Born and raised in West Oakland’s notorious Acorn housing projects Shady Nate spent his youth surrounded by violence, drug dealings, and robberies. At the age of five Shady Nate would begin writing his thoughts and daily experiences down in a journal. These entries soon became full length poems and eventually would become the classic lyrics he raps today. After entering High School Shady Nate met and formed a friendship with his now longtime friend and mentor Lil Dame. Lil Dame who was also an aspiring rapper began teaching Nate the skills necessary to properly write lyrics and create full length songs. Growing up in the nineties provided Shady Nate with a classic soundtrack of music from such artists as Too Short, The Luniz and 3x Crazy. The independent business sense each of these artists possessed also served as a business model Shady Nate would implement later on in life when he launched his own record label Livewire Records.
In 2000 Shady Nate would get his first taste of recording music when his longtime friend and mentor M.A.C. took him into the studio to record a guest feature on his album “Hustlelanty Mobism.” That first time hearing himself on CD was intoxicating and Shady Nate locked himself in the studio recording countless songs while perfecting his flow. Unfortunately the music wasn’t yet putting money in his pocket and Shady Nate fell back into a life of crime and running the streets of West Oakland. This led to a number of arrests and Shady Nate began spending more time in prison then in the studio. In 2004 while in between cases but still on parole he launched Livewire Records with long time friend and business partner J. Stalin. After forming the record label Shady Nate would gain his first bit of fame in 2006 when he spit a verse for J. Stalin’s song “Banga Dance” which appeared on the album “On Behalf Of The Streets.” Also featured on the song were Bay Area heavyweights San Quinn and Keak The Sneak who despite being known for their lyricism were out shined by Shady Nate. Unfortunately due to a parole violation Shady Nate wasn’t able to enjoy his buzz from the song for long and was sent back to prison. After spending around a year in Prison Shady Nate returned to the streets of West Oakland with his full focus on growing his musical career and the LiveWire brand. Shady Nate also formed a partnership with Bay Area record label P.T.B. or Pushing The Beat to release three projects together and continue building on his and the LiveWire brand. Never one to let set backs like house arrest stop him Shady Nate was able to record a full length mix tape with Nas’s own tour DJ, Oakland native DJ Fresh who was able to record the entire project on a portable studio. This mix tape immediately sold out in each and every Bay Area record store and let the streets know Shady Nate was home and ready to take things over.
After the release of his mix tape with DJ Fresh, Shady Nate would go on to appear on a number of LiveWire releases all of which on average sold at least five thousand copies. Most recently he released his “The Bofessional” Mix Tape which was considered his best Mix Tape yet and outsold all of his previous releases. After the release of “The Bofessional” Mix Tape Shady Nate dropped his debut solo album “The Gasman Unleashed” in June of 2009. Dubbed a West Coast classic “The Gasman Unleashed” has cemented Shady Nate’s place in the West Coast music industry as a consistent artist who with each new release sets the bar that much higher for his fellow artists.
With gasoline laced lyrics and an ever growing fan base Shady Nate has lit the match and he will not stop burning through the music industry until the whole world is consumed by his music. |
