Marcus Jamal Hopson, better known by his stage name Hopsin, is an American rapper, record producer, director and actor from Los Angeles, California
Date/Time: Apr 5 2017, 7:00 pm to 10:30 pm
Vancouver, The Vogue Theatre | Event calendarCost: $28.50
Find tickets: here
Hopsin:
It would probably be easier if we told you what Hopsin doesn’t do, but Hop is an MC, producer, director, actor, and editor. And his journey has been anything but painless.
Stuck in special education classes, Hopsin did not see much of a future in high school. His teachers did nothing but reinforce the feelings that he wouldn’t amount to anything; especially if he continued to waste his time attending classes where nothing was actually being taught. So with no money and only a few real friends, Hopsin dropped out of school in 2004.
Determined to be one of Southern Cali’s premier MCs Hopsin bought an $8 microphone from Wal-Mart, installed Fruity Loops on his computer, and locked himself in the basement. As time went by he knew that his lyrics and production had surpassed what he was hearing on the radio. He combined his skills with a new image [often seen wearing white contacts] and emerged from the basement.
In 2007, Hopsin signed a major record deal with Ruthless Records, and released his freshman album, “Gazing at the Moonlight” in October 2009. Unfortunately Hopsin was never able to get on the same page as Ruthless, so in 2010 he decided to cut ties, and join his own label, Funk Volume.
In November 2010, he released his sophomore album, RAW, and has not looked backed. Since then Hopsin has headlined over 200+ shows around the world, grew his Facebook page to over 2 Million fans, and racked up millions of YouTube views.
Hopsin released the highly anticipated album, “Knock Madness” in November 2013 and spent 2014 touring in over 100 cities around the globe. He's preparing to take over once again in 2015.
Token:
Ben Goldberg, known by his stage name Token, grew up north of Boston, MA. At a young age Ben was introduced to hip-hop and by the age of 6, began writing down his thoughts and emotions from events in his life and expressing himself through poetry. At the age of 10, Ben began putting melody to these lyrics and recording these poems as raps. What had started out as an outlet of expression soon became his passion. Rather than hanging out with friends as most kids his age were doing, Ben stayed at home continuously perfecting his craft and developing his artistry under his now known stage name "Token".
Token began cultivating his fanbase at age 14 after releasing simple videos online of him rapping. By age 16, Token had won multiple online rap contests and has amassed over a million views on his YouTube page. Along with his growing social following online, he began performing all around New England, establishing his live show amongst some known artists. Two of his videos, one of which was made when he was only 14, went viral on Facebook accumulating a total of 6 million views. Fresh off his 17th birthday, Token released a new video that went viral on YouTube and hit a milestone of 500k views in only 3 days and has since passed one million. Having garnered quite a dedicated following, Token has received many celebrity co signs including the likes of T-Pain, Fred Durst (of Limp Bizkit), Platinum Producer Clinton Sparks, RA The Rugged Man and Hollywood star and Boston's own Mark Wahlberg who recently pronounced Token his "new favorite rapper".
Northwest Division:
Most successful music artists separate the worlds of work and play. Northwest Division prefers to smash both worlds together in a collision of epic proportions they call “rap better party harder”. This 4 man combo is more than a team, it’s a division, and judging by the momentum and buzz they have mustered in a short time, NWD is in a league of their own. Comprised of Vancouver rappers Junk and Hungry, beat boxer/DJ/hype-man Gboxx and rapper turned manager/promoter, Katch. NWD met in the underground of Van City’s budding hip hop scene. Junk and Hungry helped pioneer the new generation of battle rap in Vancouver, duking it out in the first battle of the first KOTD event in the city’s history. Shortly after battling each other, the two combined forces and teamed up to create NWD.
NWD has quickly made a name for themselves on the West Coast, headlining their first Western Canadian Close To Home tour (2012), teaming up with Rhymesayers vets Abstract Rude & Musab on their American Road to Soundset tour (2013), playing many sold out shows locally and locking down countless opening slots playing alongside today's rap heavyweights; Yelawolf, Rittz, Machine Gun Kelly, ASAP Mob, Ab-Soul, Mobb Deep, Mayer Hawthorne, Freddie Gibbs, Tech N9ne & Krizz Kaliko, Mayday, Action Bronson, Chef Raekwon, Method Man, Ghostface, Riff Raff, Sean Price, Cormega, R.A the Rugged Man, Noreaga, Devin The Dude, Cyhi Da Prynce, People Under The Stairs, and Blackalicious. Combining an incredible prowess for live performance and an unmatched hustle pushing their NWD brand. Having released their first self titled project in 2012 to great response and their follow up trend setting R.B.P.H (Rap Better Party Harder) (2014) also releasing their “Stay Sharp” mixtape hosted by Vancouver Hip Hop icon DJ Flipout. Upon their new record (Orange & Black) slated for release on March 4th 2016, NWD has also released a free "Stay Sharp 2" mixtape on Christmas Day (2015) this time hosted by Vancouver electronic and hip hop legend DJ Mat The Alien. Their Soundcloud page has also a variety of EDM remixes by Vancouver native Stepsnecessary: which feature songs with Merkules of "Stomp Down Killaz" and more.
Along the way they have won the "Where it's At Emcee Competition" which gave them an opening slot for MGK in front of a sold out crowd, won an audition to perform at the "Millennium Music Conference" in Pittsburgh, PA. Performed at the world famous "Shambhala Music Festival (2014), toured all of B.C on Tech N9ne's "Strangeulation Tour" (2015) and created the "Sound of Music Fundraiser" for the hearing impaired charity for children with hearing disabilities.
The first single Dunning Kruger featuring Rittz of Strange Music is out now off their upcoming "Orange & Black" album, now available on multiple media outlets such as thisis50.com and Beatroute magazine. You can order the album in ITunes now. Catch them on Spotify, Shazaam, Bandcamp and SoundCloud for their entire discographies.
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