Turntablists produce musical pieces by mixing samples from records and utilizing numerous turntables as instruments. The members of the group were previously hip-hop DJs who were among the pioneers of the turntablism movement in the 1990s. Shadow of the Prophet was formed in 1989 by DJ Qbert, Mix Master Mike, and DJ Apollo, who departed the group in 1993. DJ Disk, Shortkut, DJ Flare, Yogafrog, D-Styles, and A-Trak were eventually added to the roster. They made a slew of mixtapes and CDs and appeared in documentaries including Battle Sounds and Scratch. The Invisible Skratch Piklz gave their final performance on July 1, 2000, at the Skratchcon 2000 conference in San Francisco, California.
The Piklz created the majority of their work between 1995 and 2000. At that time, they also conducted several concerts and seminars around the world, assisted in the design of various DJ devices like Vestax and Ortofon, and invented the “break record,” a tool utilized by the majority of modern turntablists. One of their most memorable performances was a duel with the New York X-Men (now the X-Ecutioners) in the International Turntablist Federation (ITF). Their group routine for this clash, which was shown on bootleg videos, was later recorded in a studio and released as The Invisibl Skratch Piklz Vs. Da Klams Uv Deth. Qbert, Mix Master Mike, Shortkut, and DJ Disk perform live on the Praxis album Transmutation Live, which was released in 1997. At the Soundset Festival in 2017, they played as Invisibl Scratch Piklz. The original trio did a set at the Fool’s Gold Day Off event at Midway SF on September 21, 2019.