Kwamé

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This article is about the rapper. For the basketball player, see Kwame Brown.

Kwamé Holland (born Queens, New York, USA) was an American rapper who enjoyed brief popularity in the late-1980s and early-1990s. He is currently a music producer sometimes credited as K-1 Million or K1 Mil.

1 Career
2 Trivia
3 Discography
4 Production credits
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Career

He was 16 years old when he released his self-produced debut album, Kwamé the Boy Genius Featuring A New Beginning in 1989. A New Beginning was his backing band and Kwamé was one of the rare rappers at the time to use a live band. The album spawned the hit singles "The Man We All Know and Love" and "The Rhythm". The accompanying music videos featured a polka-dot motif in the costumes and production design. This was to become Kwamé's trademark and started a hip hop fashion trend as fans began wearing polka-dotted clothing. In 1990, his second album A Day in the Life: A Pokadelick Adventure was released. It was a concept album about a day in the life of a high school student. The album spawned the hit singles "Ownlee Eue" and Oneovdabigboiz".

Kwamé's album A Day in the Life: A Pokadelick Adventure

In 1992, he released his third album Nastee. Now 18, Kwamé tried an image change by discarding the polka-dots and writing more sexually-charged lyrics in contrast to his previously playful, intellectual persona. The title track was a minor hit but the album quickly fell from the charts. His fourth album, 1994's Incognito failed to chart and Kwamé was dropped from his record label. That same year, Kwamé became a punch line in The Notorious B.I.G.'s popular song "Unbelievable":

You see I smoke a lot
Your life is played out like Kwamé, and them fuckin' polka-dots

The lyric was a major blow to Kwamé's esteem and career as he suddenly became an object of ridicule in the hip-hop community. ^[1] But in 2002, Kwamé reemerged as a music producer named "K-1 Million". He worked for many artists such as LL Cool J, Mary J. Blige and Dru Hill. In 2004, he had a major success as the co-producer (with Eminem) of Lloyd Banks' smash hit song "On Fire". He continues to work steadily as a producer and has since returned to using his real name.

[edit] Trivia

He is a cousin of Vin Diesel. Diesel was a dancer in some of his music videos.^[2]
As a child he was mentored by Stevie Wonder, Lionel Hampton, and Abdullah Ibrahim who were family friends.
He holds music workshops for children and has worked with various youth organizations including the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation.