NIPP: Lyrics Born

Lyrics Born

Artist Website	Bio
Born one Tom Shimura in Tokyo, Lyrics Born spent his childhood years in Berkeley, California. It was there that his love for hip-hop was born. As a freshman at the University of California in nearby Davis in 1990, Lyrics Born met five people with whom his life would be inexorably linked. Chief Xcel and the Gift of Gab had recently formed the group that would come to be Blackalicious, and a young Josh Davis was already making his own mixes under the moniker DJ Shadow. An aspiring MC named Lateef the Truth Speaker, also from the Bay Area, showed up shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, Davis was a vacuum for hip-hop. As a result the five were drawn to the college’s radio station KDVS, where Jeff Chang (aka DJ Zen) held court on a weekly basis. Soon the six were inseparable and decided to strike out on their own. Forming the now seminal label Solesides, their inaugural release was a double-A 12" with DJ Shadow’s “Entropy” on one side and “Send Them” by Asia Born, as Lyrics Born was known then, on the other. Solesides’ “do it yourself” attitude had by this point already trickled down to other California artists, and soon other labels like Hieroglyphics and Stones Throw were formed, marking the true beginning of the underground scene. After leaving Davis in ‘95, the sextuplet agreed to continue releasing their own records, with Lyrics Born and Lateef’s LATYRX THE ALBUM at the forefront. This was an unprecedented hit, selling 30,000 copies, many of which were in California, but also with a strong following in Europe and the UK. It was at this point that Solesides transmogrified into the label now known as Quannum Projects. DJ Zen left to pursue a career as a writer but the rest of the crew charged on. In 1999 Quannum released SPECTRUM, a label compilation that had been overseen by Lyrics Born, as he was now known. Featuring jaw-dropping tracks like “Storm Warning,” the album would go on to sell nearly 100,000 copies worldwide. Much of the album’s success was attributed to the track “I Changed My Mind,” which featured Lyrics Born teaming up with the German collective known as the Poets of Rhythm. “I Changed My Mind” was a smash hit, blowing up charts around the world and selling tens of thousands of copies. The animated video (by the UK’s Shynola) was even aired on MTV, a first for Quannum. Lyrics Born’s role as one of Quannum’s top A&R men continued unabated, as he produced 2001’s US debut by the Poets, DISCERN/DEFINE, and the impending full length by Quannum songstress and Lyrics Born paramour Joyo Velarde. A man of many hats, Lyrics Born still found time to record the forthcoming solo debut LATER THAT DAY to be released early in 2003. Look for Lyrics Born on tour with Joyo Velarde and DJ D-Sharp this spring.

Bio

Born one Tom Shimura in Tokyo, Lyrics Born spent his childhood years in Berkeley, California. It was there that his love for hip-hop was born. As a freshman at the University of California in nearby Davis in 1990, Lyrics Born met five people with whom his life would be inexorably linked. Chief Xcel and the Gift of Gab had recently formed the group that would come to be Blackalicious, and a young Josh Davis was already making his own mixes under the moniker DJ Shadow. An aspiring MC named Lateef the Truth Speaker, also from the Bay Area, showed up shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, Davis was a vacuum for hip-hop. As a result the five were drawn to the college’s radio station KDVS, where Jeff Chang (aka DJ Zen) held court on a weekly basis. Soon the six were inseparable and decided to strike out on their own.

Forming the now seminal label Solesides, their inaugural release was a double-A 12" with DJ Shadow’s “Entropy” on one side and “Send Them” by Asia Born, as Lyrics Born was known then, on the other. Solesides’ “do it yourself” attitude had by this point already trickled down to other California artists, and soon other labels like Hieroglyphics and Stones Throw were formed, marking the true beginning of the underground scene. After leaving Davis in ‘95, the sextuplet agreed to continue releasing their own records, with Lyrics Born and Lateef’s LATYRX THE ALBUM at the forefront. This was an unprecedented hit, selling 30,000 copies, many of which were in California, but also with a strong following in Europe and the UK.

It was at this point that Solesides transmogrified into the label now known as Quannum Projects. DJ Zen left to pursue a career as a writer but the rest of the crew charged on. In 1999 Quannum released SPECTRUM, a label compilation that had been overseen by Lyrics Born, as he was now known. Featuring jaw-dropping tracks like “Storm Warning,” the album would go on to sell nearly 100,000 copies worldwide. Much of the album’s success was attributed to the track “I Changed My Mind,” which featured Lyrics Born teaming up with the German collective known as the Poets of Rhythm. “I Changed My Mind” was a smash hit, blowing up charts around the world and selling tens of thousands of copies. The animated video (by the UK’s Shynola) was even aired on MTV, a first for Quannum.

Lyrics Born’s role as one of Quannum’s top A&R men continued unabated, as he produced 2001’s US debut by the Poets, DISCERN/DEFINE, and the impending full length by Quannum songstress and Lyrics Born paramour Joyo Velarde. A man of many hats, Lyrics Born still found time to record the forthcoming solo debut LATER THAT DAY to be released early in 2003. Look for Lyrics Born on tour with Joyo Velarde and DJ D-Sharp this spring.