"Dear Hip Hop, I'll love you til I die"
You can't discuss Canadian Hip Hop and not mention this man. The 90's was an amazing time for Hip Hop while this 13 year old, Scarborough lyricist was letting it be known that he was a force to be reckoned with. Winning the contest on "Electric Circus" start the journey that has brought us to "Dear Hip Hop: 20 Years Later."
5 years later Canadian Hip Hop would never be the same with the release of Beat Factory/EMI's "Rap Essentials Volume One Complilation." This album is a staple in Canadian Hip Hop and includes various emcees including the Juno nominated Kardinal Offishall, The Rascalz, Scales Empire.
Following this Dan-e-o would continue with his crew Monolith, who had a enormous 10 members and they would release "The Long Awaited EP" in 1998. Dan-e-o would continue to feature on albums over the next few years releasing his debut album "The Book of Daniel" in 2000. Dan-e-o would continue to bless Hip Hop with tracks throughout the 2000's including his own albums "See No Evil, Hear No Evil" in 2004 and "Speak No Evil" in 2005. During this time Dan-e-o released some mixtapes including the very popular ode to J Dill with "Dilla Pickles", and exciting "Oblivion!" and winning the 2003 Dark Knights Freestyle Competition.
Dan-e-o would later partner with Promise to release "Series Premiere" as Perfeck Strangers which would lead us into 2013 when he would release both and Album as well as an EP. This was an exciting time, he would include artists like Chip Fu, Rich Kidd and Maestro Fresh Wes on these. These projects also came with a remix contest turned EP of the "Bossmon" track. The EP would include producers such as SNAFU76, Pro-Logic, Lancecape, ozmds, Cab3:16, Season Premiere, Jordi La Forty and the original tracks producer Charisma.
Between blessing Canadian Emcees with features, a nice little acting career including "Tapped Out" we come to the most recent release "Dear Hip Hop: 20 Years Later." This is a 14 track album that sells for $12USD and when thats gone the digital is available. The album has 14 features including the "2nd Letter" and epically featured "League of Legends." I would go into more detail but you should already know, or should go directly from here (Link below).
I have had the pleasure to chill with Dan-e-o from time to time over the years, I would have to say he is one of the most humble, down to earth emcee considering his legacy in Canadian Hip Hop. I constantly tell newer/younger emcees that they need to study this man, go see him live and take notes, his stage presence and showmanship is impeccable.
https://daneo-urbnet.bandcamp.com/album/dear-hip-hop-20-years-later
Article originally posted in The Hip Hop Librarian.
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