Amiri

"I’m here to bring the feel good back to Hip Hop." – Amiri Not that it’s missing, but Amiri wants appreciation when it comes to skills in the art of Hip Hop. Born and raised in South Carolina, Amiri was introduced to Hip-Hop during his childhood through the sounds of Hip-Hop pioneers like T La Rock, Kurtis Blow and Run DMC. "Growing up, anything with rap music involved, I wanted to be a part of it."

"I’m here to bring the feel good back to Hip Hop." – Amiri Not that it’s missing, but Amiri wants appreciation when it comes to skills in the art of Hip Hop. Born and raised in South Carolina, Amiri was introduced to Hip-Hop during his childhood through the sounds of Hip-Hop pioneers like T La Rock, Kurtis Blow and Run DMC. "Growing up, anything with rap music involved, I wanted to be a part of it." Crafting his skills as an MC was how it began, but Amiri realized behind the boards was his true gift. "I was introduced to sampling by my DJ at the time P.O.P.

He taught me the concept of the art and introduced me to looping." While in college, he met a local DJ in Columbia, South Carolina who would help define the sound that Amiri has not abandoned since. "Legendary DJ Eclipse was working at a local record store before he moved back up north, and he heard my demo tapes and saw potential. Between Eclipse and Maestro, these cats were the Madlib and Pete Rock’s to me. My goal was to get to their level and beyond." Inspired from the sounds these guys were bringing, Amiri honed his skills on the ASR-10, and developed a signature sound that recreates the classic 90′s era of Hip-Hop.

"There’s too many to name as far as influences go, but I will shout Primo, Pete Rock, D.I.T.C., Marley Marl, Large Professor, Nottz, Da Beatminerz, and Native Tongues for their influence in my sound." For those that think Amiri is new to the game are wrong. In 1996 Amiri produced the remix to Mista’s top ten single "Blackberry Molasses", feat. Shyheim. Since then, Amiri has sharpened his skills and worked with many underground emcees such as Spectac, Blame One, Rubix, (from Mass Influence), Makeba Mooncylce and last but not least, A Tribe Called Quest." The Tribe song happened through my man Fudge.

He introduced me to Rashad “Ringo” Smith who DJ’ed for Erykah Badu. Rashad is a legend in the game too having worked with Busta Rhymes ("Whoo Hah"), LL Cool J ("Doin' It",) and countless others." After hearing Amiri’s tracks, Rashad knew reaching out to Q-Tip would bring in results. "There was one joint on there that Tip was loving and Tribe was trying to reunite. I would here from Rashad every now and again saying yo they want to record the joint.

Not being on my business, I sent the track to Rashad and with Erykah Badu on the hook,’ I.C.U. (Doin It)’ by A Tribe Called Quest was recorded. Even though I was never credited on the track, Rashad hit me with a check, and we still cool. Due to label issues with Jive, the song was never officially released.

But I am able to say that I did a joint with Tribe, and to me that’s priceless!" Following up the release of his album Almost Famous with partner in rhyme Spectac, Amiri comes out from behind the boards to release his debut solo effort The Recipe. Comprised of 16 tracks featuring Amiri’s signature boom bap soulful sound, The Recipe is 100% Amiri on production and on the mic. Songs like "Music", "Boom Bap", and "Like They Used Ta!", will have Hip-Hop fans wishing it were 1994 again. With his influences and experience behind the boards, Amiri has got The Recipe to give hip hop fans what they’re craving. Most recently Amiri released his second solo effort titled [album artist=Amiri]Vinyl Ritchie[/album on May 22, 2012.

Named after the fan favorite song "Vinyl Ritchie" (2006) off his last album, The Recipe. Amiri's sophomore effort brings back the soulful boom-bap production that real Hip- Hop heads crave. Featuring the street single "I DO IT" and lead single "A Dreamer", the new album also reunites Amiri with partner in rhyme Spectac for the track "Take Our Time". User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL..