I AM HIP HOP

I TOLD YA (F.A.D) Remix ft EMINEM

Byron Oliver Ochieng was born on the EastCoast of Africa,in Kenya's famous main port city of Mombasa.
The only son of a German businesswoman and a Kenyan barrister. His early years were spent in a whirlwind of global pit stops while his father attempted to squander one lucrative job after another.
This shambolic family instability but invaluable character building exercise came to a catastrophic climax when at the impressionable age of 10,
after living in America, Canada, Italy, Tunisia, Germany and Spain his mother, barely 5 foot in stature but built of German perseverance and courage brought him and his younger sister to England to ascape the downward spiral of alcohol, drugs and violence that had become an everyday occurrence around his alcoholic father.
A bright student with a passion for musical creativy and all things literature based found it difficult to adapt to the unprecedented normality of the white suburban school system he was placeed in.
Racial bullying and the separation from any male authority figure led to young Byron's withdrawal into himself, with but one companion...his pen and his pad.

Ironically this self imposed physical isolation nurtured a young conscience adept at human analysis and highly sensitive to the plight of the underprivileged neglected youth he was starting to see all around him.

Finding time to excel both vocally and physically,playing basketball for his home county of Berkshire the expressive teenager set his sights and heart on an artform that was then far removed from the multi-billion dollar Hip Hop industry of today!
"When I started rapping I'd never heard anyone rap in a British accent! So I foolishly believed for a short period I was the only one doing it. "
After winning his first stereo in a Pepsi slogan competition all that changed.
"I was completely amazed that whole sub groups of society were making and listening to the music that I loved. Tim Westwood's radio shows broadened his horizons but his decision to become an m.c was solidified when coolios gangstas paradise shot to the top of the charts. "That song is the perfect mix of introspection,cold hard reality and hope not to mentionsonically it's perfect. I heard Tupac's dear mama about two days later and knew I had to practice!! Lol"

Ever the loner Byron has soaked up very little of the bravado and machismo of modern rap artists. He realised at an early stage that to be relevant within his genre he had to be honest to himself and his upbringing instead of impersonating his American counterparts like so many of his amateur piers.
His voice is less rugged and coarse than the Hip Hop and grime artists you've become accustomed to. His accent and verbal delivery are informed by the global streets, bars and clubs where he earned a quiet local reputation for rhyming heartfelt ,conscientious verses that have been known to silence listeners and critics alike. However his breath of subject matter, understanding and conversion of theory into practical application speaks of a scholar disgruntled but wizened by the monumental pit falls that society has placed in his path.
"I'm an artist first and foremost!! I express what I feel moves me. Without this catharsis I'd be dead or a very bitter nasty person. " he has definitely learned to play his part on an unfair stage but then again Greg Davies of inbetweeners fame was his drama coach!

Around 2010 meetings with independent record labels, producers and managers insued. However a less than clever signing of a royalty contract the summer before meant he would make nearly no money for the first 4 years of any agreement reached. The analytical mind within the young rapper had ignored the pain in his heart which apexed in 2011 with the death of his father,who he had been trying to rekindle a relationship with.
A string of minor arrests and a brief stint in prison have been enough to remind the disenchanted wordsmith that he still has a relevant message to deliver.
The quiet sharp witted lyricist from around the globe is finally ready to emerge and describe the conditions he believes are "killing the kids before they can learn to dream! "
"All I can do is be me. Good, bad strong or weak. Ive studied the greats and the two things they have in common are raw talent that's allowed to be nurtured and total belief in themselves. I mean no disrespect to anyone in the game but to me I have no equals!...as an all round rapper and songwriter! "
And if an emerging artist can truly believe those words...then perhaps we just might witness the birth of something very special indeed.©

BYRON UK