Omaha-based rapper Toot;s infectious hooks and hard hitting lyrical style have been his calling card for almost eight years. And with the world of hip-hop music moving steadily toward a state of stagnation between mindless party anthems and "bling-bling" statements of mic superiorty, Toot's sonic tales of life struggle mixed with an almost spiritual yearning stand out amidst a sea of wannabes.Since breaking onto the Omaha hip-hop scene in 1998, Toot has quickly made great strides to the city's -- if not the region's -- most popular rap act. After being featured on a full clip album cut, Toot was signed as a solo act to New Orleans label Utopia Records and realeased Omaha To New Orleans in 1999. The disc did well locally, but was only a hint of good things to come.His reputation as a creative force to be reckoned with was cemented with the release in July 2002 of ChangeDa Game, a 15 song sophomore project on Graceside Records that, from the date of release, garnered Toot massive props from music fans and the record industry alike. In it's first two weeks, Change Da Game was the top-selling rap album in the Midwest, according to Urban Network, outselling both Nelly's Nellyville and Eminem's monster disc The Eminem Show. Homer's -- the Midwest's largest retailer of local music -- reported that for five straight months, from August2002 to January 2003, Toots CD was the top- selling disc of any local artist hands down Not suprisingly, Toot gained a national reputation in the industry without setting foot outside Omaha, eventually appearing on the same bill as national acts like Snoop Dogg, Too $hort, and Bizzy Bone from Bone Thugs n' Harmony. Not one to be lulled into inactivityby sales figures, Toot has been touring almost non-stop around the country to promote the record, appearing at clubs and record company showcases in huge markets including Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and New Orleans.Toots tracks demonstrate a versatility seldom found in hip-hop music. His best concoctions maintain a tension between sparse instrumentation and flourishes of melodic inventiveness. "Take A Picture Of Me" and "What's Da 412" have harmony and still hit hard. And just when you're about to be seduced by one extreme or the other, Toot's lyrics hit you with a message that elavates you above the street and into a vision of "Sunny Days." Simply put, Toot's original jams bump and bruise and make you think all at the same itme.Toot's current on another production "World News " In stores now. Toot is currently finishing production on his fourth album "Touche'"release date TBA. In the meantime , he's busy being featured in virtually every metro-area music mag and arts publication including feature spreads in Medium, The Omaha World Herald, The Reader, Omaha Weekly, Homer's Express, The Daily Nebraskan and national mag Murder Dogg. And if the last year is any indicator of what the future holds, Toots music will inevitably be daily news in hip-hop circles for some time come.I edited my profile at Freeweblayouts.net , check out these Myspace Layouts!
