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e-PRESS KIT
FOR
leon "the professional"
foreword...
The reason I've put together this press kit is simple: I want to make hip hop music my career. Beyond that obvious and most important reason, it is because I'm hoping to gain your respect you and be worthy of your network. You maintain a legacy and ambition to make moves in a beneficial direction for yourself, and others, as well as hold talent in your circle -- and that is a great quality that deserves recognition. You have pushed for your dreams through this hip hop culture which, like me, started with manifesting an element of it that you came to love. That passion is my pursuit. Personally, I feel that for an artist to represent their culture the right way they must be enveloped in it, and be a pure product of not just the music, but the fashion, language, and arts -- both old an new. A person who's mind recognizes, but sees beyond the dollar signs, bright lights, and trends of the day. A person who can show and prove, exhibit their skills, and elevate consistently. I am that person. I am a pure lover of the hip hop lifestyle, the music, and the dance -- specifically the bboy culture. I want to be the next hip hop music artist to represent the energy of those who believe in true hip hop music, lyrics, the dance, and this culture that lifted us to the people we are today. Thank you for taking the time to read this press kit.
Pro.
+ biography
biography...
Leon McKenzie, aka Leon "The Professional", grew to become a Dallas respected artist through the art of being hip hop to the core. He was born and raised in Ottawa, ON in Canada to his Jamaican parents. The urban life of the nations capital helped fuel his passion for hip hop culture, which harbored a mainly east coast hip hop influence. After birthing his lyrical talents at the age of 14 yrs old, Leon, along with his parents and brothers, moved to Dallas, TX in 1998. Dallas, being a major city, held a wider abundance of entertainment opportunities and musical influences. Although different from his formula, it spurred new growth in an already seasoned lover of hip hop music and culture. Leon became an established bboy and professional dancer, well known throughout the large city as one of the most talented and musically driven dancers in the scene -- however, his lyrical presence had yet to be fully manifested. While he performed and did shows exhibiting his dance skills, he studied his greatest musical influences and continued writing rhymes, songs and verses. He ciphered on the dance floor and on the mic -- battled, won, lost, and most importantly learned how to continue increasing his skills. Throughout the evolution of styles and skills brought on by life experiences, relationships, competition, and more -- he met one grounding force in his life, DJ Love. The talented DJ, musician, and producer who is an artist on Air Recordings [www.airrecordings.com] out of London, UK with Ali B, became a close friend and mentor for Leon. He also spawned his own label, Stellar Music [www.stellarmusic.com], which is a mainstay in the breaks/funk music sub-culture. Together, with their similar views on hip hop music and culture, they started collaborating on different tracks and directions.
Leon McKenzie, aka Leon "The Professional", grew to become a Dallas respected artist through the art of being hip hop to the core. He was born and raised in Ottawa, ON in Canada to his Jamaican parents. The urban life of the nations capital helped fuel his passion for hip hop culture, which harbored a mainly east coast hip hop influence. After birthing his lyrical talents at the age of 14 yrs old, Leon, along with his parents and brothers, moved to Dallas, TX in 1998. Dallas, being a major city, held a wider abundance of entertainment opportunities and musical influences. Although different from his formula, it spurred new growth in an already seasoned lover of hip hop music and culture.
Leon became an established bboy and professional dancer, well known throughout the large city as one of the most talented and musically driven dancers in the scene -- however, his lyrical presence had yet to be fully manifested. While he performed and did shows exhibiting his dance skills, he studied his greatest musical influences and continued writing rhymes, songs and verses. He ciphered on the dance floor and on the mic -- battled, won, lost, and most importantly learned how to continue increasing his skills. Throughout the evolution of styles and skills brought on by life experiences, relationships, competition, and more -- he met one grounding force in his life, DJ Love. The talented DJ, musician, and producer who is an artist on Air Recordings [www.airrecordings.com] out of London, UK with Ali B, became a close friend and mentor for Leon. He also spawned his own label, Stellar Music [www.stellarmusic.com], which is a mainstay in the breaks/funk music sub-culture. Together, with their similar views on hip hop music and culture, they started collaborating on different tracks and directions.
