Lyrics Born
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lyrics Born | ||
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Tom Shimura | |
| Also known as | Asia Born | |
| Born | 1972 Tokyo, Japan |
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| Origin |  El Cerrito, California, United States |
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| Genre(s) | Hip hop Pop Rock Funk |
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| Occupation(s) | Disc jockey | |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals | |
| Years active | 1995 – present | |
| Label(s) | Quannum Projects Epitaph Records | |
| Associated acts |
Quannum Projects Latyrx |
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| Website | Official website | |
Lyrics Born (formerly known as Asia Born, born Tom Shimura in Tokyo, Japan in 1972), is a half-Japanese-American, half-Italian-American hip hop rapper. He is one half of the group Latyrx with Lateef the Truthspeaker.
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[edit] History
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 seminal independent record label Quannum Projects. Born came up with fellow Bay Area and UC Davis companions Lateef, Gift of Gab, and Chief Xcel of Blackalicious, DJ Shadow, and Jeff Chang (formerly known as DJ Zen).
Lyrics Born released his first solo LP, Later That Day, in October 2003, which spawned the hit single, "Callin' Out." The album featured guests such as DJ Shadow, Gift of Gab, and his wife Joyo Velarde. In April 2005, he released his sophomore album, Same !@#$ Different Day which was released on his own Quannum Projects label. The album features remixes of five songs from Later That Day along with a number of new tracks which feature guests such as Bay Area legend E-40, KRS-ONE, Stereo MCs, Casual of Hieroglyphics, Evidence of Dilated Peoples, and Joyo Velarde. Also in 2005, Born released The Lyrics Born Variety Show: Season One CD, which was essentially an old-school mix tape with remixes and blends of his studio albums and appearances on other songs in addition to new songs.
In 2006 he released The Lyrics Born Variety Show: Season Two CD mixed by DJ Enki.
He has toured relentlessly for years in North America, South America, Australia, Europe and Japan and averages 150 shows per year.
The live album Overnite Encore: Lyrics Born LIVE was released on October 31, 2006. It was recorded in Australia and features half of the album from Sydney and the other half from Melbourne. The album is a live set featuring his backing band, as well as three new studio tracks including the hit song "Knock Knock". The album received a 3.5 out of 4 star review in Rolling Stone magazine.
[edit] Appearances in film and television
His song "Callin' Out" was featured in a 2004 Diet Coke television commercial in the United States featuring actor Adrien Brody, a Motorola commercial, in MLB 2006, and in the movie Waiting.... The song was also #1 on San Francisco's LIVE105 local radio station for 5 weeks. It is the first ever rap song to stay at the #1 spot on that station. This was also the first #1 single for his label, Quannum Projects.
Born is in the upcoming Justin Lin film, Finishing The Game, playing a the owner of a Chinese restaurant.
Born has been featured on MTV, E! Entertainment, MySpace, and appeared on Australia's TRL on MTV, G4's Attack of the Show, DangerousTV, and FearlessmusicTV. He also performed at Lollapalooza, Good Vibes, Bonnaroo, and Coachella, and has done shows for Puma, Adidas, Diesl, Edisu, and EA Games.
His music has also appeared in the films Collateral and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift as well as the television shows, Entourage, Gilmore Girls, Six Feet Under, and Life with Brian, along with the video game NBA2K6.
[edit] Style
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 while "The Last Trumpet" (with Lateef) features a very politically charged and globally conscious mindset.
Lyrics Born has collaborated with many artists including DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Jurassic 5, Z-Trip (on the 2005 song "The Get Down"), Diverse (on the song "Explosive"), Tommy Guerrero, R. L. Burnside (on the song "Someday Baby"), Morcheeba, Zion I, Mistah F.A.B., The Altered Egos, and Pigeon John. He was instrumental in the signing of Pigeon John to Quannum in 2005 and executive produced and A&R'd the first album from Pigeon John on Quannum Projects, Pigeon John and the Summertime Pool Party, which was released in 2006. He is also producing the debut album from Joyo Velarde and releasing his fourth album on Epitaph Records in conjunction with his own Quannum Projects.
[edit] Discography
[edit] LPs
- Later That Day (2003, Quannum Projects)
- Lyrics Born Variety Show Season One (2005, Mobile Home Recordings)
- Same !@#$ Different Day (2005, Quannum Projects)
- Lyrics Born Variety Show Season Two (2006, Mobile Home Recordings)
- 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] Production Credits
- "Quannum Spectrum", Quannum Projects
- "Pigeon John and the Summertime Pool Party", Quannum Projects
- "Untitled Joyo Velarde debut album", Quannum Projects
[edit] External links
- Lyrics Born
- Lyrics Born Official Myspace Page
- Lyrics Born at the Internet Movie Database
- Quannum Projects
- Lyrics Born Official Street Team
- 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 |
