Hailing from the same Bed-Stuy blocks where The Notorious B.I.G. once roamed comes Spec Boogie, master storyteller and shit-talker extraordinaire. Equally adept at both razor-tongued braggadocio and introspective commentary, he is an artist that shadowboxes his way out of easy classification. Neither preachy nor sensationalist, Spec Boogies remarkable sincerity is the thread that weaves together his music — even the songs that deal with less-than-weighty subject matter inherit the trait of real honesty. Nut-grabbing boasts and masochistic posturing are staples of Hip-Hop, but when Spec Boogie says hes going to throw back a case of Sierra Nevada and steal your woman, goddamn it, you believe it. And when he talks about the tragic moments his young eyes have seen, the phrase old soul seems truly appropriate. A former member of The Sandhogs, a group which included indie favorite Tes-1, Spec Boogie relocated to The City of Brotherly Love in his late teens and eventually connected with Philadelphia heroes ?uestlove and the Grammy Award-winning Roots crew. Polishing his live stage show under the tutelage of the masters, he performed in both Philly and New York during the wildly successful 2000 Okayplayer Tour. But Brooklyn beckoned. Spec Boogie returned home and joined with several like-minded souls to found Loosie Music, a fiercely independent record label, online magazine and booze-addled political cabal. The fledgling label hooked up with Lower East Side boutique Staple Design to release the Grow single, a track that earned Spec Boogie a deluge of critical acclaim and immediately put him on the radar of indie Hip-Hop aficionados as far away as France and Japan. The buzz proved justified, as his dynamic first full-length compilation of material, Fresh Out the Box, moved several thousand copies as a promotional item with Digitalgravel-dot-com and Scifen Clothing. A brilliant live entertainer, Spec Boogie has delivered memorable performances at venues such as Nokia Theatre in Times Square, The Wetlands, Nuyorican Poets Café, Southpaw, The Knitting Factory and Hammerstein Music Hall alongside artists including The Roots, Mark Ronson, Melle Mel, Platinum Pied Pipers, Purple City, Theodore Unit, MF Doom, Little Brother, Pete Rock and Big Daddy Kane. Picture by Corren Conway.
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