Leon's cultural background, hip hop upbringing, and chosen friends and environment gave him the perfect foundation to manifest his musical direction. Continuing with his destined plan, he networked with many influential artists in Dallas, as well as nationally respected performers, creative minds, and entrepreneurs. With growth always the mentality, Leon used these experiences to give him more material to research and helped grow new phases of life to his musical platform. Leon learned business and marketing strategies by maintaining his responsibilities as a white collar worker. Consistently employed at a corporate occupation during the day, he worked to pay bills and manifest his talents at every opportunity available -- night, day, and even on the clock. To add even more depth to Leon's resume and growth, he gained show and model experience through working with production companies outside of his daily work responsibilities. Examples of his history include television commercial work with Jerry Jones, performances in major cities all over the U.S. and Canada and on live television, and collaborations with photographers, producers, companies, and more. Leon became a stable in Dallas' hip hop community and has established himself through his dancing, and solo music projects. Leon is the definition of hip hop culture, with a well-rounded knowledge of all its aspects. He is a veteran of performance, professionalism, and is versed on the industry's expectations and requirements from an artist. His morality and good nature has always allowed him to build solid relationships in his city. Lastly, he has an invincible style - whether as a bboy and professional dancer on the dance floor, or on the microphone through his lyrical skill -- Leon The Professional has the ability to effectively influence hip hop music forever.
Leon's cultural background, hip hop upbringing, and chosen friends and environment gave him the perfect foundation to manifest his musical direction. Continuing with his destined plan, he networked with many influential artists in Dallas, as well as nationally respected performers, creative minds, and entrepreneurs. With growth always the mentality, Leon used these experiences to give him more material to research and helped grow new phases of life to his musical platform. Leon learned business and marketing strategies by maintaining his responsibilities as a white collar worker. Consistently employed at a corporate occupation during the day, he worked to pay bills and manifest his talents at every opportunity available -- night, day, and even on the clock.
To add even more depth to Leon's resume and growth, he gained show and model experience through working with production companies outside of his daily work responsibilities. Examples of his history include television commercial work with Jerry Jones, performances in major cities all over the U.S. and Canada and on live television, and collaborations with photographers, producers, companies, and more. Leon became a stable in Dallas' hip hop community and has established himself through his dancing, and solo music projects.
Leon is the definition of hip hop culture, with a well-rounded knowledge of all its aspects. He is a veteran of performance, professionalism, and is versed on the industry's expectations and requirements from an artist. His morality and good nature has always allowed him to build solid relationships in his city. Lastly, he has an invincible style - whether as a bboy and professional dancer on the dance floor, or on the microphone through his lyrical skill -- Leon The Professional has the ability to effectively influence hip hop music forever.
+ influences:lyrics
+ influences:the dj
+ beat production x more
influences: lyrics...
The quality of lyricism in hip hop hasn't gone down, but as people flock to mediocrity, the simpler and less intelligent the rhyme, the more attention it seems to get. The truth is that rap and hip hop could be seen as being 'phased out', as popular music trends seem to last for 20 years or less. But, as long as the focus is making music then the artist can survive the test of time. Leon has focused on talented artists who see longevity as the focus, to make a career of making great hip hop music. A shortened list of hip hop acts like: Rakim, Nas, Mos Def, The Roots, Masta Ace, Large Professor, Vinnie Paz, Sean Price, MF Doom, Ghost Face Killah, Slaughterhouse, OutKast, Blu, Pac Div, Brother Ali, Homeboy Sandman and many more, have influenced Leon's style. As well, current commercial artists like: B.O.B, Eminem, Busta Rhymez, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and Ludacris help direct his approach. Focus points for Leon point to lyricism and communicating reality, emotion, and life through his rhymes. Battling styles and story-telling, emotion and swagger -- all traits of a bboy -- prove his well-rounded knowledge of hip hop image, persona and artistry. Leon's lyrics stand the test of time and are constructed to touch the listener and not just those who enjoy being trendy.
influences: the DJ...
