Crew
MC DINO
Colorado junglists know him as MC Dino, the infamous 8-year resident of Breakdown Thursdays at the Snake Pit, the nation’s #1 Drum and Bass club night. The rock star emcee most notorious for his poetic genius with a microphone has commanded crowds at such well known and respected events as Cyberfest, Bassrush, Electric Daisy Carnival and countless other raves and festivals across the United States. Recognized for his high-energy lyrical prowess on the microphone, MC Dino is a crowd favorite on the mic and is an asset to any DJ he rhymes alongside.
Although Dino is not his given name, it is his preference and insists that the other is irrelevant. Though born in a small farming community in Northern Colorado, Dino spent time growing up in Mexico and various parts of California before returning to Colorado well over a decade ago. In high school he spent more time writing lyrics, songs, and practicing with bands in backyards than on his schoolwork. He began going to raves when he was 14, a time when raves were new and entirely underground. This exposure had great influence on him; electronic music provided a new medium and mode of tampering with instrumental sound. In this scene he also discovered jungle music and emceeing. Besides the obvious electronic movement that so dramatically shaped his personal musical efforts, Dino’s other prominent influences include Prince, Roni Size and Santana. Exposure to these along with an upbringing encouraging all music is especially evident in his individual work, emceeing, and collaborations with Urban Aboriginee.
In 1997 he set out as an emcee and, inspired by the aggressive new sound jungle provided, used it as an outlet for the poetry streaming through his head. By this time he had already taught himself to dj and moved between rhyming and spinning, while continuing to write his own music. 1998 proved a year of reckoning and direction. He started performing regularly at the Snake Pit on a night then called Plastic Thursdays that offered techno one half of the night and jungle the other. During this period Dino gathered his musically-inclined cohorts and formed a solid group called Urban Aboriginee. The idea behind Urban Aboriginee was to promote the various but sometimes neglected talents (emceeing, DJing, producing, etc) of his intimate circle. The name alludes to modern day tribesmen surviving the streets of a concrete jungle (the city). Urban Aboriginee was recognized throughout Denver for its dedication to Jungle music. For five years, UA sponsored Kombat Battle, a party that allows young deejays and MC’s to showcase their talent and provided an opportunity for up-and-comers to perform live in an actual party atmosphere.
In 2004 Dino was introduced to Divine Elements through the drum n bass scene when he moved to Los Angeles. Fast forward 6 years of non stop MCing for some of the biggest names in the business and the biggest festivals and night clubs across the United States and we find Dino falling into the front man position with D.E. He ended up filling the void Divine Elements had long been waiting to fulfill with a front man MC. Dino was a fluid fit in the dynamic super group. He now is a
consistent, positive force in an already solid musical group, touring and writing music with them all the time .
During the for mentioned 6 year fast forward between 2004 and 2010, MC Dino has emceed for the greatest names in Drum and Bass, and Dubstep including Andy C, Shimon, Pendulum, Nero, Skrillex, Diesel Boy, AK1200, Dara, Bad Company, Mampi Swift, Teach Itch, and Craze, to name a few. Of course, he performs weekly and nationally as well as being featured on tracks produced by the likes of DJ Icee, Gridlok, Breakdown, Reidspeed, Divine Elements, and DJ Swamp. Other such accomplishments include co-creating Urban Aboriginee Records with his Partner Casey Bonse. Current works include on going production and live performance with Divine Elements, solo projects and audio engineering for various artists in the music community.
Curious MC
“Chad” Curious MC aka Bobby Hook has been there and back again, Born in Hawaii, eventually moving to Chicago and raised in Colorado as a teen, where he would find his true calling in music. In 2000 he starting out as a Jungle MC and quickly made a name for himself as one of Denver’s heavy hitting locals and one of the Midwest’s premier Hip Hop/Bass MCs. Fresh out of jail and nowhere to turn, at the age of 18 he starting out playing local house parties. Alongside close friend DJ Mateo, together they completely dominated the college party scene in Boulder the summer of 2000.With a strong motivation to stake his claim it wasn’t long before he linked up with DJ A-Tak and started playing some of the most frequented parties of 2001. With a promising start and future, it came as no surprise when he quickly released his first 2 albums “Flow Fusion” a group with the artist Curious MC, Avery Fantom, Stienski, and J Suave, and the self-titled album “Curious MC/Guava Kids” which featured the hit single “My DJ”. Alongside A-Tak, MC started touring the Midwest cities like Albuquerque, Austin, San Francisco, LA, Phoenix and many more. Always delivering amazing outcomes, every time, he performed.
