Erik Vincent Stephens (born June 20, 1980), better known professionally as Apollo Brown, is an American

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

from

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, United States. He is a member of the hip hop group Ugly Heroes (alongside Red Pill and

Verbal Kent Dan Weiss (born July 22, 1978), better known by his stage name Verbal Kent, is an alternative hip hop artist from Chicago. Early life Weiss was born and raised in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood.Moira McCormick“Organic Mind Unit is all a ...

) and has released numerous collaborations with the likes of

Guilty Simpson Byron Dwayne "Guilty" Simpson is an American rapper and songwriter from Detroit, Michigan whose recording career spans more than 20 years. He is signed to Stones Throw Records, and is known for being one of the late producer J Dilla's favorite r ...

, O.C.,

Ras Kass John R. Austin II (born September 26, 1973), better known by his stage name Ras Kass, is an American rapper. He is a member of the hip hop Supergroup (music), supergroup The Hrsmn, along with Canibus, Killah Priest, and Kurupt in 2014. He is als ...

Skyzoo Gregory Skyler Taylor (born December 24, 1980), known professionally as Skyzoo, is an American Director rapper and songwriter. He has released a number of notable solo and collaborative albums, including '' Cloud 9: The 3 Day High'' with 9th W ...

and

Planet Asia Jason Green (born October 24, 1976), better known as Planet Asia, is an American rapper from Fresno, California. He is prominent for being one half of the now reunited Hip Hop duo the Cali Agents and is currently a member of the groups Gold Cha ...

Early life

Brown grew up in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

. He later moved to

in 2003, after graduating from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

Musical career

Brown's career in music stretches back to the mid-1990s, but it wasn't until 2007's ''Skilled Trade'' beat collection that things started to become serious. November 3, 2009 saw Brown win the Red Bull Big Tune Championship and he was subsequently contacted by Mello Music Group's Michael Tolle to become a part of MMG independent hip hop movement. In any collaborations, Brown insists on making albums in the same room as the other artists.

Style and influences

Brown is noted for his use of dated technology – a DJBooth interview reveals his preferred setup is a desktop PC running

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...

and Cool Edit 2000.

Discography

* ''Skilled Trade'' (2007) * ''Make Do'' (2009) * ''The Reset'' (2010) * ''Gas Mask'' (with DJ Soko & Journalist 103 as The Left) (2010) * ''Brown Study'' (with Boog Brown) (2010) * ''Clouds'' (2011) * ''Daily Bread'' (with Hassaan Mackey) (2011) * ''Trophies'' (with O.C.) (2012) * ''Dice Game'' (with

) (2012) * ''The Brown Tape'' (with

Ghostface Killah Dennis David Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang ...

) (2013)* * ''Ugly Heroes'' (with Red Pill &

as Ugly Heroes) (2013) * ''Cigarette Burns EP'' (2014) * ''Thirty Eight'' (2014) * ''Abrasions: Stitched Up'' (with

) (2014)* * ''Ugly Heroes EP'' (with Red Pill &

as Ugly Heroes) (2014) * ''Blasphemy'' (with

) (2014) * ''Words Paint Pictures'' (with Rapper Big Pooh) (2015) * ''Grandeur'' (2015) * ''Everything in Between'' (with Red Pill &

as Ugly Heroes) (2016) * ''Mr. T'' (With Westside Gunn) (2016) * '' The Easy Truth'' (with

) (2016) * ''

Anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

'' (with

) (2017) * ''No Question'' (with

Locksmith Locksmithing is the work of creating and bypassing locks. Locksmithing is a traditional trade and in many countries requires completion of an apprenticeship. The level of formal education legally required varies by country, ranging from no formal ...

) (2018) * ''

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, ...

'' (with

Joell Ortiz Joell Christopher Ortiz (born July 6, 1980) is an American rapper and former member of the group Slaughterhouse. Raised in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn's Cooper Park Houses, he first gained recognition after appearing in the Unsigned Hype colu ...

) (2018) * ''Sincerely, Detroit'' (2019) * ''As God Intended'' (with Che Noir) (2020) * ''Lovesick'' (with

Raheem DeVaughn Raheem DeVaughn (born May 5, 1975) is an American singer and songwriter. His debut album, '' The Love Experience'' (2005), reached No. 46 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 album chart. It featured the singles "Guess Who Loves You More" and "You". His ...

) (2021) * ''Stitched Up & Shaken'' (with

, Gensu Dean &

) (2021) * ''Blacklight'' (with Stalley) (2021) * ''Bushido Code'' (with Prop Dylan) (2022) * ''This Must Be The Place'' (2022) * ''Cost of Living'' (with Philmore Greene) (2022) * ''Sardines'' (with Planet Asia) (2023)

References

External links

Apollo Brown
at Mello Music Group Living people 1980 births {{Music-producer-stub