Lyrics Born
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Lyrics Born (formerly Asia Born, born Tom Shimura in Tokyo, Japan in 1972), is a half-Japanese-American, half-Italian-American hip hop MC. Through his childhood he lived in Tokyo and Salt Lake City, Utah, and has lived most of his life in the San Francisco Bay Area. He began his hip hop career while at college at UC Davis, where he was a DJ at the college station KDVS. He is a founding member of the group of artists known as Solesides (now Quannum Projects), along with Lateef the Truthspeaker, Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel of Blackalicious, DJ Shadow, and Jeff Chang (formerly known as 'DJ Zen'.) He is one half of the group Latyrx with Lateef; they released an eponymous debut album in 1997.
Lyrics Born released his first solo LP in October of 2003, Later That Day.... In April of 2005, Lyrics Born's latest album Same !@#$ Different Day was released on the Quannum Projects label. The album featured remixes of five songs from Later That Day... along with a number of new tracks.
Lyrics Born has collaborated with many artists including DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, E-40, KRS-One, Z-Trip (on the 2005 song "The Get Down"), Evidence of Dilated Peoples, Diverse (on the song "Explosive"), Tommy Guerrero, Casual of Hieroglyphics, R. L. Burnside (on the song "Someday Baby"), Morcheeba, Zion I, The Altered Egos, Pigeon John, and his wife, singer Joyo Velarde. He was instrumental in the signing of Pigeon John to Quannum in 2005.
Lyrics Born's rhymes showcase a large vocabulary, deployed via regular use of complex rhyming technique, such as phonemes and internal rhyme. His style is often conversational and observant. Songs such as "Before and After" explore the subtleties of day-to-day human relations.
He speaks on the song "One Session" of his support for religious pluralism:
"...Follower of the Nazareth son o' carpenters / Follower of the Middle Eastern sheep herder prophet / follower of the bald-headed Indian prince Siddartha / the motto I love is 'One conscience, one love.'.
His song Callin' Out was featured in a 2004 Diet Coke television commercial in the United States featuring actor Adrien Brody, in MLB 2006, and in the movie Waiting...
The live album Overnite Encore: Lyrics Born LIVE was released in late October, 2006, featuring a live set with a backing band, as well as three new studio tracks.
Contents |
[edit] Discography
[edit] LPs
- Later That Day..., (2003) Quannum Projects
- Same !@#$ [Shit] Different Day, (2005) Quannum Projects
- Overnite Encore: Lyrics Born Live, (2006) Quannum Projects
[edit] Singles
- "Burnt Pride", Solesides
- "Balcony Beach", Solesides
- "Hello" b/w "One Session", Quannum Projects
- "Callin' Out", Quannum Projects
- "Callin' Out Remix" b/w "Do That There Remix", Quannum Projects
- "I'm Just Raw" b/w "Pack Up Remix", Quannum Projects
[edit] External links
- Lyrics Born
- Lyrics Born Official Myspace Page
- Quannum Projects
- Interview with Lyrics Born at MTV.com
- Nichi Bei Times Interview
- Write a review on Lyrics Born
| Quannum Projects |
| Groups |
|---|
| Apsci | Blackalicious | Honeycut | Latyrx | Lifesavas | Lateef and the Chief (Maroons) | Poets of Rhythm |
| Members |
| Chief Xcel | Curumin | DJ Shadow | General Elektriks | Gift of Gab | Tommy Guerrero | Lateef the Truthspeaker | Lyrics Born | Pigeon John | Joyo Velarde |
| Full Length Albums |
| Latyrx (The Album) | The Muzapper Mixes | The Muzapper Remixes | Quannum Spectrum | Nia | Solesides Greatest Bumps | Discern/Define | Blazing Arrow | Spirit in Stone | Later That Day | Maroons:Ambush | 4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up | Thanks for Asking | Achados e Perdidos | Cliquety Kliqk | Same !@#$ Different Day | The Craft | Supreme Lyricism | Overnite Encore: Lyrics Born Live |
| EPs |
| Melodica | A2G |
| Affiliated Groups or Members |
| Solesides |
