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Gabriel Teodros

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Gabriel Teodros
Background information
Birth nameGabriel Teodros
Born1981
OriginBeacon Hill, Seattle, Washington
GenresHip hop, Northwest hip hop
OccupationRapper
Years active1999–present
Labelsindependent, Fresh Chopped Beats, MADK, MassLine, Porto Franco Records
Websitehttp://www.gabrielteodros.com

Gabriel Teodros (born 1981), is a hip hop artist and a member of the groups Abyssinian Creole and CopperWire. He is of Ethiopian, Scottish, Irish and Native American descent,[1] and was raised on Beacon Hill, Seattle, Washington. Teodros' music often features socially conscious themes, and he was a catalyst in the surge of dynamic underground rap acts from the Pacific Northwest during the first decade of the 2000s.[2]

Early life

Born and raised in Seattle, Washington to an Ethiopian mother and a father of Scottish, Irish and Native American descent. His parents met through anti-war organizing in the 1970s, and they split up around the time Gabriel was born. He stayed with his mother, where he met grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins as they first emigrated to the United States and all stayed in the same house.[3]

His relationship with hip hop culture began at a young age within the South Seattle neighborhood of Beacon Hill. “A lot of kids in my neighborhood were affected by gang culture. And I kind of had a death wish. I felt like, at an early age, that I wasn’t going to live to 21” he said in an interview with Sheeko Magazine. He spent his high school years in Las Vegas, Nevada where as one out of approximately 30 students of color in a predominantly white school, something within him changed. “It was the first time I understood that there was a system in place that wanted kids like me to want to die. And understanding that in high school made me want to live.” he says in the same interview. The former breakdancer, graffiti writer and closet-emcee finally began to take his career path seriously at age 16, using hip hop to both understand and explain his world.[4]

Music career

1999-2005: Beginnings and Abyssinian Creole

Teodros began his musical career around 1999, when he returned to Seattle and began working with a live band called 500 Years. That same year, he met an MC named Khalil Crisis (better known as Khingz), from the group Maroon Colony. The 2 groups began sharing bills together all over Seattle and the 2 MC's also began working with a community organization called Youth Undoing Institutionalized Racism. In 2001, YUIR sent them to a conference in New Orleans, and it was there that Teodros and Khingz saw how much they had in common outside of music. They formed the group Abyssinian Creole to both represent their peoples and the bridges between them.[5]

Also in 2001, Teodros released his first solo album entitled Sun To A Recycled Soul.[4]

In 2005, Abyssinian Creole released its debut album, Sexy Beast,[5] a record that gives expression to the post-1990s cosmopolitanism thriving in South Seattle.[6] The album's featured guests include Moka Only, Geologic of Blue Scholars and Macklemore.[7] What Sexy Beast made apparent was the diversity of Northwest hiphop: It can come from anywhere (East Africa, Haiti) and be about anything (love, immigration, meditation).[8]

2006-2007: Lovework

Main article: Lovework

In the spring of 2006, Teodros completed the entire Lovework album with producer Amos Miller, around the same time MassLine Media was being formed with Teodros, Blue Scholars & Common Market.[5] Lovework had additional beat contributions from Sabzi of Blue Scholars, Moka Only, Kitone, and Specs One. Its sound was primarily influenced by Seattle veteran Vitamin D (who also mixed the record) and the late J Dilla.[6] The album title, Lovework was inspired by bell hooks and her book All About Love: New Visions, where hooks insists that to truly know love, one must agree that love is a verb. She goes further to say to truly know love, one must work to undo every system of domination that stops people from truly loving. The title was also inspired by a quote from Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet where Gibran says "Work is love made visible".[5]

Also in 2006, Good Medicine was formed: a four-person group composed of Teodros, Khingz, Macklemore and Geologic of Blue Scholars. Good Medicine have headlined a handful of shows in the Seattle area but have never released any music as a group.[9] Towards the end of that year, Teodros independently released a mix-tape/CD entitled Westlake: Class of 1999, which was a collection of his unreleased songs recorded in 4 different cities between the years 2002-2006.[10]

The Lovework album was released February 27, 2007 on MassLine, to critical acclaim.[11] The album topped the CMJ Hip Hop charts for 2 weeks and came in at #19 for the year 2007.[12] This year Teodros was also named as one of URB Magazine's "Next 100".[13]

