B-boy Fidget

------------------------------------------------------- BIOGRAPHY: In the midst of Hip Hop culture’s near obsession with all things material, an artist with the courage to seek a better balance in the music they produce is all too rare. Marcus “Fidget” Sharpe is among this very select group of artists who helps to remind a generation why we all started listening to Hip Hop in the first place.
Marcus Sharpe was born on August 8th, 1984 in Seattle, Washington. He was exposed to music at a very early age. With a poet/ guitarist for a Mom and a drummer for a Dad, his love of music was almost genetic. At the age of three, he was playing drums on stage with his Dad’s band The Caribbean All-Stars. From there his musical ability grew stronger as he learned how to play the trumpet and the piano from his uncle and his grandpa. His two older brothers schooled him to the ways of Hip Hop culture; through this education Marcus developed a strong love for rapping and break-dancing. Marcus took to break-dancing effortlessly, as he was both naturally athletic and musically inclined. As a matter of fact, his tendency to flip and dip around the house earned him the name “Fidget” courtesy of his Mom. Marcus’ Mom didn’t want him to injure himself break-dancing, so she enrolled him in gymnastics and dance classes to cultivate his already growing talent, and to add to his repertoire of movements. “Even though money was tight she always found ways for me to do what I wanted to do and have the best life possible.” Marcus says.
By the age of 15, Marcus had made his mark on the city of Seattle. As a dancer, he had performed at street festivals, to the Paramount Theater, and everywhere in between. During the time that his career as a dancer was taking off, he was also rapping and producing as well. But, it was his love of dancing that continued to be his driving motivation. During his senior year in high school, Marcus injured himself break-dancing in a school performance. He would later find out that he cracked a few vertebrae in his back, which kept him from dancing for six months. While he was unable to dance, his love for rapping became stronger. Since he wasn’t able to dance, he focused all of his energy on rhyming, writing an average of two songs a day. Through the struggle and disappointment of not being able to dance, Marcus discovered what God actually had in store for him.
Using the connections he cultivated as a dancer, Marcus began to team up with some of Seattle’s biggest producers and DJs. He has been fortunate to work with talented producers such as Vitamin-D, Bean One, and K-Steal, whose rap sheet (pun intended) includes the likes of De La Soul, Jurassic 5, Ghostface (of Wu-Tang Clan), Guru, and now Fidget. Marcus originally planned to release a solid demo CD, and shop it around to the major labels. But, the huge underground response to his first single “I Dig You” was enough to encourage him to produce a full length album. Thanks to the positive response of local DJs, the single played on three radio stations simultaneously, KEXP 90.3, Rainy Dawg Radio, and X104.5. Seattle area club DJs also added the song to their play list.
Without a manager at the time, Marcus single handedly pushed his way through many doors and created a buzz on his own. The buzz reached its height in early 2003 when DJ Supa Sam (KUBE 93) gave Marcus a chance to write the opening song to a Hip Hop radio show called Future Flavors. After the song debuted, listeners were ringing the phone off the hook to find out who the voice on the opening song was. They were all the more curious because the honor of performing the show’s opening song was typically reserved for major artists—some would say this was a prophecy of things to come for Marcus. On the strength of this achievement Marcus appeared on DJ Supa Sam’s Talkin’ Shit Vol. 6 Mixtape, which quickly made him the unsigned hype of Seattle.
Thanks to the love and support of his hometown, Seattle, Marcus’ debut album “In the B-Boy Stance” was released in November of 2004 and his new release entitled The Rap Pack Mixtape hit the market in late June. Marcus bring so much to the table that it’s only a matter of time before all of Hip Hop is familiar with his talent. Some would say he is very necessary right now. He is the embodiment of the hopeful future for Hip Hop: motivated business person, lyrically nimble Emcee, and true B-Boy. His balanced attack can only ensure his continued success. He is an artist to watch well into the foreseeable future.