Professor Green

From Grime Wikipedia

Biography

Born on November 27, 1983, at Whitechapel Hospital East London and grown up in Clapton, Hackney, Professor Green is a battle rapper and mc currently signed to Mike Skinner's label The Beats. He is notable for falling off the stage during a battle.

Kicked out when he was a year old because his young mother couldn’t handle the pressures, he was raised by his grandmother and trade up school attendance just for hanging on the estate. As a kid, Professor Green immediately realized that the art of verbal sparring would play a part in his life. Actually he wanted to be a barrister or a lawyer and never planned to be a rapper. It was something he felt drawn to do.

Becoming obsessed with hip-hop at the age of nine thanks to Biggie/The Notorious BIG`s influence, he started out just freestyling around friends. Put on the spot at an impromptu freestyle jam session when he was 18 years old, he coined his first rhyme completely off-the-cuff and impressed some people from Haunted House Productions. Shortly after, he saw a poster advertising a rap battle at the Lyric Pad night in London, turned up and won.

From that he began competing at the prestigious Jump Off events and performed at venues like The Scala and Sound in Leicester Square. First ever contestant to win six straight weekly finals in a row, he was defeated at his seventh showdown but he put together a second run of consecutive victories and claimed his first grand in prize money after stringing seven wins together.

Already a man to fear on the battle circuit, Professor Green was invited to join a major battle competition in the Bahamas for a prize money of $50,000. Professor Green was able to reach the final only to be beaten in the final by the reigning champion Jin Au-Yeung (Jin THE EMCEE). Thank to a performance at the B-Boy Championships in 2005, Green made a name for himself and was opened up to a new audience Mike Skinner of The Streets Fame. Mike approached him and brought him on tour with The Streets.

Later that year, Professor Green decided to take time out from battle rapping to work on his debut album, to be released on Skinners The Beats label. Working hard in studio to prove to people he can make the transition and he is not just a battle mc, he is well aware of the importance of adapting his lyrics from the immediacy of the live battle circuit to cater to the depth of the album format. Recently, he is featured in the Professor Green remix of "When You Wasn't Famous" and his track "Stereo Typical Man", produced by Mike Skinner and featuring Leo The Lion, is heating up the airwaves. In 2006 he plans to support the next Streets tour which may go worldwide, to release a second mixtape and maybe to participate to the next Power Summit 50k battle.

Albums

The Green Lectures Vol 1

External Links

Professor Green at MySpace

and a personal site