It’s an amazing era of music we live in; the world at large has pronounced hip-hop a dying artform, and the MC still has yet to be lauded as a writer. Thirty years after the craft of rhyme was recognized as a recordable form of expression, few music lovers, critics and writers have put an MC next to the likes of Jim Morrison, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan or Marvin Gaye in terms of crafting perfect and timeless songs. Everyone has pegged the MC against the wall and figured him out…. There are no more tricks a rapper can pull out of his sleeve and everybody’s bored.It’s an amazing time for SumKid Majere (or, Sum) to introduce himself to the world.Here we have a North Carolina native that’s a strange blend of cool Southern charm, paranoia and post-millennium urgency. He’s also one of the most intense songwriters in his class of MC. The trademark style is a perfect mirror of his demeanor; an infectious calm and quiet confidence bursting at the seams with creativity. Although the world is just now beginning to pay attention, Sum has been loping over beats since the mid-90s with his charismatic blend of bluesman, dark poet, drunken party rocker. Born in Chicago and raised everywhere between North Carolina and Oakland, his technique is infused with the sensibilities of all the nation’s major regions. The Midwest clarity, the East Coast precision, the Southern charisma and the West Coast ease all mesh together and make perfect sense in Sum. He’s performed for the last ten years across the nation with the likes of The GZA, Wu-Tang Clan, Common, Cannibal Ox, Rolls Royce, Little Brother, The Dalai Lama, MF Doom, Dead Prez, Saul Williams, Aceyalone, C-Rayz Walz, and a number of others. An insistent work ethic and desire to open minds to the world of MC/Songwriting drive him to make music that’s experimental, colorful, fundamental and entertaining. For the open-minded, Sum might just become one of the great creative forces of this era; for the more down-to-earth, he’s definitely a cat you wouldn’t mind having a drink with after a listen.
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