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Ayo - Rack City (Original DJ Memzee Dubplate) 
Born in 1987 in Hackney, AYO is one of seven siblings that were raised by a single parent. His two brothers and four sisters, one of which is rapper Naila Boss, used to spend their time listening to music, sometimes even making songs together and performing them for the rest of the family. AYO had a somewhat disruptive childhood. He moved schools regularly and ended up moving to the New York aged 13 to live with his uncle. “As I lived in a single parent household my mother sent me to New York to live with my uncle for a while to experience life with a male father figure/role model. This played a big part in my upbringing.”

The producer, rapper and songwriter dabbled with music from the age of 12 when he created a duo with himself and a friend called Illstarz – AYO was the lyricist and his friend made the beats. AYO recalls, “The group I was in was like a modern day ‘Gangstarr’; I was the rapper, Steph was the producer.”When AYO moved to the States aged thirteen, Hip Hop heavily influenced the aspiring artist and he no longer had someone to make beats for him so he taught himself how to produce, and the rest as they say is history. 

Upon coming back to the UK, AYO’s passion for music continued and enrolled at Collage Arts Music School where he studied his craft for three years. Fellow producer/artist Labrinth was a classmate of his. 

2010 was a big year for the self-taught musician as his track ‘Far Away’ featuring Ironik and Joelle Moses was released and put AYO on the map as not just a producer but also as a rapper. The soft release of ‘Far Away’ and the accompanying remix featuring Wretch 32, Ironik, Baby Blue, Bigz and Shay generated a massive buzz around AYO. ‘Far Away’ acted as a catalyst as artist Tzar used one of AYO’s productions ‘Her and Me’ as his promo track. The track generated 350,000 views on YouTube without being officially released.

As the co-owner of the record label Illstarz/Seismic Sounds, which he is also signed to, and his production company Illstarz, this entrepreneur is looking to take his career to the next level by releasing his debut album later this year, which he is currently putting his final touches to. In the mean time AYO will be releasing his first single for 2011 ‘Miracle Girl’ and ‘Illstarz Vol 1’, AYO’s EP that features tracks that AYO has made for himself as well as well known other UK rappers/MC’s. The EP is just a sample of all the hard work that AYO put into 2010.
AYO’s honesty and realism in his lyrics, together with a knack of producing fresh and abstract beats that “can adapt to any genre without compromising its credibility”, is what will propel AYO’s career which has already garnered him a massive amount of interest. Having already produced tracks for the likes of MOBO Award winner Professor Green, Nate Weller and Wretch 32 and remixes for Ironik, Jason Derulo and many other artists, AYO is fast becoming the producer of choice for British acts.

Having seen the impact other artists and producers are making on the music scene, ‘The Black Mozart’, as named by his friends, is ready to share his brand of music to the world. “My brand of music is not just about me being eclectic, its also about allowing others to do the same via me as an artist/producer.”

@AYO_BEATZ - Rack City (@OriginalMemzee SPECIAL)

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