Born: Tokyo, Japan Currently: Los Angeles, California, United States Rapper from Berkeley, California. Known for his work with the Solesides crew, most notably in partnership with Lateef the Truth Speaker.
He is also one half of the group Latyrx with fellow MC Lateef The Truth Speaker. Lyrics Born has worked with many artists including KRS-One, Jean Grae, Dilated Peoples, Z-Trip, DJ Shadow, Diverse, Tommy Guerrero, Blackalicious and his wife, Joyo Velarde.
Lyrics Born released his first solo LP in October of 2003, called Later that Day.
In April of 2005, Lyrics Born's second album Same !@#$ Different Day was released on the Quannum Projects label. The album featured remixes of five songs from Later That Day along with a number of new tracks.
LB's hit song Callin' Out was featured in a 2004 Coca Cola television commercial in the United States featuring actor Adrien Brody and was #1 on San Francisco's Alternative Rock station, Live105 for 5 weeks. The song is also featured in the film Waiting... starring Ryan Reynolds.
His songs have been featured in television shows such as HBO's Entourage, Six Feet Under, Skins, Gilmore Girls and the films Collateral by Michael Mann and Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift. Lyrics Born also appears in the upcoming Justin Lin film, Finishing the Game.
His latest album, Overnite Encore: Lyrics Born LIVE! is a live record recorded in Australia and has received praise from critics all across the board who have hailed it as one of the best live hip-hop albums ever made. Rolling Stone gave the album 3.5 / 4 Stars.
Lyrics Born is currently recording his latest album which is due for release next year.
You can check out updates via his online video blog, LBTV available on his website and Myspace page.
From Wikipedia:Lyrics Born (born Tsutomu "Tom" Shimura in 1972), is a Japanese American rapper. He is one half of the group Latyrx with Lateef the Truthspeaker.