2009-2010: Air 2 A Bird and GT's Ethiopium

In the fall of 2009, after being deported from the London-Heathrow Airport and having to cancel a European tour, Teodros found himself in a Brooklyn, NY recording studio with Lovework producer Amos Miller.[14] They spent 2 weeks together crafting a 12 track album produced using mostly GarageBand, a piano, and the recordings of actual birds.[15] The end result was Air 2 A Bird's Crow Hill, released independently in the summer of 2010.[16]

In December 2009, Teodros released GT's Ethiopium: A Jitter Generation Mixtape.[17] This release shined a light on the realities of Ethiopia, touched on America’s own imperfections & stressed the importance of exploring one's own intelligence and spirituality. It was made completely using instrumentals from Oh No's Ethiopium, which was made completely using old-school and rare samples of Ethiopian music.[18]

2012-Present: Colored People's Time Machine and CopperWire

In January 2012, Teodros released Colored People's Time Machine, his first full-length solo album since Lovework.[19] Colored People's Time Machine was recorded in Seattle and Brooklyn and is a multi-lingual, multi-genre album that featured vocal, instrumental, and production collaborations with 20 different artists. On it, he explored themes of love (Goodnight, a brief interlude on a long-distance relationship), cultural identity (Blossoms of Fire), personal identity (Alien Native, a biographical tale), the concept of home (Diaspora and Beit), loss (Ella Mable Bright, a tribute to his grandmother featuring Meklit Hadero), music (Colored People’s Time Machine, and Sun and Breeze, also featuring Meklit Hadero and Amos Miller), and the music industry (You A Star, on which he warns about the pitfalls of the industry and the danger of buying into the illusion of stardom).[20] Other guests on the album include Mexico City's Bocafloja, Los Angeles emcee SKIM, and Palestinian wordsmith Sabreena Da Witch.[19]

On April 17, 2012, CopperWire's debut album Earthbound was released on Porto Franco Records.[21] CopperWire is a group composed of Teodros, Meklit Hadero and Burntface. All three celebrate their Ethiopian ancestry on the album, but do so through the characters of galactic fugitives aboard a hijacked starship.[22] Earthbound's story, as described in liner notes by award-winning science fiction author Nnedi Okorafor, casts CopperWire members as characters that journey to Earth in the year 2089 to learn what it means to be human. They include mad scientist Scholar Black (Burntface), alien-human hybrid Getazia (Gabriel Teodros) and interstellar telepath Ko Ai (Meklit Hadero).[23] The album uses metaphors of intergalactic distances to talk about diaspora and cultural connection and disconnection.[24] The album also uses sonified light curves (that is the sound of stars, processed through Fourier analysis into frequencies that can be heard by humans) courtesy of SETI Institute researcher & NASA Kepler Labs analyst Jon Jenkins.[23]

Touring and other work

Teodros leads writing workshops with youth, has helped spearhead after-school programs, and organizes all-ages events.[14]

He was also a founding DJ for Zulu Radio on KBCS 91.3 FM.[25]

As a part of Abyssinian Creole, Teodros performed alongside Khingz at the Under the Volcano Festival in North Vancouver, BC in 2003,[26] 2004[27] and 2009.[28]

Teodros performed at the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, WA in 2006 (with Abyssinian Creole), 2007 (as a solo artist, and with Good Medicine), and in 2010 (with Air 2 A Bird).[29]

In 2007, Teodros toured the Western part of the United States with Blue Scholars and Common Market,[30] for the first and only MassLine Tour.[31] Also in 2007, Teodros performed at the Sasquatch! Music Festival, which was headlined by Björk, and also featured Manu Chao and Ozomatli.[32] Teodros also performed at the Trinity International Hip Hop Festival in Hartford, CT in 2007 (as a solo artist),[33] and in 2008 (as a part of Abyssinian Creole).[34]

In the Summer of 2009, Teodros toured in Mexico with Bocafloja, Eternia and Para La Gente.[3][35]

In 2011, Teodros toured Ethiopia alongside Meklit Hadero and Burntface,[36] where they did 12 shows including the first Hip Hop shows to ever happen in the cities of Harar and Gondar. He recorded an album in Washington, DC inspired by the experience,[37] that was released in May 2014[38]

In November 2012, Teodros did a TED Talk about Hip Hop and Science Fiction, at TEDxRainier in Seattle, WA.[39][40]

Teodros has also performed in the United States alongside the likes of Lupe Fiasco,[41] Black Star,[42] K'naan,[19] Zap Mama, Fishbone, KRS-One and The Coup.[43]

