Editing Skiz Fernando (section)

===1993–1994: Beginning of music career and launching WordSound===
Working as a journalist allowed Skiz Fernando to make connections in the music industry, giving him an opportunity to launch his own music career. In 1993, while working on a review for [[Material (band)|Material]]'s ''[[Hallucination Engine]]'', Fernando contacted the band's bassist [[Bill Laswell]] to take an interview. The two immediately became friends, and afterwards, Fernando would frequently visit Laswell's studio. There he met other artists, including funk musician [[George Clinton (funk musician)|George Clinton]] of [[Parliament-Funkadelic]] and jazz drummer [[Tony Williams (drummer)|Tony Williams]].<ref name="bsun" /> With a $1000 loan from Laswell, Fernando launched his own record label.{{sfn|Wheaton|2022|p=99}} He called it WordSound, after a [[Dub music|dub]] [[compilation album]] ''Word Sound 'ave Power: Dub Poets And Dub''.<ref name="dubspot" /> A warehouse in [[Williamsburg, Brooklyn]] was used as the label's headquarters.{{sfn|Shapiro|1999|p=373}}

WordSound released its first albums in 1994: ''The Red Shift'' compilation album and ''Scarab'' by the band Scarab.{{sfn|Shapiro|1999|p=374}} The band initially consisted of Skiz Fernando and his friend Professor Shehab.<ref name="bandcamp_daily">{{cite web|last1=Freeman|first1=Philip|title=The Roots of Dubstep Echo in the Haunting Sound of '90s Label WordSound|url=https://daily.bandcamp.com/label-profile/wordsound-label-dub-brooklyn|website=[[Bandcamp Daily]]|access-date=August 16, 2023|date=January 12, 2017}}</ref> During that time, Fernando was trying to capture the music of like-minded artists around himself. The resulting compilation ''Certified Dope, Vol. 1'' was released on WordSound in 1995, under the name Crooklyn Dub Consortium. The collective, apart from Fernando, also included drummer [[Doug Scharin]] as HiM, Bill Laswell as Automaton, the duo Sub Dub, Dr. Israel, and the band We™.{{sfn|Fintoni|2022|loc=Tape 4 – Destruction Of Syntax}} According to [[AllMusic]]'s Rick Anderson, the album "heralded the emergence of a new sound in underground music".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Anderson|first1=Rick|title=Various Artists - Crooklyn Dub Consortium, Vol. 1: Certified Dope Album Reviews, Songs & More|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/crooklyn-dub-consortium-vol-1-certified-dope-mw0000648415|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=12 August 2023}}</ref> In 2015, ''[[Fact (UK magazine)|Fact]]'' magazine placed it at number 13 on their list of the 50 best trip-hop albums of all time, describing it as an album that "blended the dusty [[boom bap]] that ruled the city at the time with the mixing desk mysticism of Jamaican dub".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Twells|first1=John|last2=Fintoni|first2=Laurent|title=The 50 best trip-hop albums of all time|url=https://www.factmag.com/2015/07/30/50-best-trip-hop-albums/|website=[[Fact (UK magazine)|Fact]]|access-date=12 August 2023|date=30 July 2015}}</ref>