07/26/2007
KERO ONE: From the musical inspirations of hiphop greats such as Pete Rock, Dj Premier, 45 king, Rza, and Organized Konfusion comes California Bay Area resident Kero One. Kero One has been rhyming, deejaying and collecting records since the early 90's. Influenced by such groups and albums such as Gangstarr's "step into the arena", Nas's "Illmatic", Lord Finesse, Pharcyde, Common Sense and N.W.A., Kero One was truly drawn to emceeing and rhyming. However, it wasn't until the age of 15 when he began getting down in freestyle ciphers at shows, hiphop clubs and writing his own lyrics. Inspired by college radio and freestyle battles such as the "Hieroglyphics Vs. HoboJunction battle on KMEL's legendary Wake Up Show, he would participate in radio shows, such as the Bay Areas 10 O'clock Bomb freestyle battle segment. There he would spit verses and receive props and recognition from Wake Up Show host "Sway". In 1996, he began collaborating with friends to record tracks and enjoyed working with different producers. However, demanding "that specific sound" from various producers was harder than originally expected. Kero then decided to take things into his own hands. He would now begin his venture as an emcee, producer and deejay.
In the summer of 2003, Kero One released his first 12" record entitled "Check the Blueprints", based on jazzy beats and metaphor heavy lyrics. Within a month of its release, positive reviews and recognition poured in from record stores, dj's, to record labels everywhere selling over 9000 units. In addition, "Check The Blueprints" reached top 5 spots on radio and deejay playlists worldwide . Several months later, Kero One was recognized by Japanese promoters and a label called Jazzysport.com and was invited for a nationwide Japan Tour in January of 2004, headlining shows for artists such as Dj Mitsu the beats.
Shortly after the Japan Tour, Kero One released a slew of hiphop 12" records and a full length debut album which had reached number 10 top downloaded hiphop album on itunes japan and #2 purchased underground hihpop album on tower records charts.
Today, Kero's records receive spins from Dj's such as Jazzy Jeff, Questlove of the Roots, Quantic, Giles Peterson, and Dj Mitsu the beats. In addition, Kero One has been offered a multitude of collaborative efforts including production work for US3 , famous for their track "cantaloupe" back in 1993, Aloe Blacc from Stonesthrow, rap features on Lanu of the Bamboos album on Ubiquity/Tru-thoughts Records, as well as production work for Grand Puba from the group Brand Nubian. Kero One's is also a DJ spinning jazzy hiphop, uptempo soul, broken beat, latin house, bossa with two professional mix cd's already under his belt.
DJ KING MOST: (formerly King One) got his start in music over 10 years ago, when he caught the DJ bug from his older brother. For years he paid his dues deejaying house parties, school dances and lugging around equipment until finally in the new century he began cutting his teeth in the Bay Area's diverse and eclectic party scene. Armed with a record collection and tastes that span every genre and style (Hip-Hop, Soul, Disco, Latin,etc), King Most can be frequently seen and heard bringing classic anthems and new sounds to the masses up and down the west coast. From Seattle, to the Bay Area, to Los Angeles he's had no problem making good people dance . In a night expect to hear everything from Stevie Wonder, De La Soul, Missy Elliot, The Clash, Ray Barretto, Cymande, War and dozens of other forgotten musical heroes from past and present.
When not sharing the stage with artists like Madlib & Peanutbutter Wolf, Pete Rock, Aceyalone, Freestyle Fellowship, J-Live, Crown City Rockers/Mission, Haul & Mason, DJ Zeph, J-Boogie, The Clipse and others, he's in his home studio working hard on instrumentals, releasing records with Kero One such as Keep it Alive 12" and Check The Blueprints Japan Only remix 12", putting in work for PLUG LABEL, and is set to release a brand new Instrumental album due out in 2006.