Discography

Solo albums

  • Lovework (Massline, February 27, 2007)[44]
  • Colored People's Time Machine (Fresh Chopped Beats/MADK Productions, January 19, 2012)[45]
  • Children Of The Dragon (produced by AirMe) (Independent, May 7, 2014)[46]
  • Evidence Of Things Not Seen (produced by SoulChef) (independent, October 28, 2014)[47]

Collaborative albums

EPs

  • Sexy Beast EP (with Khingz, as Abyssinian Creole) (MADK/Pangea, 2005)[50]
  • No Label (Massline, 2007)[11]
  • The Lentil Soup EP (produced by DJ Ian Head) (Everyday Beats, May 2011)[51]

Mixtapes

  • Westlake: Class of 1999 (Independent, September 11, 2006)[52]
  • GT's Ethiopium: A Jitter Generation Mixtape (Independent, December 15, 2009)[53]

Guest appearances

  • Moka Only - Flood - "Liquid Sunshine" featuring Gabriel T. (Underworld/Battle Axe Records, 2002)[54]
  • Macklemore - The Language of My World - "Claiming The City" featuring Abyssinian Creole (independent, 2005)[55]
  • Common Market - Common Market - "Every Last One (Cornerstone Remix)" featuring Geologic & Gabriel Teodros (MassLine, 2006)[56]
  • Nam - Exhale - "Ghetto" featuring Gabriel Teodros & Toni Hill (independent, 2008)[57]
  • The Kafa Beanz - Andromeda: The Chronicles of Blackopia Volume 1 - "Tizita" - Gabriel Teodros featuring B Sheba (Burntface Media, 2008)[58]
  • Khingz - From Slaveships To Spaceships - "Boi Caimen At Adwa" featuring Gabriel Teodros (Fresh Chopped Beats/MADK, 2009)[59]
  • Big World Breaks - 4 Those Lost... - "Emerald City Step" featuring Yirim Seck, Khingz, B-Flat, Gabriel Teodros, okanomodé (independent, 2009)[60]
  • The LivinYard - Summer's Here / Society Of Summer - Khingz, Nam & Gabriel Teodros (independent, 2009)[61]
  • Suntonio Bandanaz - Who Is Suntonio Bandanaz!?! - "Meditate" featuring Gabriel Teodros & Khingz (Fresh Chopped Beats/MADK, 2009)[62]
  • Canary Sing - Boss Ladies: A Mixtape - "Raindrops" featuring Gabriel Teodros, Slay, Chev, One. Two (independent, 2010)[63]
  • Sabreena Da Witch - A Woman Under The Influence - "Beit / Home" featuring Gabriel Teodros (independent, 2010)[64]
  • Random Abiladeze - Indubitably! - "On My Feet" featuring Gabriel Teodros & Uptown Swuite (independent, 2011)[65]
  • Bocafloja - Patologías del Invisible Incómodo - "Agonia" featuring Gabriel Teodros & Hollis Wong-Wear (Quilomboarte, 2012)[66]
  • SoulChef - Food For Thought - "Black Love" featuring Gabriel Teodros & Sarah MK (independent, 2013)[67]
  • Hightek Lowlives - Humanoid Void - "Humanoid Void" & "Believe In Me" featuring Gabriel Teodros (Cabin Games, 2014)[68]

Videography

  • 2007: "No Label (Esma Remix)"[69]
  • 2007: "Don't Cry For Us" featuring Khingz & Toni Hill[70]
  • 2008: "Third World Wide"[71]
  • 2008: "Tizita"[72]
  • 2011: "Computer Parlor"[51]
  • 2012: "Blossoms Of Fire"[73]
  • 2012: CopperWire "Phone Home"[74]
  • 2012: Bocafloja "Agonia" featuring Gabriel Teodros & Hollis Wong-Wear[66]
  • 2012: "Mind Power"[75]
  • 2014: "Black Love" featuring Sarah MK[76]
  • 2014: "Light Attracts Light & Everything Else Too"[77]
  • 2015: "Greeny Jungle" featuring Shakiah[78]

