| Lyrics Born | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Birth Name |
Tsutomu Shimura |
|
Birth Date |
September 2, 1972 (age 52) |
|
Origin |
Tokyo, Japan |
|
Genre |
Hip hop, West Coast hip hop, alternative hip hop, jazz rap, underground hip hop, conscious hip hop, abstract hip hop, turntablism, experimental hip hop, funk, neo-soul |
|
Occupation |
Rapper, singer, lyricist, producer |
|
Years active |
1992 - present |
|
Label |
Quannum Projects, Mobile Home Recordings, Instant Live, Anti-, Decon, Mo Wax, P-Vine Records, Jam Recordings, QM Records, Three Ring Records, Transistor Sound, Lossless Digital |
|
Associated acts |
The Solesides Crew, Quannum MCs, DJ Shadow And The Groove Robbers, Latryx, Evidence, KRS-One, Lateef The Truth Speaker, The Poets of Rhythm, Casual, E-40, Cut Chemist, Young Einstein, RJD2, Blackalicious, Gift of Gab, Vursatyl, Halou, DJ Shadow, DJ D-Sharp, Mualem, Pigeon John, Slim Kid Tre, Rashaan Ahmad, Kween, R.L. Burnside, The Altered Egos, Mistah F.A.B., Del the Funky Homosapien, Myron Glasper, Chali 2na, Joyo Velarde, B'Nai, Baby Jaymes, Trackademics, C-Holiday, Jake One, Mike Meezy, Big Cee, Tim "Herb" Alexander, Joey Guila, J-Boogie, The Mamaz, The Bamboos, Eric Legnini Trio, Kasabian, Dan The Automator, Dosmoccos, Soulico, The Mighty Underdogs, Sam Sparro, Clyde Carson, Francis & The Lights, Lotus, George Clinton, Cutso, An Apple A Day, Pretty Lights, My-G, Forrest Day, Instituto, B Negão, Amores Vigilantes, Alan Wilkis, White Hinterland, Somehow At Sea, Tune-Yards, Skins And Needles, David Shaw, Ivan Neville, Galactic, Corey Henry, Corey Glover, Trombone Shorty, Sister Sparrow, Kelly Finnigan, Aloe Blacc, Trey Pivott, Princess Shaw, Yunoka Berry, Say Sway, J Boogie's Dubtronic Science, DJ Vadim, Con Brio, Big Hongry, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Sitcom Dad, The Grouch, Eligh, Xarina, Prince Paul, Rakaa-Iriscience, Shing02, Bohan Phoenix, The Egyptian Lover, 1.O.A.K., Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Tommy Guerrero, Diverse, Ghostface Killah, Adrian Younge, The Strangers, Nick Andre, K+Lab |
Biography[]
Lyrics Born (born Tsutomu Shimura on September 2, 1972 in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese-American rap recording artist, singer, lyricist, and producer. When he was still a child, he and his family had moved to the United States around the tail-end of the 1970s, which was when rap was beginning to take off in popularity. His exposure to this then-new music caught his interest and he decided to try out rapping himself. Once on American soil, he grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. Years later, by the early 1990s, when he originally went by the stage name, Asia Born, he and other hip hop aficionados like DJ Shadow, the late Gift of Gab, and Chief Xcel decided to form a group together called The Solesides Crew. While attending UC Davis, he DJ'd at the college's radio station, KDVS. As Asia Born, his first recorded appearance was on the 1993 split EP release between him and DJ Shadow And The Groove Robbers, Entropy/Send Them. Following that, Shimura changed his stage name so that listeners would focus more on his lyrical skills rather than his race. He set out to prove something and wanted to be taken more seriously. With The Solesides Crew, they released their debut album, Radio Sole 1, in 1995. Containing tracks by various acts, Born appeared on the B-Side of Lateef The Truth Speaker's single, "The Wreckoning", "Latryx". Born dropped his solo debut single, "Balcony Beach", which was unique in how it stood out from other underground rap at the time due to it sounding like a mix of smooth soul and trip hop. It was among the ways he pushed the envelope. That single featured the vocals of Filipina-American singer, Joyo Velarde, who he would later marry and collaborate with frequently. He and Lateef then formed the duo, Latryx, whose 1997 debut album, Latryx - The Album, included both of the aforementioned tracks. They followed up with an EP that same year titled The Muzapper's Mixes and a remix album tiled The Muzapper's remixes the next year. Solesides would rechristen themselves as Quannum MCs, also known as Quannum Projects, and released a compilation package, Quannum Spectrum, under their new name, in 1999. Born contributed to other acts' works, such as on the single, "I Changed My Mind", which found him collaborating with the German funk band, The Poets of Rhythm.
