Johnson Barnes (born April 15, 1983), better known by his stage name Blu, is an American West Coast rapper and producer from Los Angeles, California[1]. Following the major success of his 2007 debut album, Below the Heavens, Blu was named HipHop DX's "Rookie of the Year" [2]. Since then, Blu has become one of the most prolific underground artists in the Los Angeles area, releasing "six full-length albums, and countless other projects and mixtapes" since his emergence on the rap scene [3] . Blu has also become as proficient a producer as he has a rapper. In September of 2011, Blu released his commercial album Open, his 4th solo project [4] which features tracks all produced by the West Coast emcee.
Contents  [hide] 
1 Early Life
2 Music Career
2.1 2003
2.2 2004-08
2.3 2009-10
2.4 2011 and Warner Bros.
3 Current Projects
4 Discography
4.1 Mixtapes
4.2 Instrumental Tapes
4.3 EPs
4.4 Independent Albums
4.5 Produced Albums
5 Guest appearances
6 References
7 External links
Early Life

Johnson Barnes was born on April 15, 1983 in San Pedro, California. Raised by his mother and stepfather who was a pastor, Barnes was highly influenced by gospel and Christian rap when he was growing up.[1] However, Barnes' was also influenced by gangsta rap that he received from his father, contributing to his delivery of conscious yet raw lyrics. In his early days in the music business, Johnson worked as a hype man for underground rap and soul artists such as Slum Village, Steve Spacek, Platinum Pied Pipers, and Emanon.[1] However, taking influence from Common, Barnes began turning from freestyle rhyming to crafting songs.[1] In an interview with HipHopDx, Barnes talks about what it was like to listen to Common's 1994 song I Used to Love H.E.R.:
"When I heard it, it really changed my life. I felt like I had heard Hip Hop for the first time. It made me change my content and my whole approach. It made me serious about writing and wanting to say something."[5]
[edit]Music Career

2003
Some of the earliest tracks by Blu can be found on the 2003 mixtape Bruised Brothers, done with fellow L.A. emcee Blacc also known as Jac Spade[6]. Spade is also a producer and has worked with the likes of Planet Asia and Charlie Tuna.
[edit]2004-08
Blu signed to L.A. independent label Sound in Color in 2004, choosing the label ahead of other big name companies such as Interscope Records and Death Row Records.[1] After Blu was introduced to Los Angeles based producer Exile by Aloe Blacc[5], Blu released his debut album Below the Heavens in August of 2007. New York weekly newspaper The Village Voice called the album "one of the most thoughtful indie-rap releases in some time"[7]. Following the album's success and Blu being named as Rookie of the Year by HipHopDX[8], the rapper began working with Detroit rapper-producer Ta'Raach, releasing the collaborative album The Piece Talks under Tres Records in April 2008. In September of that same year, the company released Blu's collaborative album Johnson&Jonson with producer Mainframe [9]. In an interview with HipHopDX, Blu talked about his work in the underground scene and what motivated him to continue writing:
"The game in 2008 is not perfect and people complain and complain about how wack music is, but there's so much dope shit out there if you just turn the radio and TV off. I find ill shit all the fucking time and I'm like there's way too much music out there"[2].
Following the reception of Johnson&Jonson, Blu and Mainframe formed their joint company New World Color. In celebration of the move, the two released their EP E.Q.E.P.; featuring rappers such as Gonjasufi and Dirty Paper[10]. Aside from these commercial projects, Blu also released his second solo project (So)ul Amazing.
2009-10
In 2009, Blu released his third solo album entitled HerFavoriteColo(u)r. Although the album was originally released as a free mixtape, the tape was re-released as in album in conjunction with Nature Sounds in 2011[11]. The album is known for its jazz, neo soul feel as well its samples of artists such as Billie Holiday and Jimi Hendrix and Curtis Mayfield. During this year, Blu also released his mixtape (So)ul Amazing II with DJ Heat. The tape features a wide variety of artists including Talib Kweli, Will.i.am, Kid Cudi, Evidence, The Alchemist, and Co$$.
In 2009, hip hop magazine XXL named Blu as one of their Top 10 Freshmen of 09'[12]. That same year, Blu also began experimenting with production, releasing his 8 track instrumental NoSleepForADay. The year also found Blu signed to major label Warner Bros.[13].
The following year, Blu released his lyrical/instrumental full length LP theGodleeBarnes[3].
[edit]2011 and Warner Bros.
2011 has been one of the biggest years for Blu thus far in terms of music production. In January, Blu released And If You See The E Drop Em, a title taken from a line on his first track on Below the Heavens [3]:
Blu has proliferated highly in terms of commercial releases this year, producing three albums titled Jesus, NoYork!, and Open with Nature Sounds; the latter of which features a variety of artists with tracks all produced by the emcee. While the album Jesus was released independently under New World Color in July, NoYork!, a project that was supposed to be Blu's major label debut, was not. Initially planned for release under Warner, Blu later dropped from the label in October[14], deciding to release it for free over the internet instead.
Current Projects

