Far I

Far I (real name Michael Gomes) was born on the sunny island of Aruba on August 23th 1979. In 1987 he emigrated to Rotterdam (The Netherlands) with his mother in search of a better life. Because of the struggles he faced at a younger age (a drug addict as a mother), he identified with hip hop music. Which led to his first rap lyric in 1992.
He immediately knows that rapping is in his blood and he does that so well that he starts writing lyrics for himself as well as for 4 guys in the neighbourhood. He slowly starts to take notice of the rap scene in Rotterdam that still is very underground in ’93. In this period he first saw Dutch mc’s like E-Life, U-niq and Def Rhymz performing on stage,
and Far I hopes to do that also one day.
In ’96 his best friend and late rapper Helderheid thinks it’s time for a more positive name and christens him from Demon Lord to Far I Disciple. Far I is extracted from “Rastafari” because of the fact that next to hip hop, Far I loves reggae. He adds his own meaning “far eye” as a tribute to his Native American heritage.
He gets a chance to record a track in a professional studio for the very first time in 1997. When Anonymous Mis ( Postmen) heard the track in ’98 Mis gave the demo to Kees de Koning (Top Notch records) and it had a lot of airplay in the famous Dutch hip hop radio show “Villa 65”.
Because of this and the fact that Mis did the productions for U-niq’s debut album “Married to Music”, U-niq wanted to record a track with promising and talented newcomers and Far I was one of them. U-niq’s album did not come very far.
In the years after that Far I only appears on compilation albums, “Homegrown” of the National Pop Institute as the most important one. Also starring on this album are C-Mon & Kypski, Pete Philly, Raymzter, Opgezwolle and the formerly underrated D-Men ( Lange Frans & Baas B).
Even though Far I has 3 official compilation albums on his name and did a couple of tours (Social Life Tour, the Homegrown Tour and Postmen’s Free the world tour), he still doesn’t have a record deal.
As an artist/ songwriter/ producer Far I surprises on every aspect by keeping up with new developments. But his own trademark is his raw flow and when you listen, you can feel every song, emotion and word is real..
Early 2006 Far I gets a wake up call and comes to the conclusion that he has to take matters into own hands to get somewhere in the industry.
He then finances his own album wich carries the appropriate title “Blood, sweat & lyrics” and gets it mixed in the Bullet Sound Studio and mastered by Alan Ward in Electric City in Brussels.