References

  1. ^ "Gabriel Teodros: Living his dream" by Jason Rothman. Disheveled Magazine. April 2007.
  2. ^ Biography by Cyril Cordor. Allmusic.
  3. ^ a b Interview: Gabriel Teodros. The Find Magazine. July 13, 2010.
  4. ^ a b "Profile: Gabriel Teodros" by Alison Isaac. Sheeko Magazine. July 2008.
  5. ^ a b c d Gabriel Teodros (of Abyssinian Creole) - interview by Todd E. Jones. Insomniac Magazine. December 19, 2006.
  6. ^ a b "Let 'Lovework' Rule" by Charles Mudede. The Stranger. February 27, 2007.
  7. ^ a b "My Philosophy" by Larry Mizell Jr. The Stranger. December 1, 2005.
  8. ^ "Up & Coming" by Charles Mudede. The Stranger. January 10, 2008.
  9. ^ "Things are hopping for hip-hoppers Blue Scholars" by Tom Scanlon. The Seattle Times. January 19, 2007.
  10. ^ "I Don't Label, I Just Call It Like I Hear It" by Angelica LeMinh. Shotgun Reviews. 2007.
  11. ^ a b "My Philosophy" by Larry Mizell Jr. The Stranger. February 14, 2007
  12. ^ College Music Journal. New Music Report. 2007.
  13. ^ "Next 100" Gabriel Teodros - Reviewed by Kevin Polowy. URB Magazine. 2007.
  14. ^ a b "Gabriel Teodros Talks about Life, Music, and the Future" Interview by AddisTunes. AddisTunes. November 20, 2009.
  15. ^ Air 2 A Bird "Crow Hill" Album Review by Alex. KEXP 90.3 FM. August 12, 2010.
  16. ^ "Gabriel Teodros & Amos Miller’s Air 2 A Bird" by Chul Gugich. SSG Music. August 17, 2010.
  17. ^ "Ethiopium" by Toast. Last Night's Mixtape. December 17, 2009.
  18. ^ "Gabriel Teodros – GTs Ethiopium: A Jitter Generation Mixtape (2009)" Dopehug. December 18, 2009.
  19. ^ a b c "Review: Gabriel Teodros - Colored People's Time Machine" by Jonathan Cunningham. Okayplayer. January 2012.
  20. ^ "New Release: Colored People's Time Machine by Gabriel Teodros" by Anne Mazimhaka. This Is Africa. January 18, 2012.
  21. ^ "NEW MUSIC: Earthbound – Copperwire". 206up.com. April 16, 2012.
  22. ^ "Space Music: CopperWire, Eastern Bloc Funk and Mœbius" by Robert Lamb. Discovery News. April 25, 2012.
  23. ^ a b "With Earthbound, CopperWire Creates a Soulful Sci-Fi Space Opera" by Scott Thill. Wired. April 25, 2012.
  24. ^ "Star search" by Mirissa Neff. San Francisco Bay Guardian. May 2, 2012.
  25. ^ Zulu Radio by Rachel Shimp. Seattle Weekly. November 14, 2007.
  26. ^ Waterfront Stage. Under the Volcano 2003.
  27. ^ Artists - Malcolm Lowry Stage. Under the Volcano 2004.
  28. ^ Performers. Under the Volcano 2009.
  29. ^ History. Bumbershoot.
  30. ^ "Massline West Coast tour with Blue Scholars, Common Market, Gabriel Teodros" by imaginary dana. Three Imaginary Girls. April 23, 2007.
  31. ^ "A study in educated hip-hop" by Tom Scanlon. The Seattle Times. May 11, 2007.
  32. ^ 2007 Sasquatch Posters. Sasquatch! Festival | Gallery.
  33. ^ 2007 Trinity International Hip Hop Festival.
  34. ^ 2008 Trinity International Hip Hop Festival.
  35. ^ "Road Warriors" by Zachary Stahl. Montery County Weekly. July 30, 2009.
  36. ^ "CopperWire: How Jam Sessions in Ethiopia Became a Hip-Hop Space Opera" by Ian S. Port. SF Weekly. May 4, 2012.
  37. ^ "Song of the Day: Gabriel Teodros - Mind Power" by Leigh Bezezekoff. KEXP 90.3 FM. February 24, 2012.
  38. ^ "Gabriel Teodros & AirMe - Children Of The Dragon". GabrielTeodros.com, May 19, 2014.
  39. ^ "TEDx Video: Gabriel Teodros Does Hip Hop & Science Fiction" by Tigist Selam. Tadias Magazine. December 12, 2012.
  40. ^ "Video: Gabriel Teodros – Hip Hop & Science Fiction (TEDxRainier)" by Danny. The Find Magazine. December 14, 2012.
