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There is a lot that can be and will be said about a man who Chases The Sun; a musician who lives the philosophy that Perceptions InSide Mentally Orbit; a man who has taken this acronym and formulated a style that transcends modern-day Hip-Hop. Thaddeus Smith III also known as PISMO reigns among the limit-pushing Geminis that have forever changed the cords of musical reinvention and timelessness. Among these vials of supernatural genius: Curtis Mayfield. Miles Davis. Gladys Knight. Prince. James Brown. A Tribe Called Quest. The Notorious B.I.G. Tupac Shakur. It is not by coincidence that Pismos music is a crystallization of these forms. Pismo, who hails from Stockton, California, grew up enveloped and intrigued by a wide array of music and art: funk, soul, gospel, jazz, R&B, classical, rock, graffiti, and street dancing. Having entered Hip-Hop culture in the 70s/early 80s, when Hip-Hop was still a virgin and was purely about the four elements: DJing, Emceeing, Graffiti, and Dance; Pismos music exudes that storytelling, raw instrumental innocence. The artist founded his first hip hop group Burnt Batch in Stockton, California, in the latter part of 1991. In 1992, Pismo relocated to the SF/Oakland Bay Area attending college at CSUH. He dropped out of college in 1994 due to what he states, “a failed attempt to institutionalize me,” and used his last financial aid check to buy two turntables and a mixer. In 1996 he started his label Shou Records and released the underground EP “Universal” on a very small scale, but garnered much attention. In 1998-99 the second album, The Produce Aisle, was well received worldwide in places such as Japan, Canada and Australia to name a few. With smooth, jazzy, conceptual songs, The Produce Aisle, was considered by URB Magazine to be one of the most slept-on albums of the year. In the year of 2001, after completing a wide variety of different projects, Pismo released his 12-inch maxi-single “The Game” from the forthcoming album entitled High Definition. After touring Japan in the 2002 Elevation Tour and hitting up Canada and parts of the US, he relocated once again to New York City where he is presently working on an array of collaborations and new releases. (From Pismo’s Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/pismo) |
