Mike Ladd
Encyclopedia
Mike Ladd is a hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 MC
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...

 and producer
Hip hop production
Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music. Though the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music, it's most commonly used to refer to the instrumental, non-lyrical aspects of hip hop. This means that hip hop producers are the instrumentalists involved in a work...

. As an MC, he practices spoken-word and is known for his poetic lyrics. As a producer, he is known as the owner of the Likemadd label.

Biography

Born in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, MA, Mike Ladd has written and produced ten critically acclaimed albums: Easy Listening For Armageddon (Scratchie/Mercury); Welcome to the AfterFuture and Vernacular Homicide (LikeMadd/Ozone); The Infesticons: Gun Hill Road, and The Majesticons: Beauty Party (Big DaDa/Ninja Tune), Negrophilia (Thirsty Ear);Father Divine (ROIR) In What Language (Pi) and Still Life with Commentator (Savoy), both collaborative efforts with jazz pianist Vijay Iyer
Vijay Iyer
Vijay Iyer is a jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, producer, electronic musician, and writer based in New York City.-Biography:Born in 1971 and raised in Rochester, New York, Vijay Iyer is the son of Indian Tamil immigrants to the US. He received 15 years of Western classical training on violin...

; and finally Nostalgialator, originally released internationally on legendary European label Studio !K7
Studio !K7
Studio !K7 is an independent record label based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 . !K7 has since opened branch offices in New York City, Hamburg, London, and Tokyo.It has four independent...

, and now, for the first time in North America, on Definitive Jux
Definitive Jux
Definitive Jux is an independent record label based in New York City, United States. It was co-founded in 1999 by Jaime Meline and Amaechi Uzoigwe. The label was initially known simply as Def Jux, but in 2001, popular hip hop label Def Jam Recordings sued Def Jux over the name similarity...

.

An “artist’s artist”, the Mike Ladd admiration society runs deep. Mike has collaborated/remixed/performed/toured with several artists including Company Flow
Company Flow
Company Flow is an American underground hip hop group from Brooklyn, New York City at one time associated with the independent record label Rawkus Records. Rapper/producer El-P and DJ/producer Mr...

, Saul Williams
Saul Williams
Saul Stacey Williams is an American poet, writer, actor and musician known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop and for his leading role in the 1998 independent film Slam.-Biography:...

, MURS, Terranova, Slug (Atmosphere), Cannibal Ox
Cannibal Ox
Cannibal Ox, also known as CanOx, is an abstract hip hop duo from Harlem, New York City. Its members include Vast Aire and Vordul Mega. They are often accompanied by DJ Cip-One...

, Roots Manuva
Roots Manuva
Rodney Hylton Smith , better known by his stage name Roots Manuva, is a British rapper from Stockwell, South London. He is currently signed to Big Dada.-Biography:...

, William Parker, Roy Campbell, DJ Mehdi, DJ Spooky
DJ Spooky
Paul D. Miller , known by his stage name DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is a Washington DC-born electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics or his fans as "illbient" or "trip hop". He is a turntablist, a producer, a philosopher, and an author...

, Ken Ishii and others plus has remixed songs for the likes of Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo, sometimes abbreviated as YLT, is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew .Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential...

, Anti Pop Consortium, and Enrico Macias.

First signed to Scratchie/Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...

 by the Smashing Pumpkins, he has assembled a body of work rare amongst his peers and influenced indie music in ways still yet to be seen. Guided by the voices of Funkadelic
Funkadelic
Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...

, Charles Stepney, The Bad Brains, Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...

, Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...

, Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

 and The Jungle Brothers and Divine Styler Mike Ladd exists at the heart of progressive black music today. He has toured extensively for the last 7 years throughout America, Europe and Asia, establishing a cult following in the process.

Mike received his B.A. in Black expatriates in the Nineteenth century from Hampshire College
Hampshire College
Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1965 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts...

 and an M.A. in Poetry from Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

. As a Fellow at the Institute for Arts and Civic Dialogue at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, Mike produced and directed Blood Black and Blue, an audio documentary/performance about Black police officers in the United States. In 2005, Mike completed a fellowship at the Asia Society, where he, along with pianist Vijay Iyer, created a musical/theatrical/visual installation entitled “In What Language”, a project about people of color in relation to globalization in the context of airports. They most recently put up their new installation, Still Life with Commentator, which was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....

 (B.A.M.) for 5 nights of performances. He has been published in several literary magazines including Long Shot Review and Bostonia. His work is also featured in the book Swing Low, Black Men Writing and several anthologies, including, Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café, In Defense of Mumia, Bum Rush The Page, Por La Victoire and Everything But the Burden. Mike Ladd now lives in Paris with his wife and son.

Albums

As Mike Ladd:
  • Vernacular Homicide (1996)
  • Easy Listening 4 Armageddon (1997)
  • Live from Paris (2000)
  • Welcome to the Afterfuture (2000)
  • Nostalgialator (2004 on !K7, 2008 on Definitive Jux
    Definitive Jux
    Definitive Jux is an independent record label based in New York City, United States. It was co-founded in 1999 by Jaime Meline and Amaechi Uzoigwe. The label was initially known simply as Def Jux, but in 2001, popular hip hop label Def Jam Recordings sued Def Jux over the name similarity...

