Famous is the stage name of Ashton Bishop, a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

rapper and radio broadcaster."Learn how to fly with Famous"
''

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Na ...

'', November 3, 2008. He is most noted for his 2008 EP ''I Rap Now'', which received a

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

nomination for Rap Recording of the Year at the

Juno Awards of 2009 The Juno Awards of 2009 honoured music industry achievements in Canada in the latter part of 2007 and in most of 2008. These ceremonies were held in Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada during the weekend ending 29 March 2009. Loverboy ...

."Some surprising newcomers nominated at Junos". ''

Telegraph-Journal The ''Telegraph-Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, owned by Postmedia Network. It serves as both a provincial daily and as a local newspaper for Saint John. The ''Telegraph-Journal'' is the only New ...

'', March 28, 2009. Originally from

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, he studied music production at Trebas Institute, and moved to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

after one of his teachers, Jane McGarrigle, arranged an internship for him. He subsequently became a radio personality on Toronto's CFXJ-FM, and released ''I Rap Now'' in 2008. The album's most successful single was "Fourth Biggest City", a song about Toronto. Later that same year, he recorded and released the non-album track "President Too", a celebration of the historic importance of

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's victory in the

2008 United States presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John Mc ...

. When he received his Juno Award nomination in 2009, he told the press that he was flattered by the nomination but did not expect to actually win, as he was up against

Kardinal Offishall Jason Drew Harrow (born May 11, 1976), better known by his stage name Kardinal Offishall ( ), is a Canadian rapper and record producer. Often credited as Canada's "hip-hop ambassador", he has been regarded as one of the country's most prominent ...

's '' Not 4 Sale'' and felt it was clearly Kardi's time rather than his. Later that year he released ''Goddess Girl'', a music and video project consisting of a short film and a soundtrack EP produced by Burd & Keyz."Former staff left to face the music alone"
''

Et Cetera ''Et cetera'' (, ), abbreviated to ''etc.'', ''et cet.'', ''&c.'' or ''&c'', is a Latin expression that is used in English to mean "and all the rest". "&" is a ligature of "et." Translated literally from Latin, can mean , while can mean ; th ...

'', March 17, 2011. In 2011, he had his first acting role in Reza Dahya's short film ''Esha''. In 2011 and 2012 he released ''Road to Center Stage'', a series of three EPs leading to the release of his full-length debut album ''Center Stage'' in 2014. Unusually for a Canadian musician of non-Asian descent, Famous has had greater success in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

than in Canada. In 2017, he released the single "HeiHeiDe 黑黑的 (First Black Man Rapping In Chinese)", in which he performed a

Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...

rap, and filmed the music video at the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas in

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million p ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

."Black rapper 'Famous' releases music video shot in Kaohsiung"
'' Taiwan News'', June 5, 2017. He has also hosted a radio show for Taiwan's

International Community Radio Taipei International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT; ) is Taiwan's only English-language radio station and first radio station in Taiwan that caters to foreigners. Prior to 1979, the station served the U.S. military personnel in Taiwan as the Armed For ...

References

{{Authority control 21st-century Canadian rappers 21st-century Black Canadian musicians Musicians from Montreal Rappers from Toronto Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Black Canadian broadcasters Canadian radio personalities Canadian male rappers 21st-century Canadian male musicians