Bionik Brown
WHO AM I? So, who is Bionik Brown and why should you care? I guess I could go the traditional artist bio route and write about all the cool things I’ve done and the cool people I’ve worked with. I suppose I could also write about myself in the 3rd Person (so as to sound more official). The reality though is that I’m a simple dude…a man of the people if you will. I’m an M.C., Poet, Vocalist and a Deep Thinker. I have toured the world 2 times as an independent artist and sold about 75,000 albums total. That’s way more than I ever anticipated selling but obviously my music has resonated with a few people. I sell most of my music in Japan and Europe which is cool cause I like to travel. I’m hoping the U.S. will catch on but I’m not holding my breath. If that Laffy Taffy song blew up, I don’t stand a chance (HaHa)! WHAT HAVE I DONE SO FAR? Anyway, I’ve played shows with the Roots, Common, Talib Kweli, The Clipse, Snoop, The Beastie Boys, Cannibal Ox, RJD2, SOULIVE, GALACTIC and a gang of others. My European tour with the Beasties and my tour of Africa are the highlights of my career. I doubt if I can ever top those experiences but I’m certainly going to try. There’s not a lot of money in selling records domestically but I’ve parlayed my skills into ghostwriting for artists across genres. Some of the stuff you’ve heard in the mainstream is stuff that I contributed to. I can’t tell you which ones but there are certain signatures that you can hear if you’ve heard my music. I don’t just write rap lyrics I write rock and folk stuff as well. Whatever an artist needs, my pen can fulfill! I also have a licensing deal for music for films, tv and video games. That brings in the checks to. It’s called diversifying! WHY HIP HOP? I fell in love with hip hop when I heard a De La Soul record called 3 Feet High and Rising. That wasn’t the first rap record I heard but it was the first one where I heard cats spitting really abstract, intelligent music. I connected with that being that I was a school boy with a thing for life and book knowledge. From there I developed a voracious appetite for music…rushing to the store every Tuesday to get the latest albums with lunch money and allowance. A couple of the joints that turned my world on its’ ear were Nas’ Illmatic, Breaking Atoms by Main Source, De La Soul is Dead and everything A Tribe Called Quest put out. I wasn’t just on East Coast Hip Hop I was also rockin’ with the best cats from my hometown, New Orleans and beyond. I was up on Mystikal, 3-9 Posse, Tim Smooth and a lot of other cats who were putting it down. I was into hip hop but also a fanatic for soul music like Sam Cooke and Donny Hathaway and jazz and rock music. WHERE AM I FROM? I hail from the Greatest City on Earth aka New Orleans, Louisiana and rep it to the death. I love my hood and it’s musical inspiration. I have a few albums out but my seminal work to this point is my latest record entitled Platinum Thoughts, Aluminum Budget. This project was birthed out of the agony of Hurricane Katrina. It was a labor of love that wasn’t meant to be anything major. Somehow though it caught fire and took on a life of its’ own. FAMOUS LAST WORDS! I’m so blessed and so fortunate to have the opportunity to have people listen to me and pay money to hear me do what I do. I always aspired to eat off rap and I’m finally doing it. If you’re reading this then that’s a show of support. And if you’re supporting then you’re helping me and mine eat. So, with that said, I say thank you, thank you, thank you. Keep riding with me. Expect beaucoup new music to be cracking your head open in ’08!!! .
