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Conor Agnew on October 16, 2019
Trailblazing emcee, producer and Bay Area legend Lyrics Born has always had great taste in collaborators. Perhaps best known for the hit 2003 single “Callin Out,” the Japanese-born hip-hop head has worked with DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Lateef the Truthspeaker and many others over the course of his 25-year career. His latest choice…
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Nick Veronin on July 3, 2019
Tom Shimura apologizes for losing the thread as he weaves through heavy traffic. The 46-year-old rapper and producer is speaking over his car’s Bluetooth speaker system. It’s Pride weekend, and he’s just trying to knock out this interview on the way to his next engagement. “It’s been a busy couple of years,”…
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It’s fair to say that Lyrics Born (a.k.a. Tsutomu “Tom” Shimura) felt the cultural void when he left Berkeley for UC Davis in the early 1990s. A hip-hop head stranded in a rural college town, he made the most of his time by going on late night walks through campus with nothing but…
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David Ma on August 2, 2013
Jazz and funk share similar qualities, anchored by musicianship and the notion of utilizing musical space. Longtime Bay Area rapper Tom Shimura, known by his handle, Lyrics Born, overtly highlights this connection in his songs and live shows.
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This year’s San Jose Summer fest just got a little bit funkier with the recent announcement of Friday’s headliners. Performing on the main stage will be 70s funk hitmakers Cameo, San Francisco dance-fusion ensemble Afrolicious and Bay Area rapper Lyrics Born, who will be doing a special tribute to Godfather of Soul…
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It’s been 15 years since Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truthspeaker recorded together as Latryx. But after performing on each other’s solo releases, they’re back in the studio for a new Latryx album, and they’ve signed on the South Bay’s most successful hip-hop crew the Bangerz to produce some of the tracks.…
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In 1997, Latyrx’s debut Latyrx (The Album) changed the very idea of what Bay Area underground hip-hop could sound like. Fifteen years later, Lyrics Born is still changing minds and waking up ears as a solo artist, and still working with the other half of the Latyrx duo, Lateef the Truthspeaker, who…
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