| Artist: Lyrics Born |
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| Discography: Lyrics Born |
| Wikipedia: Lyrics Born |
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| Lyrics Born | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Tom Shimura |
| Also known as | Asia Born |
| Born | 1972 in Tokyo, Japan |
| Origin | Berkeley, California, United States |
| Genres | Hip hop Pop Rock Funk |
| Occupations | Radio DJ, MC, Producer, Recording Artist |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1992 – present |
| Labels | Quannum Projects, Epitaph Records |
| Associated acts | Quannum Projects Latyrx |
| Website | http://www.lyricsborn.com |
Lyrics Born (formerly known as Asia Born, born Tom Shimura in 1972), is an Asian American rapper. He is one half of the group Latyrx with Lateef the Truthspeaker.[1]
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Through his childhood, he lived in Tokyo, Japan, Salt Lake City, Utah[2], and Berkeley, California[3].
He graduated from St. Mary's High School, located in Berkeley California in 1990.[4]
He began his hip hop career while at college at University of California, Davis, where he was a DJ at the college station KDVS. He is a founding member of the seminal, independent record label, Quannum Projects. Born came up with fellow Bay Area and UC Davis companions Gift of Gab, and Chief Xcel of Blackalicious, Lateef the Truthspeaker, DJ Shadow, Joseph Patel, and Jeff Chang (formerly known as DJ Zen).
He changed his stage name from Asia Born to Lyrics Born in 1995 citing the desire to have his career based on his merits as opposed to his race.[5]
In 1993, Lyrics Born released his first single "Send Them", under the moniker "Asia Born", on the independent record label Solesides. Years later Solesides was disbanded and reformed as the current Quannum Projects label.
Lyrics Born released his first solo LP on Quannum Projects, Later That Day, in October 2003, which spawned the hit single, "Callin' Out". The album features guests such as Cut Chemist of Jurassic 5, Gift of Gab, Lateef the Truthspeaker and Born's wife Joyo Velarde. In April 2005, he released a remix album, Same !@#$ Different Day which was again released on his own Quannum Projects label. The album features remixes of five songs from Later That Day along with a number of new tracks which feature guests such as Bay Area legend E-40, hip-hop icon KRS-One, Stereo MCs, Casual of Hieroglyphics, Evidence of Dilated Peoples, DJ Shadow and Joyo Velarde. Also in 2005, Born released The Lyrics Born Variety Show: Season One CD, which was essentially an old-school mix tape vibe with remixes and blends of his studio albums as well as guest appearances on other artist's songs in addition to exclusive tracks.
He has toured relentlessly for years in North America, South America, Australia, Europe and Japan and averages 150 shows per year.
Early in 2005, Lyrics Born replaced his usual DJ, D-Sharp with a live band. The original band consisted of versed Bay Area musicians Kevin Choice (keys, vox), B'nai Rebelfront (guitar, vox), Darius Minaee (drums) and Uriah Duffy (bass, vox). Over the years the line-up has also consisted of other various musicians including bassist Marcus Phillips, drummer Thomas McCreary and keyboardists Mike Blankenship (Lauryn Hill) and Kat Ouano of fellow Bay Area group Crown City Rockers.
In 2006, he released The Lyrics Born Variety Show: Season Two CD mixed by DJ Enki, comprised once again of remixes, guest appearances, collaborations and exclusive material.
Lyrics Born's first live album Overnite Encore: Lyrics Born LIVE was released on October 31, 2006. It was recorded in Australia and features half of the album from Sydney and the other half from Melbourne. The album is a live set featuring his backing band, as well as three new bonus studio tracks including the hit song "Knock Knock". The album received a 3.5 out of 4 star review in Rolling Stone magazine and featured artists such as Mistah F.A.B., Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Pigeon John and Tim "Herb" Alexander of Primus. The CD was the first live album to be released by Quannum Projects.
His third mixtape, "The Lyrics Born Variety Show Season Three", featuring guest appearances by Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, The Gift of Gab, Lateef the Truthspeaker, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Joyo Velarde, Jake One, Pigeon John and more, was released in February 2008. The album was first released as a limited edition download available only on his website for $1.99. The mixtape featured exclusive tracks from his then upcoming new album, "Everywhere at Once", as well as previously unreleased studio tracks.
Lyrics Born released his 2nd full length studio album, "Everywhere at Once" on April 22, 2008 on Epitaph/Anti- Records. The album is the MC/Producer's first studio release to integrate members of his live band instead of primarily sample-based loops. The record also features Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, Joyo Velarde, C-Holiday, DJ D-Sharp, Myron Glasper and hip-hop producers Jake One and Trackademicks who co-produced some of the album's tracks. The executive producer was Lyrics Born himself.
The album spawned a video for the hit single, "I Like It, I Love It" which features the MC in various character costumes including Merlin the Wizard, Army Soldiers, Mr. T and more. The video was directed by Neon and was featured on MtvU, Australia's Rage and MySpace. The song itself was featured in the 2009 reboot of the movie, Friday the 13th, which was #1 at the box office its first week out.
Other singles off the album that followed were "Hott 2 Deff", "Differences", "Top Shelf" and "Whispers", the latter of which also spawned a music video showcasing images of the MC's late friend, Benjamin "Mack B-Dog" Davis (whom the song was written about) intercut with performance footage of Lyrics Born. The video was directed by HKL Films and included in Pitchfork.com's top videos of 2008.
Everywhere at Once was the most downloaded hip-hop album of the week on iTunes in its second week out.[citation needed]
In March of 2009 Lyrics Born released "Funky Hit Records", the first single off of his forthcoming new album, 'As U Were'. The track was released on the internet as a free download to fans and was quickly picked up by Australia's Triple J Radio who began to play the song on air. Similar instances happened in the US when KEXP in Seattle began playing the track as well. The Lyrics Born/Trackademicks-produced song's launch included a music video which was featured on YouTube, gaining nearly 250,000 views to date. Riding the momentum of the song's buzz, the track was worked to college radio where it ended up at #1 on both RapAttack and RapNetwork charts.
Lyrics Born is currently set to release a fourth mixtape in his hit franchise, 'The Lyrics Born Variety Show', featuring collaborations, remixes, exclusives and special guests. The mixtape is being released via Born's own Mobile Home Recordings in conjunction with VTech. The mixtape's release date is July 7th, 2009 and features artists such as Kasabian, Soulico, Dosmoccos, Joyo Velarde, J-Boogie and more. Coinciding with the mixtape release is a new single and music video for the Latyrx reunion track, "Pushed Aside, Pulled Apart". The track features Lateef the Truthspeaker while the video is being directed by Ra LaMotta from ApSci.[6]
In the fall of 2008 Lyrics Born became the voice over announcer for Cartoon Network's new Friday night franchise, 'You Are Here'. The MC currently voices bumpers for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Batman, The Secret Saturdays, Ben 10: Alien Force and more.
In 2009 the vocalist was featured as part of an exclusive radio ad campaign for the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, CA.
Lyrics Born's rhymes showcase a large vocabulary, deployed via regular use of complex rhyming technique, such as phonemes and internal rhyme. His style, which is influenced by groups like The Sugarhill Gang and Ice Cube is often conversational and observant. Songs such as "Before and After" explore the subtleties of day-to-day human relations while "The Last Trumpet" (with Lateef) features a very politically charged and globally conscious mindset.
Lyrics Born has collaborated with many artists including Kasabian, Galactic, DJ Shadow, The Bamboos, Soulico, Dosmoccos, Blackalicious, Jurassic 5, DJ Z-Trip (on the 2005 song "The Get Down"), Diverse (on the song "Explosive"), Tommy Guerrero, R. L. Burnside (on the song "Someday Baby"), Morcheeba, Zion I, Mistah F.A.B. and Pigeon John.
He was instrumental in the signing of Pigeon John to Quannum in 2005 and executive produced and A&R'd the first album from the Los Angeles-based rapper on Quannum Projects, Pigeon John and the Summertime Pool Party, which was released in 2006. He has produced the debut album from Joyo Velarde and is currently working on his forthcoming record, 'As U Were', due in the first quarter of 2010.[7]
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