  41. ^ "Seattle Weekly's Recommended Events" by Kate Silver and Rachel Shimp. Seattle Weekly. January 31, 2007.
  42. ^ "My Philosophy" by Larry Mizell Jr. The Stranger. November 1, 2011.
  43. ^ Lovework Album Assets. Terrorbird. July 23, 2007.
  44. ^ Review by Robert Christgau. Rolling Stone. March 22, 2007.
  45. ^ "RapReview Of The Week" by Steve 'Flash' Juon. RapReviews. January 17, 2012.
  46. ^ "Gabriel Teodros ‘Children Of The Dragon’ Exclusives". Okayafrica. March 27, 2014.
  47. ^ "Gabriel Teodros Unearths Things Not Seen Via His Ethiopian Hip Hop". MTV Iggy. November 20, 2014.
  48. ^ "Air 2 A Bird Gets Chirpy via Gabriel Teodros and Amos Miller's Crow Hill" by Nick Feldman. Seattle Weekly. July 28, 2010.
  49. ^ "Copperwire's 'Earthbound' album review" by Aidin Vaziri. San Francisco Chronicle. April 15, 2012.
  50. ^ "My Philosophy" by Larry Mizell, Jr. The Stranger. February 3, 2005
  51. ^ a b "Gabriel Teodros x DJ Ian Head - Computer Parlor" by Larry Mizell, Jr. The Stranger. April 19, 2011.
  52. ^ "My Philosophy" by Larry Mizell Jr. The Stranger. December 28, 2006.
  53. ^ "Tonight: Gabriel Teodros at Chop Suey" by Kevin Capp. Seattle Weekly. March 15, 2010.
  54. ^ Moka Only - Flood. Discogs.
  55. ^ Macklemore - The Language Of My World. Discogs
  56. ^ "Seattle's hip-hop scene comes into its own" by Andrew Matson. The Seattle Times. April 27, 2007.
  57. ^ "Pho Shizzle" by Jonathan Cunningham. Seattle Weekly. May 19, 2009.
  58. ^ "The Kafa Beanz" by Will Georgi. Okayplayer. January 4, 2010.
  59. ^ "Khingz: Time to Share the Wealth" by Jonathan Cunningham. Seattle Weekly. June 16, 2009.
  60. ^ "CD Review: Big World Breaks' 4 Those Lost" by Jonathan Cunningham. Seattle Weekly. July 21, 2009.
  61. ^ "Seattle's New Summertime Hip-Hop Group" by Jonathan Cunningham. Seattle Weekly. August 11, 2009.
  62. ^ "Suntonio Bandanaz - Boogie Up The Block" by Larry Mizell, Jr. The Stranger. September 22, 2010
  63. ^ "Canary Sing's Lioness Talks About Neumos Ladies Night" by Jonathan Cunningham. PubliCola | Seattle Met. February 9, 2010.
  64. ^ A Woman Under The Influence. Harvard Hiphop Archive.
  65. ^ "That's so Random" by Nick Miller. Sacramento News & Review. August 18, 2011.
  66. ^ a b "Bocafloja – Agonia". Ritmo Urbano. August 2012.
  67. ^ "Gabriel Teodros ft. Sarah MK ‘Black Love’". Okayafrica. November 6, 2013.
  68. ^ "Seattle Music 2014: Soul Artists". Seattle Magazine. September 2014.
  69. ^ "2009 Stranger Film Genius Zia Mohajerjasbi" by Charles Mudede. The Stranger. November 12, 2009.
  70. ^ "My Philosophy" by Larry Mizell, Jr. The Stranger. July 12, 2007.
  71. ^ "Gabriel Teodros - Lovework" by dantana. Okayplayer. January 18, 2007.
  72. ^ "My Philosophy" by Larry Mizell, Jr. The Stranger. August 7, 2008.
  73. ^ "Video: Gabriel Teodros - Blossoms of Fire" by Shamz. Okayplayer. January 11, 2012.
  74. ^ "PREMIERE: CopperWire’s New Music Video - Phone Home" by Garrett Houghton. MTV Iggy. April 17, 2012.
  75. ^ "Gabriel Teodros - Mind Power" by Ado. African Hip Hop. March 3, 2013.
  76. ^ "Watch Gabriel Teodros & SoulChef’s ‘Black Love’ Ft. Sarah MK [Premiere"]. Okayafrica. October 1, 2014.
  77. ^ "Stream Gabriel Teodros' James Baldwin-Inspired 'Evidence Of Things Not Seen' LP". Okayafrica. October 30, 2014.
  78. ^ "Gabriel Teodros & SoulChef Premiere Their Protest Video For 'Greeny Jungle". Okayafrica. February 20, 2015.
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