UNITY aka YOUNG PRECISE:
Unity was introduced to hip-hop as a toddler when he first heard Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, and hes been inspired to create music ever since. Making music and performing is in Unitys blood his father is a reggae artist and his mother a reggae, jazz and soul singer so he was drawn to the stage at an early age. His first solo performance was at Marla Gibbs Memory Lane, a Los Angeles club, when he was only seven. He performed three of his own songs, including the first rap he wrote, Preaching Wisdom. Even at a young age, Unity said he was aware of the importance of rapping with a message. Since I started rapping, I was listening to KRS-ONE who always had a message about liberating people, and rap comes from that tradition, Unity said. My music always has a message to free your mind, liberate yourself and dont get caught up doing things that you shouldnt do. Growing up in both Los Angles and Sacramento, Unity got involved with gangs, and the experiences he had motivated him to keep rapping. Unity became known for his quick and clear rhymes and was given the name Young Precise. Im very meticulous with my rhyming and everything I say, Unity said, so whether its freestyle or its written, its on point thats why people started calling me Young Precise. Unity began seriously recording music when he was 13 and founded a rap group with two other friends called The Napalm Clique. We were in rival gangs, but rap brought us together, Unity said of the original Napalm members. When he was 17, the Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) asked Unity to document his senior year in high school. As a result, Unity and his music were featured on a documentary and soundtrack that ran on PBS stations across the nation. In 2000, Unity finished Fight, his first album with The Napalm Clique, and moved to Oakland to attend California College of the Arts. While in Oakland, Unity sold hundreds of copies of Fight and began working with Street Scholars, an underground hip-hop and reggae group. Hes performed all over the Bay with them and opened for KRS-ONE in San Francisco. Unity also founded his record label, Unmarked Records, and released a handmade box set with 58 tracks. The box set documents his recordings from ages 14 through 21, and includes tracks with Subtitle from Project Blowed and Oscar Brown, Jr. Each four-disc set is unique and personal, and shows how Unity connects his visual art with his music. He displayed the box sets in an art show in October 2004. As Unity grew in Oakland, so did The Napalm Clique. Several emcees that he met in the Bay joined the Clique, and now the 13-man team is producing an album together. And Unity promises the album will combine the best of Southern and Northern California styles. This album will be a way for people to meet all the characters, and see how Napalm has grown since L.A., he said. I hope Napalm benefits not only the brothers within it, giving them a chance, but it gives young brothers coming up the opportunity to see their potential, because really, we want to reflect the community and the youth and show them what they can do, and how dope they can be. Unity has also been recording a solo album with Organized Elements, an indie label and band based out of Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco. The album will feature tracks with Stic.Man from Dead Prez, Peace from Freestyle Fellowship and reggae legend Scientist. On this album, youll get to see me working with professionals and proving that I can hang in an arena with the big dogs, Unity said. And Im not just holding my own, but Im going beyond that and just shinning. Audiences can expect nothing but the best from Unity Lewis, it is the motto he lives by: If you want to do something, do it to the fullest and put your all into it, because when you create, thats God working.
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