Art of Fresh is on a mission to bring butterfat boom-bap to the funk nation!
Art of Fresh is a hip-hop duo with soul that is made up of Guinness World Record holder D.O. (Defy the Odds) and JUNO Award winning producer Slakah the Beatchild. D.O. contributes vocal talents along with fellow lyricist Slakah the Beatchild, who also provides the beats and production elements.
In 2010, the group hit number one on the U.S. College Hip-Hop Radio Charts (Rapattacklives) for their single "Out This World", which was also featured in a Volkswagen advertisement in December 2008. They are currently working on their sophomore album, scheduled for a summer 2010 release, and a video for the single "Lemonade Stand". The group's debut album, Back to the Earth (Northstarr / Nova Music Group / Universal), released in 2008, earned a four star review in Eye Weekly and also reached #2 on Canadian college radio charts. The album also helped Art of Fresh land a spot in the URB’s Next 1000 list and a performance on Canada’s MTV Live.
The Toronto, Ontario based group met in the small city of Sarnia, Ontario where they both attended the same high school, but not at same time. D.O. was in university when he got word of the young beat-making prodigy Slakah. The age gap between the two contributes to the groups’ unique sound, which is the perfect blend of old school meets new school and can best be described as Tribe meets Outkast. D.O. grew up in the 80s, a time known as the golden era of hip-hop, while Slakah was exposed to the neo-soul influenced hip-hop of the 90s.
D.O. and Slakah the Beatchild make up Art of Fresh, but in addition, they both focus on their own solo projects.
D.O., an accomplished emcee, is the Guinness World Record holder set for the longest freestyle, which he set in 2003 by rapping for over 8 hours and 45 minutes. He released his sophomore album Stay Driven in 2009, which contains the singles "Unfinished Business" and "Now I Understand" featuring east coast rapper Classified. The video for the single "Now I Understand", which D.O. also produced, is set to drop in spring 2010. This Spring, D.O. is set to embark on a Stay Driven school tour in Halifax, where he spreads the word to high school students about ant-bullying, anti-violence and literacy.
Slakah the Beatchild’s videos have had great success internationally. The video for the single "Enjoy Yourself" has received airplay on MuchMusic, MTV, VH1 and B.E.T. As well as his accomplishments as a solo artist, Slakah the Beatchild is a highly sought after producer who has produced for Drake, Melanie Durrant and Divine Brown. Slakah was nominated for a JUNO Award as a producer for his work with artists Shad and Ebrahim, and won a JUNO Award in 2009 for the Divine Brown album Love Chronicles. Slakah is signed to BBE (Will.i.am, DJ Jazzy Jeff) and his debut album Soul Movement (2008) was met with critical acclaim worldwide. Slakah will be embarking on an Ontario tour in the Spring of 2010, and recently released his video for the single "What’s This Feeling". |
