Biography
Groundbreaking, charismatic, stylish, distinctive - these are just some of the words that have been used to describe Lyrics Born. With a career spanning over a decade, Lyrics Born began as an underground MC who while in college at UC Davis met up with fellow Bay Area artists DJ Shadow, Blackalicious and Lateef The Truth Speaker. This tight knit crew joined forces with famed author Jeff Chang and MTV producer Joseph Patel to form the seminal independent label, Solesides. In 1997, SoleSides released Lyrics Born's first full length debut with Lateef entitled Latyrx: The Album. With the success of Latyrx, LB and co. reinvented the model for independent hip-hop record labels, as the album went on to sell 100,000 copies worldwide.
In the late 90s SoleSides underwent personnel and image changes and re-emerged with a new identity and new purpose. Quannum Projects was born, and in 2000 QP released its first album, a compilation executive produced by Lyrics Born himself entitled Spectrum. Once again, with LB at the helm, Spectrum proved a massive success, and went on to sell over 150,000 copies globally. A large part of that album's success was attributed to the Lyrics Born track, "I Changed My Mind", which sold robustly on its own, and blew up on charts, and video shows all over the world.
In 2003 Lyrics Born dropped his long awaited solo debut album, the now classic magnum opus, Later That Day. LTD took off like a rocket, and LB saw the spotlight on MTV's You Hear It First as well as dominating top 10 lists and receiving unanimous praise from fans and critics alike. The success of Later That Day can be largely attributed to the ubiquitous hit, "Callin' Out", which was a monster on college and commercial radio. The song stayed at #1 for five weeks on the influential San Francisco radio station, Live 105 - the first hip-hop song to ever achieve such status, as well as the first #1 single for LB's own, Quannum Projects. Meanwhile "Callin' Out" and other songs from Later That Day hit a worldwide audience by being featured in international commercials for Diet Coke and Motorola as well as US commercials for Tower Records and Vans. His songs also began appearing in feature films such as Michael Mann's "Collateral", the cult-hit comedy, "Waiting" and even on television's Gilmore Girls and various MTV and ESPN programs.
Unofficially dubbed as 'King of the Road', Lyrics Born toured far and wide in support of Later That Day logging over 150 shows in '04 alone. Incorporating his signature blend of hip-hop, funk, soul, rock (and of course that unmistakable voice), he emerged as one of the few hip-hop artists to be backed by a 4-piece band, as well as Quannum songstress and par amour, Joyo Velarde. LB ransacked Europe, Asia, North and South America, selling out headlining slots on his own, as well as supporting a broad variety of genre-giants such as The Roots, De La Soul, Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, and Modest Mouse. In late '04, as LTD approached 125,000 sold, LB came full circle with his original crew; DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Lateef and Joyo Velarde as well as the Lifesavas for a sold out US extravaganza, aka the Quannum Tour.
In 2005, scarcely 18 months after his debut album, Lyrics Born triumphantly returned with Same !@#$ Different Day. Quickly becoming Quannum's fastest selling album, LB's second release boasted guest appearances and production from E-40, KRS-ONE, DJ Shadow, Dan The Automator, Evidence of Dilated Peoples, Morcheeba, and more. Same !@#$ Different Day solidified Lyrics Born's position as one of the top MC's/producers in the game. Once again we saw history repeat itself when songs from his sophomore album garnered a plethora of top 10 nods including Village Voice and NPR's Fresh Air. Lightning also struck twice at radio as Lyrics Born returned to the Live 105 top 20, scoring heavy rotation with the Dan The Automator produced hit, "I'm Just Raw". Major licensing continued as Lyrics Born songs were featured loud and proud on such high profile TV shows as HBO's hit series, Entourage and Six Feet Under as well as numerous million selling video games from EA Sports, 2K Sports and Atari. If that wasn't enough, the LB smash hit, "Callin' Out" resurfaced in '05 as one of the standard songs on the Motorola iPod phone. Finally, the standalone track "Big Money Talk" made it's way on the big screen in Justin Lin's smash film, Fast and The Furious III: Tokyo Drift.
2005 also saw the launch of one of the few successful artist owned online retail sites, The Lyrics Born Variety Store -- catering to his fans with rare music, hard-to-find items and Variety Store exclusives. Touring nonstop, Lyrics Born once again spanned the globe playing another 150 plus dates including appearances at the Oakland Art & Soul Festival, Reggae on the River, Vegoose, and Northern California's largest live music event, Live 105's BFD.
2006 was another big year for Lyrics Born. He executive produced the latest album from up and coming Quannum hip-hop artist, Pigeon John as well as the highly anticipated debut album from Joyo Velarde. He also proved once again that he's got the funkiest show around by pulling off the festival superfecta with appearances at Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Langerado, and Australia's Good Vibrations Festival. Touring Europe and America extensively, he played to jam-packed venues including two consecutive sold-out nights at London's Jazz Café. A self described "clothes horse", LB fed his habit by partnering with Puma, Adidas, Diesel, Evisu, and more. EA Games, X-Games, and Weiden & Kennedy also came calling, securing LB and co. to play their exclusive, private events. LB further expanded his repertoire by making television appearances on G4's Attack of the Show, DangerousTV, FearlessmusicTV, MTV Australia's Total Request Live, E! Entertainment and reunited with Fast and the Furious 3 director, Justin Lin for his big screen acting debut in Lin's film, Finishing The Game which world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Rounding out 2006, LB released Overnite Encore: Lyrics Born LIVE!, his first live album - a rarity among hip-hop artists. Overnite Encore was given 3.5 out of 4 stars in Rolling Stone magazine and was heralded by many critics as one of the best live Hip-Hop albums ever recorded. In celebration LB launched a North American co-headlining tour with Cut Chemist (Jurassic 5), immediately followed by a headlining Australian/New Zealand tour with Pigeon John. One of the tour's highlights included a Myspace Secret Show which coincided with LB as a Myspace Featured Artist.
Totaling the sum of all his album, guest appearances, production and executive production in all formats, Lyrics Born has achieved nearly one million units sold -- making him one of the best selling independent hip-hop solo artists of our time. He has risen from an underground MC to a major Hip-Hop icon on the national and international touring circuit, and has earned the reputation as one of the most exciting and consistent in the game. He is currently recording his 4th album, due out in the fall of 2007 through Epitaph records and co-marketed by his own, Quannum Projects. This, combined with an exciting new web presence via an interactive video blog called LBTV, an internet street team and consistent updates all through his Official website, LyricsBorn.com and his Official Myspace as well as plans for a new world tour, Lyrics Born continues to move forward with a music and media career that - much like his fanbase - continues to grow in leaps and bounds.
