* En anglais uniquement
Globe-trotting rapper
Azizi Gibson spent years hopping from country to country with his family before settling in Los Angeles to pursue a career in music. Influenced by everything from
Eminem and
Outkast to anime and video games, he rose from the underground with the release of a handful of mixtapes and EPs (some on
Flying Lotus'
Brainfeeder label). As an independent artist with his own preHISTORIC label, he issued his first full-length,
Prehistoric Til Death, in 2015. He followed with an album per year into the early 2020s, including 2017's
Memoirs of the Reaper, 2018's Xenophile, and 2019's Chimera Act. In 2021, he issued This is not an Album. This is a Killer Playlist, Vol. 1.
Born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1990, he was part of a military family originally from Zaire and spent the better part of his young life in transition. He lived in Singapore and Thailand before moving to Maryland, all the while becoming increasingly interested in boundary-pushing hip-hop production and lyricism. He dropped out of college in 2010 and promptly moved to Los Angeles. Already obsessed with rap,
Gibson came to L.A. with a low-budget mixtape under his belt, blending his own articulate flow with clear influences from
Eminem and
the Pharcyde. As fate would have it,
Gibson met famed producer
Flying Lotus in passing several times after moving to L.A., and eventually gave the more established star a copy of his mixtape. He was signed to
Flying Lotus'
Brainfeeder label, which released his more polished 2013 mixtape,
Ghost in the Shell. The next year he followed with the Backwards Books EP and released his first proper full-length, 2015's
Prehistoric Til Death, which featured
Waka Flocka Flame on "Slave Ship" and Dragon Ball Z voice actor Christopher Sabat on "Marriage Skit." His second album,
A New Life, surfaced in spring of 2016, recruiting
Big K.R.I.T. on "Issues" and
DJ Paul on "Mischeif."
Memoirs of the Reaper followed in 2017. By this time, he had split with
Brainfeeder to start his own label, preHISTORIC.
The prolific artist continued with a pair of efforts in 2018: Xenophile and Backwards Books 2. Chimera Act landed in 2019, with Reaping the Benefits following in 2020. Without pause, he released This is not an Album. This is a Killer Playlist Vol. 1 in 2021, featuring
Maxine Ashley on a pair of tracks and frequent collaborator AKTHESAVIOR on "Genesis." ~ Fred Thomas