    )
  • Negrophilia: The Album (2005)
  • Father Divine (2005)

As The Infesticons:
  • Gun Hill Road (2000)
  • Bedford Park (2010)

As The Majesticons:
  • Beauty Party (2003)

With Vijay Iyer
Vijay Iyer
Vijay Iyer is a jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, producer, electronic musician, and writer based in New York City.-Biography:Born in 1971 and raised in Rochester, New York, Vijay Iyer is the son of Indian Tamil immigrants to the US. He received 15 years of Western classical training on violin...

:
  • In What Language? (2004)
  • Still Life with Commentator (2007)


With Anarchist Republic Of Bzzz:
  • Anarchist Republic Of Bzzz (2009) on Sub Rosa
    Sub Rosa (label)
    Sub Rosa is a record label based in Brussels. The label was established at the end of the ‘80s, and expanded its catalogue in the mid-‘90s through the release of electronic music. Directed by Guy Marc Hinant and Frédéric Walheer, the label has released over 250 titles...


Featured on

  • "Peace" by Youngblood Brass Band
    Youngblood Brass Band
    The Youngblood Brass Band is a brass band from Oregon, Wisconsin, United States that was started by students at Oregon High School in 1995 when they were known as the One Lard Biskit Brass Band with the name changed to the current name in 1998.-History:...

     (Unlearn - 2000)
  • "Sublime" and "Heroes" by Terranova (Hitchhiking Non-Stop With No Particular Destination - 2002)
  • "Welcome Home (feat. Mike Ladd)" by Daedelus (Exquisite Corpse
    Exquisite Corpse (album)
    Exquisite Corpse is an album by Daedelus, an American hip hop experimental and electronic artist. The album's title refers to the surrealist group drawing method, exquisite corpse. The sample-heavy album features many more guests spots than usual, helping to bring forth the hip hop influence of the...

    - 2005)
  • "Long Division" by Blue Sky Black Death
    Blue Sky Black Death
    Blue Sky Black Death is a production duo based in Seattle, Washington. The duo consists of Kingston and Young God . They are known principally for their hip hop and instrumental music, made with a mix of live instrumentation and sampling...

     (A Heap of Broken Images
    A Heap of Broken Images
    A Heap of Broken Images is the debut album by hip hop production duo Blue Sky Black Death, released on June 23, 2006 by Mush Records.The album is a double-disc release, with the first disc featuring twelve instrumental tracks , and a second disc featuring one instrumental and nine of their beats...

    - 2006)
  • "Eating People feat. Mike Ladd" by Soylent Green
    Soylent Green
    Soylent Green is a 1973 American science fiction film directed by Richard Fleischer. Starring Charlton Heston, the film overlays the police procedural and science fiction genres as it depicts the investigation into the murder of a wealthy businessman in a dystopian future suffering from pollution,...

     (Software And Hardwar - 2006)
  • "Missed Again" (Apollo Heights
    Apollo Heights
    Apollo Heights are an American shoegazer band that was formed in New York City in 2002. Consisting mainly of twin brothers, Daniel and Danny Chavis, they play experimental rock music. They cite AR Kane and My Bloody Valentine as a major inspiration...

     and Mike Ladd) Disco Lights digital single- 2007
  • "Showdown (feat. Mike Ladd)" by Grand Pianoramax
    Grand Pianoramax
    Grand Pianoramax is an experimental keyboard/drums project conceived by keyboardist Leo Tardin. The line up consists of Tardin and Dominik Burkhalter featuring various guests, often including Mike Ladd and Black Cracker.-Biography:...

     (The Biggest Piano in Town - 2008)
  • "Les Halles" by Emmanuel Santarromana (Métropolitain - 2003)
  • "TV Dogs (Cathodica's Letter) feat. Mike Ladd" by Jackson And His Computer Band
    Jackson and his computer band
    Jackson and his Computer Band is the pseudonym of Parisian IDM artist Jackson Fourgeaud. Fourgeaud released his debut album Smash with Warp Records in 2005.- History :Jackson Fourgeaud began making music at the age of 15...

     (Warp Records - 2005)
  • "Lipton" by U-God
    U-God
    Lamont Hawkins , better known as U-God , is an American rapper and member of the hip hop collective, Wu-Tang Clan. He has been with the group since its inception, and is known for having a deep, rhythmic flow that can alternate between being gruff or smooth...

     (Dopium - 2009)
  • "Turn Me Loose" by Arsenal
    Arsenal
    An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...

     (Lotuk - 2008)
  • "Amsterdam Throwdown King Street Showdown!" by Solex vs. Christina Martinez & Jon Spencer (Bronzerat Records - 2009)
  • "Not the Only Man (ft. Mike Ladd)" by Birdapres (Catch an L - 2011)


External links

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