Music:
Member Since: 6/19/2006
Band Members: .. CDBABY LINK for HOOCH & KWRECK: Smoke Signalz --
Influences:
Sounds Like: Hooch & Kwreck
BioThe story of Hooch and Kwreck began in the mid-70's when both were growing up in the mostly quiet, but sometimes rough, southern town of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Their interest in music began at a very early age. Attracted to the sublime melodies and soulful rhythms of the funk bands of that era they were both music lovers from the beginning.
Kwreck began as a precocious toddler picking out notes by ear on casio keyboards, trying to emulate the music his parents played on their 8 track cassettes and vinyl albums. Growing up to the sounds of the Gap Band, Earth Wind and Fire, James Brown, Issac Hayes, Luther Vandross, Ohio players, Zapp, and Con Funk Shun, the seeds of funk were planted in the soul of the young prodigy while still just a child.
Upon entering kindergarten, his love for music matched only by his love for learning, he started to play his first instrument, the recorder. With it he first learned to read music, and a few years later began studies on a second instrument, the slide trombone. He sang in the choir and at school plays and other public performances. It was also during these formative years that the cultural phenomena known as Hip Hop spread across America. The raw boisterous beats and lyrical braggadocio, the ghetto griots with their tales from the 'hood', the fashion, the break dancing, the graffiti, the Dj's with their turntable wizardry...the battles between the masters of ceremony who moved the crowd... all of these things -from the classic archives- Boogie Down Productions, Whodini, UTFO, Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane, LL cool J, EPMD, the Beastie Boys, Gangstarr, the Ghetto Boys, NWA, Eric B and Rakim, Slick Rick /Dougie Fresh, Kool G rap- the works of these Hip Hop pioneers solidified Hip Hop as one of Kwreck's first loves in life.
During high school, while attending Booker T. Washington, Kwreck’s love for music was still a major driving force in his life. He took electronic music production as an elective and also took some piano lessons for a few years to tighten up his producing skills. All of this training was extremely helpful in his development, but it was his ability to play by ear that set him apart from the rest. It was also this talent that got him in to trouble with his music instructor because once he learned the pieces by ear he wouldn’t read the sheet music anymore. And that didn’t sit well with his teacher. Kwreck, however, would not let that discourage him and aside from the disagreements with his teacher all the signs pointed toward a bright future in music for the inspired youth.
Hooch began his emcee career around the 2nd or 3rd grade. Greatly influenced by the sounds of Run DMC, Slick Rick, Dougie Fresh, LL Cool J, UTFO, Eric B and Rakim, the Fat Boys, and Salt n Pepper he started writing his own rhymes. Trying to out perform other rappers and connect big words in his room after school he had the spirit of battle
rappin in him from the start. Hooch also attended Booker T. Washington and in high school he became captain of the “Funky D’s†the drum section in the marching band. The half time shows, which are a big thing for marching bands in the south, gave him a taste of performing in front of large crowds. Making up original cadences for his section he showed off his creativity and beat making abilities. This experience laid the foundation he would build on later in life when he began to dabble in the production side of the music business.
Their career together began during this time in high school. They performed in talent shows and some days Kwreck would be in the music room during a lunch break or activity period making and playing beats and Hooch would be down there freestylin'. As a graduation present Kwreck got his first real keyboard a Roland W-30 and with this new equipment began to make beats that had a professional quality and a rough underground hardcore Hip Hop sound. It was at that time when Hooch, Kwreck, and another friend of theirs Loose formed the group Indlez Stylez and recorded some classic songs at the For Arts Sake Productions studio on Apache. Working with other artist like Rasheed and Stress they sharpened their lyrical swords and further developed their track making skills. It was also around this time when their influences grew because Hip Hop was growing. Artists like Lauryn Hill, Teddy Riley, Nas, Biggie, 2Pac, Scarface, Redman, E-40, DJ Premier, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, the D.O.C., Common Sense, Ice Cube, groups like the Roots, Wu Tang Clan, and Mobb Deep all inspired them to continue doing this rap thing and strive to perfect the art.
After a short separation going off to different colleges they reunited in Norman, Ok. With the addition of 4 more emcees to their rap click (Ill Sun Tzu, Southpaw aka Bullet, James the Just, and Vision) they formed a group called the Horsemen (the Honorable Order of Righteous Soldiers Empowering Mentally Enslaved Nations). The Horsemen ripped up the local underground scene with lyrical ability that has yet to be matched even to this day. Sparked by previously undiscovered Knowledge of their history and divine origins the contents of their songs were biblical, metaphysical, and revolutionary yet still had a down to earth street flavor. The focus of the group, however, was mainly on the empowerment and education of the oppressed people of the world. After doing some writing and recording the Horsemen joined forces with some other local groups and artists (BCP, the VL's aka the Somatic Souls, solo artists C-Self, Callus, parnaz, Snake, J-mac, Dirty Bird, and Gino) and formed the mega group Medu Netr. Medu Netr released two albums "Epic Proportions" in 98' and "1ufusizjusliku" in 2001 which, with the internet exposure made noise all over the world. The Netrs, which they were called, performed at events with Crooked Lettaz, the Nappy Roots, Lil John and the Eastside Boys, Olivia, CooCoo Cal, and a host of other up and coming stars. The group even made an adventurous trip to Washington D.C. and performed at the Howard University Homecoming.
This brings us to the present where members of the group are working on releasing solo projects (J Barre', Sreal, Syntaxx, and Hooch and Kwreck with their duet album "Smoke Signalz"). The album "Smoke Signalz" is almost ready for release and as Kwreck put it "we just trying to use our talents to entertain the world with the combination of substance and repartee' ".
Record Label:
Type of Label: None