User:Mak2117

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kane, born Matthew A. Kane on May 27, 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts is an underground rapper who distances himself from what he labels "Pop Rap" that is flooding the hip-hop industry in today's mainstream music society. His lyrics focus on politics and social conciousness, rapping about the racial divide in America to the Bush administration. He plans on releasing a debut album in May of 2006, with guests spots from various underground MCs including long time mentor and CK, the founding member of the indie group The Trilogy. Kane doesn't claim to come from the hood or to have pushed drugs or busted guns and realizes that he has had it easy relative to many people in America. Critics love to point to this as a reason that he should not be rapping; that he should leave that to people who grew up in bad neighborhoods or sold rocks to get by. Kane sees this as negligible, as most of the people who use this argument are fans of rappers like 50 Cent and Nelly. Kane feels his background is not a factor in his lyrical ability, as there are plenty of rappers who claim to be what the media portray as "thug," yet come from higher socio-economic backgrounds than he does. Kane is actually superseding many racial boundaries, and is well able to cope with the many insults that come his way of behalf on bigotry and superficial socially installed presumptions about which culture is entitled to which types of music; in turning to rap and avoiding stereotypical "gangsta" labels, Kane is able to strike down negative racial sentiments that stem from ignorance on both the part of African Americans as well as white Americans.

[edit] Biography

Unlike most rap artists of today, Kane does not come from a broken home or a rough neighborhood. Born in Boston and living in the Brighton section, Kane moved with his mother and father to Newton, Massachusetts as a young boy, just next door to his old neighborhood. Though Newton was a very expensive city to live in, his family found a small home that they could afford so Kane could go to school in the city's well-known school system.

In 7th grade Kane's family moved out of the small ranch home they had bought ten years prior and moved to a larger house that better accomodated Kane, his parents, and his two siblings. The next year saw a turning point in Kane's life. Having hung out with, as he would put it, the "wrong crowd," Kane saw himself slipping in his schoolwork and getting into trouble. His parents decided that they could not let this happen and encouraged him to apply to private school. Kane did this, despite having doubts of being able to get into one of these institutions, as he had tried before and had been rejected, and also of his desire to even want to attend such an institution. Despite being suspended that year for his conduct toward a teacher, Kane was accepted at Belmont Hill School.

At Belmont Hill, Kane struggled to keep up academically as the change from a public school to a private school with a reputation of strict academics was a big one. During Kane's sophomore year America was struck by tragedy on 9/11. Though at the time unaware of the repercussions of this incident, Kane understood later the profound effect it would have on both himself and the American population as a whole.

Despite being at a much stricter school with more personal attention, Kane still got into trouble, this time being suspended for a week for his foolish involvement with drinking on a spring break community service trip. Kane made it through the rest of his high-school career without getting into any more trouble despite the school's attempt to try to expell him for an incident off-campus involving a prank (swirly) with another student.

Kane was accepted into Columbia University under the early decision policy. Since being there Kane has involved himself in rap after living on the same floor as CK, a music artist and producer from San Francisco. Since this introduction, Kane has expanded his musical horizons and has met with many other rappers and producers on campus and in the New York City area.

[edit] Music Career

Though having to devote a lot of time to school, Kane has found time to both write and record songs. Having written a few songs in high school under the name Suga Kane, Kane had no means in which to record them and thus could not begin producing songs until college when he met CK who had the equipment to record that Kane did not. As Kane puts it, "as far as rap goes I'm emergin' from infancy / and that means my talent will skyrocket infinitely." Thus, Kane has only just begun and will be making serious moves in the game in the upcoming years.

Critics claim that while Kane is lyrically talented and can bake a mean chocolate cake, his flow needs improvement and expect Kane to work on this aspect of his rap in the near future.

Kane's influences include Immortal Technique, Talib Kweli, and Common, among others.

[edit] External links

• Purevolume site Kane's music can be both streamed and downloaded here.