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DJ Bedz a.k.a. Cassidy Bednark was born in Boulder, Colorado. Thanks to parents that carried the ideals of the 1960’s, Bedz had the fortune to be exposed to liberal thinking and open mindedness at a very early age . DJ Bedz’s very first encounter with rap music came when his mother bought him a copy of “King of Rock” by Run-DMC in 1984. Soon after, Bedz developed a fascination with rap music and the politics of race. He was inspired to seek out a less homogenous environment than the mostly middle-upper class, Caucasian surroundings of Boulder.

After graduating high school, Bedz matriculated to Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. Occidental was, and continues to be, one of the finest private colleges in the country. Most importantly however, Occidental specializes in multicultural studies while maintaining one of the most diverse student bodies in the nation. While at school, Bedz was able to study the dynamics of sex, class, and race while majoring in Music Composition and serving as a Residence Advisor for the multicultural dorm on campus. College was also when DJ Bedz first tried his hand at deejaying after getting turntables as a Christmas present. Soon after, Bedz was doing house parties and Greek events at Occidental, UCLA, USC, and Marymount College.

Once DJ Bedz started taking deejaying seriously, he picked up the stage name The White Shadow. The original “White Shadow” is a 1980’s television series about an out-of-place white basketball coach working with a mostly black high school team. Bedz thought The White Shadow was a good name because it encompasses the white attributes of his life along with the “shadow” of what is less apparent on the surface. Bedz believes strongly that being white, just like most issues of race, is something that needs to be open and discussed rather than pretending that it is not a factor in the way he is perceived. In Bedz’s mind, it is crucial for people to deal consciously with their prejudices in order to make real progress. Part of the appeal in the name White Shadow is that it is seemingly a contradiction. The blatant contrast between “white” and “shadow” is basically the same as the inconsistency: Hip-Hop Caucasian. Therefore, DJ Bedz himself takes pride in being unique in that aspect.

Currently, DJ Bedz is working the club scene, handling radio mixing responsibilities at 107.1 One FM/Denver and Raw 66/XM Satellite Radio, residing as the team DJ of the Denver Nuggets and All-Star DJ for the NBA, and promoting his nationally distributed mix CDs. Bedz has worked in the past for the nationally syndicated radio mix company ZeoMix, where his "Old School Mini Mix" and "Urban Mini Mix" where his mixes were heard in over 25 markets across the United States. DJ Bedz is entering his 5th full year as the official DJ for the NBA's Denver Nuggets, and has been hired three times by the NBA to work the All-Star Game festivities as well. In February of 2005, DJ Bedz was the featured guest DJ on an episode of "Rap City" on BET making the first ever DJ from Colorado to appear on that show. During that same week, Bedz was employed by the NBA to work the Club NBA stage of the NBA's Jam Session as well as spinning the NBA Celebrity Game on EPSN. In the summer of 2005, DJ Bedz finished as one of the top 6 mixers in the entire country for a Mixshow Power Summit contest to land a spot on Superadio's Baka Boyz program. As the number of his Mix CDs approaches 50, Bedz has surpassed the 100,000 units mark thus cementing his status as the "Mix Tape King of Colorado". On 5/1/06 DJ Bedz had 2 of his mix CDs (The Anthem & I've Been Waiting On You) featured on MTV's "Mixtape Monday", and on 7/31/06 MTV featured his Ice Cube CDs on the same program. More recently his "Old School Party To Go Vol. 2", "Capone Carmelo Kustomz Vol. 2", and "Mile High Shadyville" CDs have also appeared on the show. In February 2008, Bedz landed a mixing and hosting spot on XM Satellite Radio. His "White Shadow Radio" can be heard by XM's 8-Million subscribers every single Friday night on Raw 66 at 9PM EST. In terms of national crew affiliation, DJ Bedz is the Denver representative of Whoo Kid's exclusive Shadyville DJ Team. DJ Bedz is also a proud member of the Denver-based Radio Bums Crew, a group of DJs that has had a stranglehold on urban music in Colorado for close to 10 years. Last but certainly not least, DJ Bedz recently became the 10th honorary member of the Pepsi DJ Division by winning the Pepsi Superstar DJ Competition. As the music and culture of hip-hop continue to grow and expand, large cites such as Denver stand poised to establish an identity and make contributions to the urban music community. Talented, hardworking, and professional artists like DJ Bedz will no doubt help to carry the torch for Denver in years to come.

www.djbedz.com