His 2002 single, "Hello", gave a taste of his then-upcoming solo debut album, Later That Day..., which came out in 2003 on the Quannum Projects label. Besides Velarde, others featured on that album were Cut Chemist and Tommy Guerrero. Its success led Born to cut and release his second album, Same !@#$, Different Day, in 2005 through the same label. It contained both new tracks and remixes of his previous songs. That same year, he also dropped his first in a series of mixtapes, The Lyrics Born Variety Show: Season One, with The Lyrics Born Variety Show Season 7: The Series Finale ending its run in 2016. Most of those were issued through Mobile Home Recordings. His live album, The Knitting Factory Los Angeles, CA 10.21.05, is another release from 2005 on Instant Live. After a lengthy tour in 2006, he put out another live album, Overnite Encore: Lyrics Born Live that year via the Quannum Projects label. It's partly and mainly a live album containing a couple 2005 performances in Australia, but it has studio tracks as well. Born switched labels again, this time signing with Anti- for 2008's Everywhere At Once. It featured his live funk, backup band and producer Jake One, among others. That same year saw Acapella's Vol. 1 on Mobile Home Recordings. Switching again to the Decon label, he delivered As U Were in 2010, which found him in an eclectic mix of collaborations with singer-songwriter, Sam Sparro; drummer, Stanton Moore; and alt-rock band, Francis and the Lights. Latryx reunited for a mixtape, 2011's Lytrical Madness, Vol. 1 and 2013's The Second Album. Resuming his solo career, Born delivered 2015's Real People, back at Mobile Home Recordings. Recorded in New Orleans, Louisiana, it found him working with some local talent like Ivan Neville, Galactic, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Trombone Shorty with co-production by Galactic's Ben Ellman and Robert Mercurio. Born appeared filmmaker in Boots Riley's 2018 comedy/drama/fantasy/sci-fi film, Sorry to Bother You. Also in 2018, Born returned with Quite A Life and the collaborators included Aloe Blacc and Del the Funky Homosapien. His collaboration album with Cutso, Rapp Nite, showed up in 2019 and Born appeared as part of a fictional rap group in that year's romance-comedy, Always Be My Maybe. For the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, he set off a series of video interviews, which were then made into a podcast. The result became the basis and inspiration for 2022's Mobile Homies: Season 1 in 2022 as it had him collaborating with Shing02, Con Brio, and Blackalicious, amongst others. Vision Board came about that same year and revolves around self-empowerment. An album having acoustic versions of some of his previous songs, That 1 Tyme In The Studio: Acoustic Selections, came along in 2024 as did Goodbye, Sticky Rice, the latter of these two on Lossless Digital. Other acts' albums on which Born was featured inluded Blackalicious's Melodica EP (1994), Nia (2000), Blazing Arrow (2002), The Craft (2005), and Imani,Vol. 1 (2015); Tommy Guerrero's Soul Food Taqueria (2003); and The Strangers' self-tiled album (2023). A rapper whose music has such a genuine feel, he relies less on samples and more on incorporating a more live, organic sound in his productions.
Discography[]
EPs/Remix EPs[]
- 2005: Bad Dreams
- 2012: As U Were (Remixes)
Studio albums[]
- 2003: Later That Day...
- 2005: Same !@#$, Different Day
- 2008: Everywhere At Once
- 2010: As U Were
- 2015: Real People (as Lyrics Born & The LB Mixed Re-View)
- 2018: Quite A Life
- 2022: Mobile Homies: Season 1
- 2022: Vision Board
- 2024: That 1 Tyme In The Studio: Acoustic Selections
- 2024: Goodbye, Sticky Rice
Collaboration EPs[]
- 1993: Entropy/Send Them (as DJ Shadow and The Groove Robbers/Asia Born)
Collaboration albums[]
- 2019: Rapp Nite (as Lyrics Born & Cutso)
Mixtapes[]
- 2005: The Lyrics Born Variety Show: Season One
- 2006: The Lyrics Born Variety Show: Season 2
- 2008: The Lyrics Born Variety Show: Season 3
- 2009: The Lyrics Born Variety Show: Season Pho (4!)
- 2012: The Lyrics Born Variety Show Season 5: On The Floor!
- 2014: The Lyrics Born Variety Show Season 6
- 2016: The Lyrics Born Variety Show Season 7: The Series Finale
Live albums[]
- 2005: The Knitting Factory Los Angeles, CA 10.21.05
- 2006: Overnite Encore: Lyrics Born Live!
Remix albums[]
- 2005: Same !@#$, Different Day (remixes)