In an interview with Above Ground Magazine, Blu expressed his future intentions with music, specifically on his notion of retiring from rap.
“I’ve never seen myself rapping after 30,... I’ve always seen myself doing film. I have like three films I would love to shoot. But I would need a budget for it.”[14]
The rapper is currently working on several projects, one of which includes another link up with producer Exile on Memoirs, which was later released as Give Me My Flowers While I Can Smell Them, a record which was released at the end of 2011. Ucla is another tape in the works, set to be a collaborative album produced by critically acclaimed LA producer Madlib.
Discography

Mixtapes
(So)ul Amazing (2008)
E.Q.E.P. (with Mainframe as Johnson&Jonson) (2008)
(So)ul Amazing II (2009)
Powders & Oils (2009)
Untaped (2010)
ParieArtNommee (2010)
And If You See the E Drop ‘Em (2011)
Heavy(LightYearsBehind) (TBA)
[edit]Instrumental Tapes
Open (theInstrumentalLP) (2009)
NoSleepForADay (2009)
The Norman Rockwell Beat Tape (2011)
EPs
Bruise Brothers (with Jack Spade) (2003)
Lifted (2006)
The Narrow Path (2006)
BeSene (with Sene as Patch Adams) (2008)
IntoBlu EP (2010)
Amnesia (2011)
ar r ie mx a ll pink r ep (2011)
Independent Albums
Below the Heavens (with Exile) (2007)
The Piece Talks (with Ta'Raach as C.R.A.C. Knuckles) (2008)
Johnson&Jonson (with Mainframe as Johnson&Jonson) (2008)
theGODleeBarnes(lp) (2010)
HerFavoriteColo(u)r (2009)
j e s u s (2011)
NoYork! (2011)
Give Me My Flowers While I Can Smell Them (with Exile) (2011)
ucla (with Madlib) (TBA)
TBA (with MED) (TBA)
[edit]Produced Albums
ADayLate&ADollarShort by Sene (2009)
Open (2011)
Guest appearances

Year	Album Artist	Album	Song
2007	Move.Meant	The Scope Of Things	Git It Now (also featuring Trek Life)
2008	Shingo Suzuki	The Abstract Truth	Hi(gh) Music
Evidence	The Layover EP	For Whom The Bell Tolls (also featuring Phonte & will.i.am)
Presto	State of the Art	Pour Another Glass
DJ Cadik	Basic	Hard Times
Freddie Joachim	In With Time	Mars (Remix)
2009	Bembe Segue & Mark de Clive-Lowe	The Politik	Moonlight
J.Period & Q-Tip	The [Abstract] Best	Jazz (Tribute Remix)
Dela	Changes of Atmosphere	Vibrate
Atmosphere Airlines Vol. 2	Mars
Sepalot	Red Handed	Surrender
Blame One	Days Chasing Days	Wonder Why
The Grouch & Eligh	Say G&E!	Old Souls (also featuring Flying Lotus)
Keelay & Zaire	Ridin High	The Times
J Dilla	Jay Stay Paid	Smoke
Waxolutionists	We Paint Colors	Steel Remains
Tanya Morgan	Brooklynati	Morgan Blu
Fashawn	Boy Meets World	Samsonite Man
The Alchemist	Chemical Warfare	Therapy (also featuring Evidence, Talib Kweli & Kid Cudi)
Andy Allo	Unfresh	DreamLand
2010	All City Chess Club		I'm Beamin' (Remix)
TiRon	MSTRD	The Richers (also featuring Asher Roth)
The Roots	How I Got Over	Radio Daze (featuring P.O.R.N. & Dice Raw)
The Day (featuring Phonte & Patty Crash)
Mumbles	Transformations/Illuminations	Never Ending
2011	Dela	Translation Lost	Lucy's&looseleafs
Dela	Translation Lost	Whatuwanna
Co$$	Before I Awoke	Born Again (featuring Sene)

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Shania Twain was born Eilleen Regina Edwards in Windsor, Ontario, Canada on August 28, 1965, the second oldest of five siblings. She was raised in Timmins, Ontario, about 500 miles due north of Toronto, where her adoptive father, an Ojibway Indian named Jerry Twain, and mother, Sharon, had both been raised. It was a proud but, at times, impoverished existence. They struggled to keep enough food in the cupboards, but there was always an abundance of music and love in the household.

