A Different Take on Hip-hop

It’s rare for any musician to leap into the mainstream and cause a whirlpool in the currents without a multi-million dollar safety vest. It’s rare for any musician to have a number one hit for eight weeks on a popular radio station without payola. It’s even more rare if that station, San Francisco’s Live105, has a rock format while the musician, Lyrics Born, is a rapper on an independent label.

But that’s what Lyrics Born does -- he defies the odds. You might have heard him on the Diet Coke ad with Adrien Brody where bubbles bounce to his funky “Callin’ Out.” Or, if you’re from overseas, you might have heard it on a Motorolla ad. If you watch HBO, you might have heard his songs playing on “Entourage” and “Six Feet Under.” Or you might be familiar with his Quannum Projects crew. Or maybe you’ve caught the buzz from his latest release, “Same !@#$ Different Day.” By this point, you should have heard of him.

“I always knew that my music could compete with all these other artists out there that have millions of dollars behind them,” says Lyrics Born with affirmation. “It was just the question of getting the opportunity. I knew if we were able to meet that, it would even out the playing field for guys like me.”

The thing is, there aren’t many guys like him.

His unique sound and approach to music has garnered him crossover success with the alternative rock crowd. His new single “I’m Just Raw” gets more spins in his Bay Area home on rock stations than rap stations. This year, he was one of two rap acts at alternative-rock station Live105’s annual music festival. He and his Quannum crewmates have a distribution deal with Epitaph, a primarily punk label now venturing into the hip-hop arena.

This was not the initial goal. It was through a radio DJ with an ear for talent that Lyrics Born got caught in the alt-rock scene. “Callin’ Out,” his first hit off of 2003’s “Later That Day,” was taken to the urban market first, but received a minimal response. Party Ben, a DJ at Live105 played the song voluntarily on a late-night program for new music. The song ended up receiving so many requests during the day that it wound up being the number one song on the station for eight weeks.

“We didn’t market it [as rock]. You make the records. You put them on shelves. You have no control over who gravitates towards them,” explains the gravelly-voiced emcee/singer/producer/businessman. “That just shows the scope that hip-hop has -- it goes with anything; it’s so universal.”

Tokyo-born and Berkeley-raised Tom Shimura AKA Lyrics Born began rapping in ’87. At age 10, he knew that he would be a preacher of the hip-hop faith. After high school, he went to the University of California Davis where he met up with DJ Shadow, Lateef (with whom he formed Latyrx), Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel (Blackalicious), author Jeff Chang, and sultry songstress and future wife Joyo Velarde to form Solesides, which later became Quannum.

After shopping demos to no avail, the Quannum crew started their independent hustle in ’93. 12 years later, Lyrics Born remains innovative, constantly experimenting with his music.

“It’s a great feeling to know that I haven’t hit a ceiling at this stage in my career and that it continues to grow and I continue to grow,” says the vocally-animated artist. “I try to keep it interesting for myself and for the listener. I’m the type of person that gets bored really easily so I need to have new challenges and cover new ground.”

Incorporating hip-hop, jazz, funk, soul and reggae both vocally and musically, it took the perfectionist six years to make his solo debut “Later That Day,” producing and performing the album on his own (with the exception of one guest producer and two guest artists). For indie standards, the record was a success, selling over 100,000 copies and counting.