Danny Boy (rapper)
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Danny Boy |
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Daniel O’Connor, (born December 12, 1968, in Brooklyn, New York), best known as Danny Boy O’Connor, is an Irish-American rapper and former member of the popular 90’s hip-hop group, House of Pain. Danny Boy moved to California in the 80’s where he masterminded, House of Pain, one of the first, all white, hip-hop groups. While attending William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California (1984 - 1986), he met Erik Schrody a.k.a. Everlast and asked him to join his now legendary hip-hop group. While in House of Pain, Danny Boy acted as the hype man, second emcee on stage, and more notably, the graphic artist of the group. After House of Pain disbanded Danny Boy continued to work on other projects such as his group Xsupermodels, freelance logo designing, street wear and kicks (sneakers). He is also the Executive Producer of the documentary film, Just For Kicks (2005). These days, Danny Boy attends many fashion events where he networks and presents his ideas to fellow artists. He has documented his interests in fashion and music while writing for Mass Appeal Magazine and he presently blogs and does his own video blogging for Kush TV. Danny Boy also helped originate and is currently involved in the hip-hop group La Coka Nostra. It was during this venture that Danny Boy discovered his talent for music video producing.
House of Pain
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Just out of High School (1986), Daniel O’Connor - Danny Boy, made a living with his art background, tee shirt designing, graffiti, etc. Fast forward to the early 1990s. In 1990, Danny Boy wanted to dip into the music industry. "I wanted to start a group like no other out there. I needed someone who could rhyme, so I called up my boy from High School, Erik, and told him I had this dope idea." Danny Boy had met Erik Schrody - Everlast, while hanging out in the parking lot at William Howard Taft High School in California. There they would mingle with the inner city kids who were bused in from all over the Los Angeles area to their school. Both men were originally from New York and clicked right away. They began recording their first demo after Everlast left Rhyme Syndicate (with Ice-T). Erik called on his friend, Leor "Lee" Dimant- DJ Lethal, whom he met from Terri B, a rapper signed to Eazy E's (also a William Howard Taft High School graduate) label. He was her DJ at the time. Danny Boy’s "House Of Pain" was officially formed.
House Of Pain started playing clubs and parties around the LA area in 1990-1991. Then came their first full length album, also titled "House Of Pain" (1992) released on Tommy Boy Records. "How would I describe the sound of House Of Pain? Damn, it’s like drunken, street fighting rhymes, straight from Erik’s dome" explains Danny Boy in a video documentary about House Of Pain. "If you speak to anybody who’s ever been in jail, that’s what they call jail, the jail is the house of pain. And my personal view on what the house of pain is to me, it’s this, it’s my head. This is my house of pain. This is where everything goes on with me. Life is pain and anyone telling you different is selling something. And it’s like no pain, no gain, you know what I’m saying, it’s like if you want something and it’s going to be something that’s worth something, you’re gonna feel it somehow, you know?" replies Everlast. Danny Boy goes on to say, "We all bring something different to the table, we don't all come with the same thing, you know, like Lee will come with beats and scratches and beat box when we're live. Erik comes with quick, crazy ideas and dope lyrics. And I come with more of the creativity, concept, and visual and more than just the art part of the whole thing and just the whole image. And all together we're just a self-contained unit." [1]In fact, it was Danny Boy who designed the famous House Of Pain logo. Danny Boy was also a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang before House of Pain split.
A.T.F., XSM and other projects
Since House of Pain's split in 1996, Danny Boy has not been very active in the public. His musical project A.T.F. (Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms) broke up before their first release, and the short lived group XSupermodels (XSM) only saw a promotional.
He is the featured rapper in Powerman 5000's remake of the Frankie Goes To Hollywood classic, "Relax", on the Zoolander soundtrack.
La Coka Nostra
In 2006, Danny Boy formed La Coka Nostra with newcomer Slaine, teaming up with old friends and fellow House of Pain member Everlast and DJ Lethal as well as Ill Bill of Non Phixion and another newcomer Big Left. The group's debut album/DVD combo entitled "A Brand You Can Trust" will be released November 8, 2008 on La Coka Nostra Recording Co.
Visual art
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Besides his activities in music, Danny Boy is also the creative director of a graphic art company, in partner with, members of the graffiti groups Dissizit and t-shirt company Pain Gang. He also did the art direction for House of Pain albums, and created the House of Pain logo and created the various La Coka Nostra logos on his own or with the help of fellow Dissizit member Slick.
External links
- Danny Boy at MySpace
- La Coka Nostra at MySpace
- Daily Dose at MySpace