ES – Tdot Toronto Rap Artist – Indie Spotlight @HGMonsterEs

ES holla at me and I dig the music, so scroll below for music and a short bio!

  1. King
  2. Speak Out
  3. Talk To Me

Based out of Mississauga (suburb of Toronto), Es is an avid fan of hiphop as well as a student of hiphop.  Inspired by influences from the golden era of hip hop and music in general, Es makes a conscious effort to take it back to the essence of hip hop…hard beats and raw rhymes.  Since 1991, Es has been writing rhymes on and off as a hobby with no real intent to enter the music industry.  It has and will always be for the love.  This is the approach he has taken towards writing, recording and performing.

As ¼ of a hiphop crew called Gill Breathing (http://www.gillbreathing.com) formed in 2007 with family members Solar C, Mathematik and Elaquent, Es is excited to make music with such talented artists.  One of the milestone moments with Gill Breathing included the opportunity to open for Reflection Eternal in June 2010.

In early 2009, Es joined forces with Introspect (Stefan Tochev) and mutual friends Lep (Lamine Martindale) and iNA (Bhalinder Bedi) to form Homegrown (http://www.wix.com/deemes/homegrown).  The crew put in some work, eventually releasing their debut album entitled “Bin Doin’ This” in Mar 2011, followed by their 90’s inspired mixtape tribute to their favourite hiphop influences in Feb 2012.  The mixtape was entitled “Homegrown presents…HGmix Vol 90’s” (http://www.hgmixtape.com).

Motivated and inspired by these and other collaborative efforts, Es began recording his own solo material. With his debut LP titled “Feud For Thought”, Es’ love for life and hip hip shines through. Released on July 3rd 2012, ” Feud For Thought  is available on his bandcamp site (http://esmuzik.bandcamp.com).

On the strength of the Feud For Thought release, a video was released for a powerful song that truly embodies one of the themes of the album in general…YOUTH EMPOWERMENT. The song is called “Speak Up & Speak Out.

The video can be viewed here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5g-2QdsBOQ

For more information on Es:

http://www.twitter.com/HGmonsterEs

http://esmuzik.bandcamp.com

http://www.youtube.com/esmuzik76

http://www.facebook.com/esemeelango

http://www.soundcloud.com/eseme

 

Big L – Happy Born Day Brethren

Lamont Coleman, better known as Big L, was an American Rapper.  Born on May 30, 1974, and raised in Harlem New York.  Big L began his hip hop career with Three The Hard Way.  His first pro appearance was on Lord Finesse’s “Yes You May (Remix)”.  He started his own indie label, Flamboyant Entertainment.  Lamont died in 1999 when an unidentified assailant shot him up in a drive by shooting in Harlem.  Due to the unfortunate circumstances, his manager Rich King finished his album, The Big Picture in 2000 for him.  Since then he has been released on multiple tapes which is filled with his unreleased material.

Big L started working his material in 1991 approximately, where he had a group Three The Hard Way.  This soon became Two Hard M**thaf**kas when one of the members left.  He also had a group with Mase and Cam’ron called Children of the Corn.  After having his first appearance with Lord Finesse, Big L also had his first album appearance on Showbiz & AG’s Runaway Slave on the song “Represent”.  In that same year of 1992, Big L won a huge rap battle with over 2000 contestants and was held by Nubian Productions.

The year after in 1993 Big L was signed to Columbia and became a member of DITC (Diggin In The Crates).  Big L dropped his first promotional single “Devil’s Son” who Big L claims started the horrorcore rap movement.  Big L based it on his love for horror flicks and the scary things he seen growing up in Harlem.  Big L then dropped his second promotional single “Clinic” in 1994 and then “Put It On”, with which a video was made.  Big L then dropped “No Endz, No Skinz” in 1995.

Big L hit it big in 1995 with his debut album, Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous.  He was dropped by Columbia and then he started his own label Flamboyant.  Big L stated it was due to creative differences that he left and was dropped.  In 1997 Children Of The Corn was stopped due to the death of one of their close friends of the group, Bloodshed.  In 1998 Big L dropped “Ebonics” on his indie label which got sizable following and love.  In 1999 he was about to be signed to Rocafella with Jay Z, until he was killed in the same year.  A documentary is supposed to be released in 2012 “Street Stuck” in honor of Big L.

RIP Big L

Happy Born Day Heavy D

One of the pioneers and hall of famers in Hip Hop is Heavy D, born on May 24th 1967.  He was one of the top hip hop producers when I was a kid in elementary in the late 80’s and had a group which also included dancers, which was Heavy D & The Boyz.  Heavy D held a sizable fan base throughout his career until his untimely death.  He is also the cousin of Pete Rock according to wikipedia.

Heavy D was born in Mandeville Jamaica and then moved to Mount Vernon New York, in the early 1970’s where he was raised.  He got his start with Uptown Records and worked with Eddie F (DJ, Producer, Partner) and dancers T.Roy and G-Wiz.  Their debut in 1987, Living Large, was a commercial success, and it went well from then on.

Dancer T.Roy died in 1990 at the age of 22 in Indianapolis.  Due to these occurrences, the upcoming album at the time, Peaceful Journey, had numerous songs dedicated to him.  Pete Rock also dropped “TROY, They Reminisce Over You” as a tribute as well.

Heavy D also was known for singing the theme song for In Living Color and Mad TV.  Heavy also performed the rap on Michael Jackson’s “Jam” and Janet Jackson’s “Alright”.  From that point, Heavy D did a string of acting gigs and recorded more music and was even featured in music videos, namely “One More Chance” by Biggie.  He also convinced Uptown Records to hire Diddy, and eventually became president of the label.  He then became senior president of Universal Records.

 

Late Happy Born Day to Big Poppa

Hip Hop legend and pioneer from where Brooklyn at, celebrated his birthday on May 21, 2013.  A central figure of the New York rap and hip hop scene, he was regularly hailed as the king of New York.  Biggie also brought his childhood friends into the game.

Biggie got involved in crime when he was a 12 year old child and eventually dropped out of school.  He was known as intelligent and could get good grades but was drawn to a different life.  After getting in trouble with the law, he eventually made a demo tape that was heard by the Source magazine and DJ Mister Cee, and became an instant success as the magazine featured him as an unsigned hype.  Soon he was overheard by Puff Daddy who has since become the most wealthiest hip hop businessman and the friendship and business relation grew from there.

Puff got Biggie onto Uptown Records where he recorded his first major record which was with Heavy D titled “A Buncha N#ggas” on the album Blue Funk.  Puff at the time worked for Uptown as an A&R and a producer but was fired soon after signing Biggie.  Puff started his own label and the rest is history.  Biggie soon left the drug game and the buzz came and the love came.  Here below is my favorite song by Notorious and I also feel it is his most uplifting, as the chorus tells listeners to keep their head up and reach for the stars over an infectious bassline and melody.

Roc Raida – Happy Born Day

Roc Raida aka known as Grandmaster Roc Raida, was born on May 17th, so let’s wish our hip hop brethren a born day, a happy on.  Unfortunately he died, due to cardiac arrest from an accident that happened while training Krav Maga.  His latest album is available for listen and sale.  Cop and support!

One Luv

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