About Me
Kolor Brown aka Black Lung
Kolor Brown is the definitive contemporary soul artist whose music has evolved through struggle, experience and experimentation. His distinct & beautiful voice takes you to times & places in memory and his stories are spacewalks through love, pain, angst, & triumph. Trained in visual & performance arts, Kolor Brown has been living music since he was able to harmonize his first note in the church choir. He has worked with some of this generations most talented musicians over the years allowing him to develop his talent as a singer, song writer, composer & producer.
For Kolor Brown, Art is about the essence of a time, more than the artists themselves. There is the Soul movement of the 60s & 70s journeyed by greats like Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and Al Green, that represented a time of the Black struggle in America. The Reggae movement that brought forth the Jamaican essence with artists like, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Dennis Brown. Then there is the swagger of the Hip Hop movement; the cry and expression of the inner city youth who created their own way and forced the system to feel their struggle. All these experiences have laid the backdrop to his sound & music.
In 2005 Kolor Brown was featured on Rochester aka Juices A New Day that garnered heavy national rotation on radio & video, including a nomination for Best Rap video at the 2005 MMVAs. That summer also saw the successful release of his first EP titled The Kolor Brown Project and a sold out show at Revival featuring an 8 piece band. Kolor Brown has performed in venues all over Toronto including the historic Opera House, the original Bamboo, & the ACC.Kolor Brown is now 1/3 of a new creative collective called CROWN A' THORNZ with fellow members J-Wyze & Eklipz. They are currently in studio working on their debut collaborative effort scheduled for release at the end of this year.PURCHASE THE KOLOR BROWN PROJECT
CROWN A THORNZ
In the infinite universe of MCs & Rappers claiming sets in Bentleys & ice with fly ass bitches by their side, comes a group of thought purveyors who create a brand of hip hop that is of a grown up reality. This reality is deep to the soul of a generation spawned from the era of the original b-boy. They are tempered by roots & culture, forged by inner city life, and shaped by soul, injecting reality on all lyrical levels.
Crown A' Thornz, is a creative collective featuring members, J Wyze, Eklipz, & Kolor Brown, who together create music that provokes thought, conversation, and head nods. Their sound is unique to the experience of 'the first of the last generation'. The first generation of Caribbean West Indian parents who found their way to North America with dreams of a better life, and the last generation of the foundation Hip hop era.
No longer just a youth movement, hip hop is a culture that effects lifestyle, economy, and politics. It is an outlet for being heard & seen and a means to an end. Hip hop is not just about whips, rims, chains, and hot sixteens, but also business, family, society, and change. Hip hop has grown up.
Crown A' Thornz is consciousness music that addresses grown up issues about life, love, and trying to do better. It's hustle music that speaks to the difficulties of the urban black male. It's soul music to a generation that struggles for a better future. It's hip hop music that is needed as an alternative to the material driven, over sexed commercial mainstream.
The union of these storytellers is a result of a life long relationship with music and the foresight of a man who recognized an untapped potential in three talented individual artists. DTS, the backbone of the longest running hip hop show in Canada, the Master Plan on University of Torontos CIUT 89.5FM, and co-founder of 2004 Justos Mix Tape Award winner, the Soul Controllers sound crew, was the connecting point for Crown A' Thornz.
J Wyze, an award winning poet & MC, co-host of Torontos FLOW 93.5FM's the Trauma Unit and former hype man for the Soul Controllers, was beginning his first solo project. Looking for a facility & producer to work with, DTS, his former partner in the Soul Controllers, suggested he hook up with Kolor Brown AKA Black Lung. Kolor Brown, a life long friend of DTS' from the neighborhood, is a songwriter & producer who was working on his own solo project through his studio the Spott. He was also looking for other artists to collaborate with, so following a few creative sessions, a connection was forged and Kolor Brown began working with J Wyze.
While Kolor Brown & J Wyze were recording, DTS brought Eklipz to the Spott because he was also looking for production for his own project. Eklipz, an artist & MC hailing from the steel city, has been a fixture in the Hamilton hip hop scene for over a decade. He is owner of the Boom Spot, one of the citys first hip hop clothing stores, and has been doing a radio show on McMasters CFMU 93.3FM for over 10 years. Like with J Wyze, after a few sessions Kolor Brown began to record and produce for Eklipz.
After months of recording at the Spott, the three began to develop a creative cohesion. A symbiosis that was hard to deny. Recognizing this, DTS suggested that the three form a union and release a collective effort. What resulted was the birth of a new movement called Crown A' Thornz.
Since formally coming together, Crown A' Thornz has put out their first mixed CD, IRON LION vol. 1, with vol. 2 on the way, opened for Jeru the Damaja, and released the buzz single Natty Ride out to commercial & college radio. They are currently in the studio working on their debut independent album featuring productions by Kolor Brown and Spott Producers Tra Boogie & Stevie Talent. The album is slated for release in late 2006.
