Wrekonize

Wrekonize is an American underground rapper and current member of Miami band ¡Mayday!. Born in 1983 in London, England, Wrekonize moved to Miami, Florida at the age of 5. In 2003 he competed in MTV Battle II: The Takeover in Times Square to beat 10 rappers and win. Promised a contract with Roc-A-Fella Records as a grand prize, reports several month later surfaced that Wrekonize was never offered a contract as the contest initially stipulated. Soon after he was signed to SouthBeat Records and shortly released "The Waiting Room Mixtape" which featured songs with Ras Kass and DJ Spinna. The Waiting Room was planned to be the first mixtape to a three part series he arranged with to Southbeat Records. With a subsequent fall of the label, the album had minimal release but luckily resurfaced on the underground hip hop database Datpiff as an album of the week. With online success of the first album, he self-produced a second installment called Elevator Music. It featured the Miami emcee rapping over underground instrumentals with one track produced by Plex Luthor of ¡Mayday! and another produced by DJ Sharpsound. ¡Mayday!, a Miami based hip hop band had also been signed with SouthBeat Records in 2004 and performed with Wrekonize at local clubs and opera houses. Eventually ¡Mayday! offered Wrekonize a vocal position and membership of the band. On September 7, 2010, Wrekonize had released "Stuck On An Island" with ¡MAYDAY! and a solo EP "A Soiree For Skeptics". Over the past couple months "Wrek" has produced various freestyles via numerous blogs and web sites.

Background

Born in London, England, Wrekonize was raised in a cultured household of both British and African descent. His mother was England born and father had emigrated to England from Cape Town, South Africa. Moving to the U.S. in 1988, his parents had formed a local band together. They performed on occasion with emcee Guru for his original Jazzmatazz album. At the age of 11, Wrekonize was introduced to Guru, who inspired him to make his own music.

Name Derivation

At the age of 13, Wrekonize was part of the popular cult of graffiti. Attempting to imitate the works of Miami graffiti artists Os Gêmeos, he spotted "Wrekonize" in Martha Cooper's Subway Art book. Admiring the graphic he chose to adopt it as his stage name because to him it meant, "observant and always alert to the surrouding and the people in them".

Mixtapes

• Overdue Mixtape
• The Waiting Room
• Elevator Music
• D.W.D (Done Without Dialogue)

Albums

• A Soiree For Skeptics
• Welcome to Strangeland by Tech N9ne