Christylez Bacon

Christylez Bacon

Christylez Bacon (pronounced: Chris-Styles) (born March 5, 1986) is an Progressive Hip-Hop Artist, musician, and rapidly emerging performer in the Washington, DC, music scene. He is responsible for introducing his live eclectic blend of classical/jazz/hip-hop arrangements and lyricism to such reputable presenters as Strathmore Hall, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Biography

Christylez Bacon is a native Washingtonian and a testament to groundbreaking Hip-Hop, self-expression, and pure artistry. As a performer, Christylez multi-tasks between various instruments such as the West-African djembe drum, Acoustic Guitar, and the syncopated oral percussion of the Human Beat-Box, all while creating imagery with his lyrics. Christylez has been featured at many venues commonly unassociated with the realm of Hip-Hop music including the National Cathedral, the Kennedy Center, and Strathmore Hall. In March 2008, Christylez became the first Hip-Hop artist to receive an Artist-in-Residence position at Strathmore Hall. Within months, he quickly became the first artist to sell out both public performances during his month of residency. With versatility, clever songwriting, and pure talent, Christylez will continue to paint his dynamic perspective of Hip-Hop music into to minds of many.

Bacon classifies his largely diverse music as Progressive Hip-Hop. In a local interview, He states, "It takes traditional hip-hop elements and fuses live instrumentation and genres from around the world. The inspiration came from knowing our simple connection in music. Every culture or group of people on this planet has music and the arts. I have always believed that ignorance causes hate, disrespect, and lack of communication among us all. The idea of the "remix" in hip-hop music made it evident that we can put any style into the mix, thus uniting lovers of hip-hop, salsa, classical, jazz, and bhangra in one space. The music is the lure and the lyric is the education that will destroy the many barriers that prevent us from recognizing our connections with each other."

Collaborations

2008-2009

• Triflava, Progressive Hip-Hop Band
• Urban Artistry, Hip-Hop Dance Collective
• Lily Neil, Celtic Harpist
• Rock N' Roll String Quartet, Classical/Rock String Quartet
• Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, 2x GRAMMY Winning Bluegrass/Children's Music Duo

Discography

Advanced Artistry (2008-2009)

In an interview, Christylez explains the concept of this debut recording,

I called the album Advanced Artistry because it takes on traditional hip-hop elements and expands everything about it, with the use of piano solos in between the chorus & verses, heavy extended chord progressions, altered song structuring, and all original composition without sampling records. Being a student at Duke Ellington School of the Arts, I was exposed to everything from jazz to classical. I always saw these connections between sonata-allegro form and hip-hop song structure, scat & rapping. But hip-hop artists weren't doing that. That takes a true ear, music theory, and natural flava (spelled exactly like that). I created this album out of a dream and a longing to hear the combination of cultures, genres, and social classes. I call it progressive hip-hop. It takes traditional hip-hop elements and fuses live instrumentation and genres from around the world. I came to this project with all of my built-up thoughts & views and put them on the table, like painting. From there, my executive producer/friend/mentor, Bomani Armah, helped me sort through the collection, discarding the fluff. I worked exclusively with pianist, Mychael "Myke P" Pollard, in flushing out some of the arrangements. Also, this is my first album, so it's a musical journal of a kid in high school transitioning towards a short-term of college and a space in the 'real world'

External links

• Official Website
• Official Myspace Page
• Twitter Updates