The DJ has evolved from being the centrepiece of hip hop's musical formula to an unappreciated talent. DJ Love is the man behind the wheels when it comes to shows with Leon, and has well above-average skills at rocking the 1200's. With over 21 years of experience, DJ love uses two Technic 1200 turntables, a Vestax mixer, and NO laptop to do his work. He is an all vinyl DJ, who prides himself on not compromising the art of the skill. There are many well-known, experienced DJ's who have deservedly evolved to the laptop, but DJ Love does not feel that he is one to follow the trend. It's DJ's like Leon's best friend and fellow artist -- those that represent the quality and talent behind the true skill of deejaying -- are the individuals who he follows. DJ's such as: ZTrip, DJ P, QBert, Revolution, WhooKid, Craze, Mixmaster Mike, DJ Shadow, The Executioners, Lean Rock, Skeme Richards, and many more -- all of which Leon has seen live in action are the ones who hold his respect. It's the essence of this talent is the image Leon plans on putting forth.
beat production...
+other influences, and more.
In the evolution of the DJ's creative movement, the producer has become the foundation to a quality album. In several projects Leon has not only built with his DJ, DJ Love, but networked with local talent in Dallas and beyond. Producers like Shy Guy and Rob Viktum, diversify the sound landscape in an extremely southern-influenced environment. Organic drum samples, musical samples, stringed instruments and live sounds are what motivate Leon's lyrical creativity. Using rare or unique samples, and infusing that with the producers own style, or with the newer, digital soundscape of synths and 808's offer perfect backdrops for Leon's flavor. And, as Leon is a lover of the bboy culture, adding in the uptempo, higher BPM beat to liven the dance floor is always a top choice. His love for producers like Madlib, Mark Ronson, DJ Premier, Large Professor, Pete Rock, JakeOne, Just Blaze, Khrysis and Kanye West, give you an idea of his musical preferences. These producers have mostly musically driven, boom-bap, drum-heavy beat production styles, and have created classic hip hop music. Leon is going for classic, and nothing less.
Creativity and talent have left the forefront in today's musical climate. Those that bear these gifts are fighting to be seen and heard, while the talentless have become a marvel. It's with the determination to change this trend, is where Leon defines his reasoning for pushing to be among the greatest. Leon maintains his honed and practiced beatbox skills, but revels in the light of beatboxers like Rahzel, Roxorloops, Scratch, and Kenny Muhammad. He uses their amazing talents as the standard to which all artists should push themselves to become. Not in the sense of adopting beat-boxing, but adopting their work ethic and use of talent. Their incredible use of mind, lungs and mouths to manufacture something you can't believe you're hearing is what Leon translates to his music. When applying that mindset of shooting for excellence as a standard, you come up with Leon's goal and focus -- to create excellent hiphop music. The hip hop culture has elements that few are fully knowledgeable of. Many have focused so heavily on the musical aspect, that all of the culture is defined as the music. This is not so. Leon has been focused heavily on his skills on the dance floor. How does that translate into music? The music is what makes you dance, and when you tie the understanding of the beats and syncopation to the lyrics of the song, you get a great artist. Originality, expressiveness, and musicality combine the audible into the visual experience with a talented dancer, and with Leon having that ability it allows for top-quality entertainment for the fan and/or listener. Great bboys like Ken Swift, Abstrak, Machine, Kid David, Ata, and Just Do It, give great examples of using foundational moves, original flavor, and passion to 'rock' the beat -- and also certifies Leon's true understanding of what needs to be expressed when representing his hip hop culture. Leon is equally as lethal on the mic as he is on the dance floor, and will impress hip hop veterans down to spectators with his skills.