Twain often grabbed a guitar and retreated to the solitude of her bedroom singing and writing until her fingers ached. "I grew up listening to Waylon, Willie, Dolly, Tammy, all of them," she recalls. "But we also listened to the Mamas and the Papas, The Carpenters, The Supremes and Stevie Wonder. The many different styles of music I was exposed to as a child not only influenced my vocal style, but even more so, my writing style." Her mom noticed Twain's talents, and soon the youngster was being shuttled to radio and TV studios, community centers, senior citizens' homes, "everywhere they could get me booked." An 8-year-old Twain was often pulled out of bed to sing with the house band at a local club but only after alcohol sales ended at midnight. Later, Twain spent summers working with her stepfather as the foreman of a dozen-man reforestation crew in the Canadian bush, where she learned to wield an axe and handle a chain saw as well as any man. In the winter season, she would sing in clubs and do television and radio performances as often as her schooling would allow.

In 1987, at age 21, Twain lost her parents in an automobile accident. She took on the responsibility of raising her three younger siblings. She managed to keep the household going with a job at Ontario's Deerhurst Resort, which not only provided for her new family responsibilities but also gave her an education in every aspect of theatrical performance, from musical comedy to Andrew Lloyd Webber to Gershwin. Three years later, with her brothers grown enough to take care of themselves, Twain was on her own. Shedding her real name, Eilleen, she adopted the Ojibway name of Shania, meaning "I'm on my way." Twain recorded a demo tape of original music and set her sights on Nashville.

Although Twain landed a record deal with Mercury Records on the basis of her original material, her self-titled 1993 debut album featured only one of her songs, the feisty "God Ain't Gonna Getcha for That." Singles "What Made You Say That" and "Dance With the One That Brought You" each peaked at No. 55 on the Billboard country singles chart. It took a phone call from a distant admirer, rock producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange (AD/DC, Def Leppard, Foreigner, Bryan Adams and many more) for Twain to find a true believer, both in her voice and her original songs. Twain and Lange met face to face in Nashville at Fan Fair in 1993 and married six months later, by which time they'd written half an album's worth of tunes together. As 1994 unfolded, they traveled and wrote their way across the United States, Canada, England, Spain, Italy and the Caribbean. They began to lay down basic tracks for a new album in Nashville, later recording overdubs and mixing in Quebec.

The first results of their labor, "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under," entered the Billboard country singles chart in January 1995, peaking at No. 11. Twain's second album, The Woman in Me, debuted on the country albums chart the following month. The collection has sold 18 million copies, making Twain the best-selling country female artist of all time. The single "Any Man of Mine," hit the charts in May and became the first of four consecutive No. 1 hits for Twain, including "(If You're Not in It for Love) I'm Outta Here!," "You Win My Love" and "No One Needs to Know." The project won a Grammy for country album of the year and was named album of the year by the Academy of Country Music in 1995.

Twain's third Mercury collection, Come on Over, was released in 1997, two years after her last album. The project continued Twain's hot streak, producing No. 1 hits "Honey, I'm Home" and "Love Gets Me Every Time." The sultry ballad "You're Still the One" went to No. 1 on the country singles chart and made it to No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 pop chart, solidifying Twain as a crossover artist. The sassy "Man! I Feel Like a Woman," a Top 5 country hit, helped secure the singer a contract with cosmetics company Revlon, which used the tune in TV ads featuring Twain. Come on Over has sold 11 million copies to date.

While The Woman in Me broke records and made Twain an international star, critics didn't know what to make of her sexy image and independent approach to marketing her music. Instead of touring to promote the record, Twain made a series of sexy videos, one of which was shot on location in Egypt. The singer finally mounted her first major tour in 1998 following the release of Come on Over. The highly anticipated outing helped earn Twain entertainer of the year trophies from the ACM and the Country Music Association in 1999. Twain has won a total of five Grammys, including two for best country song ("Come on Over" and "You're Still the One") and two for best country female vocal performance ("Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" and "You're Still the One"). She also has taken home trophies from the Canadian Country Music Awards, Canada's JUNO Awards and the American Music Awards. In 1999, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) named Twain both country songwriter of the year and pop songwriter of the year. Her ballad, "You're Still the One," was named BMI's country and pop song of the year.

At the top of her game, Twain retreated to her home in Switzerland with her husband at the end of 1999. She and Lange welcomed their first child, a son named Eja, together in the summer of 2001 while preparing her 2002 release Up!, featuring the hit single "I'm Gonna Getcha Good."

Twain released her "Greatest Hit's" album in the fall of 2004. She was also featured on the "Desperate Housewives" soundtrack in 2005 and sang a duet with Canadian legend, Anne Murray, in 2007.

In 2008, Twain and Lange divorced. In April 2010, Shania joined forces with Oprah Winfrey's new television network, OWN, to star in a six-episode docu-series titled, Why Not? With Shania Twain. Why Not? is set to premiere in May 2011. Twain is also releasing her first memoir in the spring of 2011 with Atria Books, a division of Simon and Schuster. On January 1, 2011, it was announced that Twain and Swiss businessman, Frederic Thiébaud, were married in Puerto Rico. It is the second marriage for both.

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