, and that marked the beginning of our friendship," she said.

A few weeks later, Rashad asked Ashes57 to join him on tour, which became the eventual subject of a photo book. "He truly became my best friend," she continued. "His energy was amazing. He used to make tracks next to me, and I used to spend hours drawing next to him. It was a perfect match. The music he created was so inspiring that I had a million creative ideas flowing through my mind. It wasn't long before we started to collaborate." It's Ashes57's artwork adorning both the original Double Cup LP and 2023's anniversary reissue.

"Rashad used samples in a way that not many people use them," she said. "Every track that he made sounded like a personal message that made us feel in tune with our inner emotions. Each track felt like a secret whisper. That is what got me hooked on his music."

"[Rashad] inspires me to use sound to have conversations—not just using words, but sounds themselves."

Suzi Analogue

Suzi Analogue discovered Rashad by listening to mixtapes from Philadelphia, Baltimore and other club music hubs. 2004's My White Tee was a memorable standout. She finally got the chance to see him and Spinn DJ in Brooklyn around 2009-10. "One thing I'll always remember about hearing him live is being surprised by how diverse the crowd was for the type of music they were dancing to," she said. "It felt very surreal. I grew up with the hood DJ sound when performing in local dance groups as a kid, but it was different to experience that sound being played and understood in the transcendent way that Rashad played it."

"Sonically, Rashad inspires me to keep soul and creativity at the core of my own dance experiments," she added. "He inspires me to use sound to have conversations—not just using words, but sounds themselves. The pure creativity and risk-taking in his music is something that I just flat out identify with. And I fully understand it, too, especially coming from the Black youth experience in America."

"160 BPM has become a tempo standard," she continued, about the long tail of Rashad's influence. "Rappers are dropping 'sped up' versions for their tracks. Regional Black dance music cadences are all over global pop music. Hardcore bass is what we still live for. The quirkiest of homegrown tracks are the ones winning and resonating with people everywhere. People are dancing city to city like we haven't seen in decades. None of this is coincidence. This is all proof that Rashad was—and is still—here."

"He was a riot to be around, always talking people up and encouraging everyone to keep going with their passion for music."

Jana Rush

Jana Rush met Rashad at WKKC 89.3 FM, the radio station of Kennedy-King College in Chicago. "Rashad was a smart, charismatic and chill guy," she said. "He was a riot to be around, always talking people up and encouraging everyone to keep going with their passion for music. He always uplifted me and said positive things to me to keep me going and to stay away from the negative side of the music scene."

She continued: "One of the biggest influences Rashad had on me was the importance of paying it forward, [to] always inject positivity, always seek new ways to flip samples and drums and hold your head up and apply pressure to the haters."

"He expressed gratitude multiple times for the Japanese support. The mood was about moving forward together to energise the world."

DJ Fulltono

Japanese producer DJ Fulltono performed alongside Rashad during a Hyperdub tour of the country in 2014, but he first came across his work through the Girl Bust Down EP, released a decade earlier.

"He was serious about music," Fulltono explained over email. "He spent little time in the green room, instead choosing to listen to all of the DJ sets. He expressed his gratitude to me multiple times, thanking me for the Japanese support. Without him, juke and footwork would still be Chicago-only music. It's to his credit that so much 160 BPM dance music has become commonplace in clubs [around the globe]."

"Rashad spearheaded a movement that helped usher footwork culture into a digital era."

Heavee

Chicago footwork artist Heavee first heard Rashad's music around 2004-5, either at Markham Roller Rink or at a shop selling tapes and CDs in the local shopping centre. Some time later, word got round to Rashad that Heavee was making cool music, and he asked Heavee to give him a call. "He saw something [in me] that I didn't at the time," he said.

Heavee described Rashad as a "cool big brother, or a young fun uncle. He loved cracking jokes and having a good laugh. He told it like it was—he didn't sugarcoat. No matter where he was he was the same."

Heavee will always remember getting haircuts and white T-shirts with Rashad before a show, and eating at Steak 'N Egger afterwards. Or the way Rashad would regale everyone with stories of footwork breaking through in different countries around the world. On a personal level, he encouraged Heavee to "find your stride and kill it, make heat, stay focussed. It wasn't complicated. Be a good person. He never asked anything of me I couldn't handle."

He continued: "Rashad spearheaded a movement that helped usher footwork culture into a digital era. He jumped right in front of it. Footwork in films, TV, games, books. He wanted to spread the gospel and it worked."

"[Watching Rashad DJ] was like molecules being rearranged throughout my brain and body. It was like someone playing sounds from the future."

DJ Wawa

DJ Wawa was an assistant agent at Surefire Agency when they first heard about Rashad. "We were discussing Rashad and Spinn, and whether to take them on or not," they recalled. "The consensus at the time was that he was 'hard to work with'—at least that's what people I worked with had heard."

Any apprehension folded when staff saw Rashad spin for the first time later that week. "What happened that night was like molecules being rearranged throughout my brain and body; just music I'd never heard before, at a speed I wasn't used to," they added. "It was like watching someone playing sounds from the future." Later, when Rashad, Spinn and DJ Taso stayed in the Bay Area to work on what would become Double Cup, Wawa received a behind-the-scenes look at a classic in the making.

"In terms of my generation, the whole gravity of the term '160' being its own kind of musical genre is from Rashad," said Wawa. "Fast music has been normalised since. He played music that people recognised, faster and cooler than they'd ever heard. He appealed to underground heads and punters, was seen as a bright light of joy by everyone he touched and showed a lot of genuine humility for someone who found themselves in a place no one had really been before."

"There's no way to talk about music in the 160 BPM space without mentioning Rashad and Teklife."