Creativity and talent have left the forefront in today's musical climate. Those that bear these gifts are fighting to be seen and heard, while the talentless have become a marvel. It's with the determination to change this trend, is where Leon defines his reasoning for pushing to be among the greatest. Leon maintains his honed and practiced beatbox skills, but revels in the light of beatboxers like Rahzel, Roxorloops, Scratch, and Kenny Muhammad. He uses their amazing talents as the standard to which all artists should push themselves to become. Not in the sense of adopting beat-boxing, but adopting their work ethic and use of talent. Their incredible use of mind, lungs and mouths to manufacture something you can't believe you're hearing is what Leon translates to his music. When applying that mindset of shooting for excellence as a standard, you come up with Leon's goal and focus -- to create excellent hiphop music.
The hip hop culture has elements that few are fully knowledgeable of. Many have focused so heavily on the musical aspect, that all of the culture is defined as the music. This is not so. Leon has been focused heavily on his skills on the dance floor. How does that translate into music? The music is what makes you dance, and when you tie the understanding of the beats and syncopation to the lyrics of the song, you get a great artist. Originality, expressiveness, and musicality combine the audible into the visual experience with a talented dancer, and with Leon having that ability it allows for top-quality entertainment for the fan and/or listener. Great bboys like Ken Swift, Abstrak, Machine, Kid David, Ata, and Just Do It, give great examples of using foundational moves, original flavor, and passion to 'rock' the beat -- and also certifies Leon's true understanding of what needs to be expressed when representing his hip hop culture. Leon is equally as lethal on the mic as he is on the dance floor, and will impress hip hop veterans down to spectators with his skills.
+ tools for the job
tools for the job...
[1] Small, medium, or large club venue [with or without a stage], with ability to project clear sound.[1] Microphone. A good, quality microphone with strong sound clarity.[1] DJ stand/booth too hold DJ equipment[2] Technic 1200 turntables. **replacement DJ will bring his own laptop.[1] A Vestax mixer. Or a comparable quality mixer with similar capabilities for cutting, scratching, and mixing purposes.NOTE: In cases where DJ Love cannot be present the mixer would require Serato equipment/ports for the replacing DJ.There aren't many required pieces of equipment for a performance from Leon. He has done small shows at clubs, at small venues, and on larger stages. He has the presence to draw attention and the entertainment ability to keep people there. His charisma and personality in front of an audience overwhelms the use of video equipment, sound boards, lighting, and/or dancers -- although, these pieces would definitely be added to the formula to increase his show in the future.
[1] Small, medium, or large club venue [with or without a stage], with ability to project clear sound.
[1] Microphone. A good, quality microphone with strong sound clarity.
[1] DJ stand/booth too hold DJ equipment
[2] Technic 1200 turntables. **replacement DJ will bring his own laptop.
[1] A Vestax mixer. Or a comparable quality mixer with similar capabilities for cutting, scratching, and mixing purposes.
NOTE: In cases where DJ Love cannot be present the mixer would require Serato equipment/ports for the replacing DJ.
There aren't many required pieces of equipment for a performance from Leon. He has done small shows at clubs, at small venues, and on larger stages. He has the presence to draw attention and the entertainment ability to keep people there. His charisma and personality in front of an audience overwhelms the use of video equipment, sound boards, lighting, and/or dancers -- although, these pieces would definitely be added to the formula to increase his show in the future.
+ video interviews
inter[views]...
This interview was with KiddRae. It was filmed in downtown Dallas, in an Italian restaurant, similar to the one in the movie "Leon The Professional". It was done to introduce Leon into the hiphop music community.
This interview was with eMLO Productions. It was filmed in a downtown Dallas loft to exhibit quality, and be a clean introduction of the 'Fruition' music project. It was done to explain 'Fruition' and the inspiration for it all.
+ gigs x shows
gigs x shows...
This is a rapidly growing list of shows and performances that Leon has been involved in. The list will continue to increase, as more shows get added to his schedule. These flyers represent a history of some of the experience Leon has at rocking the crowd.
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