About Lyrics Born
Groundbreaking, charismatic, stylish, distinctive - these are just some of the words that have been used to describe Lyrics Born. With a career spanning over a decade, Lyrics Born began as an underground MC who while in college at UC Davis met up with fellow Bay Area artists DJ Shadow, Blackalicious and Lateef The Truth Speaker. This tight knit crew joined forces with famed author Jeff Chang and MTV producer Joseph Patel to form the seminal independent label, Solesides. In 1997, SoleSides released Lyrics Born's first full length debut with Lateef entitled Latyrx: The Album. With the success of Latyrx, LB and co. reinvented the model for independent hip-hop record labels, as the album went on to sell 100,000 copies worldwide.In the late 90s SoleSides underwent personnel and image changes and re-emerged with a new identity and new purpose. Quannum Projects was born, and in 2000 QP released its first album, a compilation executive produced by Lyrics Born himself entitled Spectrum. Once again, with LB at the helm, Spectrum proved a massive success, and went on to sell over 150,000 copies globally. A large part of that album's success was attributed to the Lyrics Born track, "I Changed My Mind", which sold robustly on its own, and blew up on charts, and video shows all over the world.In 2003 Lyrics Born dropped his long awaited solo debut album, the now classic magnum opus, Later That Day. LTD took off like a rocket, and LB saw the spotlight on MTV's You Hear It First as well as dominating top 10 lists and receiving unanimous praise from fans and critics alike. The success of Later That Day can be largely attributed to the ubiquitous hit, "Callin' Out", which was a monster on college and commercial radio. The song stayed at #1 for five weeks on the influential San Francisco radio station, Live 105 - the first hip-hop song to ever achieve such status, as well as the first #1 single for LB's own, Quannum Projects. Meanwhile "Callin' Out" and other songs from Later That Day hit a worldwide audience by being featured in international commercials for Diet Coke and Motorola as well as US commercials for Tower Records and Vans. His songs also began appearing in feature films such as Michael Mann's "Collateral", the cult-hit comedy, "Waiting" and even on television's Gilmore Girls and various MTV and ESPN programs.Unofficially dubbed as 'King of the Road', Lyrics Born toured far and wide in support of Later That Day logging over 150 shows in '04 alone. Incorporating his signature blend of hip-hop, funk, soul, rock (and of course that unmistakable voice), he emerged as one of the few hip-hop artists to be backed by a 4-piece band, as well as Quannum songstress and par amour, Joyo Velarde. LB ransacked Europe, Asia, North and South America, selling out headlining slots on his own, as well as supporting a broad variety of genre-giants such as The Roots, De La Soul, Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, and Modest Mouse. In late '04, as LTD approached 125,000 sold, LB came full circle with his original crew; DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Lateef and Joyo Velarde as well as the Lifesavas for a sold out US extravaganza, aka the Quannum Tour.In 2005, scarcely 18 months after his debut album, Lyrics Born triumphantly returned with Same !@#$ Different Day. Quickly becoming Quannum's fastest selling album, LB's second release boasted guest appearances and production from E-40, KRS-ONE, DJ Shadow, Dan The Automator, Evidence of Dilated Peoples, Morcheeba, and more. Same !@...