It was as a DJ for parties thrown by the late artist JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT that Nicholas Taylor was given the title DJ HIGH PRIEST by Basquiat himself. Jean Michel would later pen the name in some of his drawings, paintings and adverts for his parties. High Priest's production skills have their origins in his early DJing. He opened for COOL HERC, JAZZY JAY and then BAMBATTA at Club Negril in New York City 1982. The list goes on as he intimately worked with FAB FIVE FREDDY and PHASE 2 and in those early days he was the DJ for THE NEW YORK CITY BREAKERS in their first gigs. Back then MICHAEL HOLMAN was the man who organized most of these events like gettung the boys on RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT and PM MAGAZINE. In those early days there was many a trip up to the South Bronx to check out those early Hip Hop pioneer DJ's at spots likeT CONNECTION and THE FEVER.. Priest would do what was called "hawking" which means hanging out next to the DJ and soaking in their techniques. In 1983 he toured with the New York City Breakers as they made several excursions up to Boston opening up for the likes of SOUL SONIC FORCE and GRAND MASTER FLASH and the FURIOUS FIVE. One of those "hawking" moments happened when Grand Master Flash jumped on his turns in Boston and the 2 men traded jams. Priest got a chance to observe the master at very close range. Another highlight came when as the house DJ for STEVE MASS's "THE EARTH's EDGE" (later to be renamed THE WORLD), High Priest was jamming and BUSY B jumped onstage and freestyled over the beats for several hours as the jam went on until the wee hours. High Priest is also featured in the historical GRAFFITTI ROCK DVD which is another Michael Holman extravaganza. In 1984 he was asked by his friend STUART ARGABRIGHT of DOMINATRIX fame to become the DJ for Stuart's new project DEATH COMET CREW. This was an infamous band of wildstyle DJing and sound effects. They played at historical clubs such as DANCETERIA and THE PYRAMID CLUB. Though the band was short lived back then, the boys including THE RAMMELLZEE, MICHAEL DIEKMANN and SHIN SHIMOKAWA reunited in 2004 performing in New York's prestigious CMJ festival and touring Japan in 05 and in France 06.