In 2002 he claimed a residence alongside his longtime colleague MC Dino at one of most notorious Drum and Bass Club Nights in the US, “Breakdown” at the Snake Pit. There he was able to showcase his talents with talented DJs such as Fury, Ed Rush and Optical, Diesel Boy, AK 1200, Dara, RAW, Freaky Flow and many, many more. This year would also be the year he would take part in Urban Aboriginee and MC Dino’s albums “Mind” and “Body” receiving a featured showcase on the albums and earning the rank of 2nd Generation Urban Aboriginee.
While his position in the Drum and Bass scene was strong and growing, in 2003, along with the help of longtime friend and fellow member of the group Flow Fusion, Avery Fantom, together they started a new Underground Record Label called Guava House Records, which focused on Hip Hop/Bass music. With a strong backing from Donkey Kicked Productions owner Jorge Huitron, they were able to release the album “Level Freak Out” which featured the hit single “The Serpent”, and in 2004 following up with the album “My Team” a collaboration album featuring Dozens of MCs and talents from the likes of Urban Aboriginee 3rd Generation MCs Relyt and Dozha, and 2nd Generation “Cromatic” as well as Weezy 730 and many more.
Heading into 2005 MC took a residence at Denver night life hotspot “The Church” Night Club hosting the Hip Hop Basement and performing weekly along with Walt White and later with hometown hero’s Klutch Beat Boutique aka Axis of Evil. There he would take up the moniker of his hip hop alter ego Bobby Hook and thru this new outlet he met the owner of Brass Knuckle ENT Black Pegasus (Black P). As a common bond and respect between the 2 artist grew Brass Knuckle ENT soon asked Bobby Hook to join the ranks of the label and in 2006 along with the help of new partner of Guava House Records, Aksis, the 2 companies were able to release “Bobby Hook: Version 1.0″ his first all hip hop album which featured the hits “Here is the HOOK” as well as “We Can’t Stop” featuring Black Pegasus, and “Psychotic Errors” featuring Avery Fantom, all of which received what became his first set of music videos, proving he could stand his ground on unfamiliar turf. 2006 was coming to an end, but not before he linked with DJ Strizo and delivered last minute all Drum and Bass mix “Crystal Blueprint” reminding everyone that Curious MC wasn’t going anywhere.
As 2007 took motion, the MC was as focused as ever. With the help of DJ Technical Endeavor he would release his next all Drum and Bass mix “The Hits” which featured voice overs by DJs Dara, Freaky Flow, and Rinse and MCs Flipside, and Armani. With a sturdy response MC was now playing larger parties and more often as Curious MC, and as Bobby Hook, he was touring monthly as a Solo artist, and as a Hype man to Black Pegasus. Work was not slowing down and this was proving to be a strong year for solid growth and building networks. On the road he was now touring and sharing stages with artists like RZA of the Wu Tang Clan, Clipse produced by The Neptunes, Tech N9ne, Kool Keith, Ill Bill, Immortal Technique, DJ Abilities and many more. As well as back home still doing “The Church” Night Club and doing bass parties, MCing for DJs like Craze, Gridlock, Reid Speed, and Q Bert, as well as performing at the legendary “Red Rocks Theatre” with DJ Aphrodite at the Global Dance Festival for The Triad Dragons. He would finish 2008 with a 2nd all hip hop album titled “Bobby Hook: Knuckle Head” with the hit singles “Show Biz”, “Your the one”, and “In the Mirror”.
Taking things slower in 2009 to focus on family and watching the growth of a new popular genre of Bass music developing called Dubstep, it wasn’t till 2010 that Curious MC would make moves to reemerge. Going back to his roots, he turned to Cromatic and Dino of Urban Aboriginee and started putting a new concept together. Black Light, a new name for songs with a solid collaboration of MCs Dino and Curious together. A name for something that had not been done in almost 9 years. The creative flow was in motion once again, so in 2011 when he started working with DJ Ishe and Dirt Monkey, Dubstep DJs/Producers from the Label Play Me, he was ready to tackle this new sound. Producing new songs and releasing the Music Videos “Get Hurt” with Ishe and “Public Nuisance” with Dirt Monkey helped launch Curious into the new genre. He started playing sold out shows with Ishe that spring. Again Curious was blessed with the opportunity to play great shows as well as Global Dance Festival at Red Rocks, sharing the stage with Skrillex and Nero and then going on to play one of largest Dubstep events in the US, Global Dub Festival in Kansas City in the famous Midland Theatre, sharing the stage with acts like Benga, Zeds Dead, and Mimosa.
Now moving into 2012 Curious is looking at yet another great year with a hand full of great music videos lined up and the highly anticipated album “OMGWTFBBQ” set to release in the first quarter of the New Year and will be completely free for download online. This album being influenced by his roots in hip hop and bass music is said to bring back his perfect harmony of the 2 genres. It will be his first release in almost 4 years.
