Azeem Ismail, better known simply as Azeem is a hip-hop rapper and performance poet, residing in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

.Ducker, Jesse (2008)
Azeem: Cartoon networker
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SF Weekly ''SF Weekly'' is an online music publication and formerly alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper ha ...

'', September 10, 2008, retrieved 2011-07-30

Biography

Azeem, born of Jamaican and Panamanian descent started his first band,

Telefunken Telefunken was a German radio and television producer, founded in Berlin in 1903 as a joint venture between Siemens & Halske and the ''AEG (German company), Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ("General electricity company"). Prior to ...

, in 1991, which was a combination of live instrumentation and

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

. Their first release came out in 1994 on the then newly formed

Om Records Om Records is an American record label established in 1995 that releases electronic, dance and hip-hop music. The label was founded in San Francisco in 1995 by Chris Smith. Om Records releases both artist albums and compilations, including the ...

. Azeem's first break as a solo artist came at an open mic competition where he performed under the alias the "Invisible Man" against fifty other poets and lyricists for a spot on the Lollapolooza Tour. This led to a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

special (''United States of Poetry'') with

Washington Square Films Washington Square Films (WSF) is an American production and management company based in New York City and Los Angeles. It was founded in 1995 by Joshua Blum. History The company's debut project was '' United States of Poetry'', a five-part serie ...

, and two book publishings. In 1997, Azeem was hired by Bay Area artist,

Michael Franti Michael Franti (born April 21, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, poet, activist, documentarian, and rapper. Known for his participation in many musical projects, most with a political and social emphasis, including the Beatnig ...

(

The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy were an American hip-hop musical ensemble, active during the early 1990s. The band was formed in 1990 by Michael Franti (vocals, production, misc. instruments) and Rono Tse (drums, percussion, programming), wh ...

and Spearhead) to assist him in composing songs for the second Spearhead album, ''Chocolate Supa Highway''.Harris, Craig
Azeem Biography
,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, retrieved 2011-07-30 This led to Azeem touring, writing, and performing with the band for two years. The single "Keep Me Lifted", a song that features Azeem, was the only song from the album to reach ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

s Rap Charts. In 1999, after his third tour with Spearhead, Azeem left to work as solo. 1999 saw the release of his first solo EP ''Garage Opera'' (Heratik), and he contributed a track to Afro-Mystik's ''Future Tropic'' album. Azeem followed up with the full-length album ''Craft Classic'' (Stray). The album's single "Rubber Glue" reached number two on the

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

radio rap chart. In 2003 Azeem released the

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compa ...

"Family Man" ( Bomb Hip-Hop) and toured Europe with the Bomb Hip-Hop Tour. In early 2004 Azeem was the frontman on the VU release ''Mayhemystics'' ( Wide Hive),Henderson, Alex
''Mayhemystics'' Review
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, retrieved 2011-07-30 which was nominated for a California Music Award. In 2005 Azeem wrote and performed a play called ''Rude Boy''.Hartlaub, Peter (2006)
Journeying into his own heart of darkness
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San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'', November 15, 2006, retrieved 2011-07-30 Azeem plays the character of Johnny Burke, a struggling and slightly disturbed "Jamerican" (

Jamaican-American Jamaican Americans are an ethnic group of Caribbean Americans who have full or partial Jamaican ancestry. The largest proportions of Jamaican Americans live in South Florida and New York City, both of which have been home to large Jamaican comm ...

) who works as a janitor. The play is set at Johnny's place of work, a Mexican

cardboard Cardboard is a generic term for heavy paper-based products. Their construction can range from a thick paper known as paperboard to corrugated fiberboard, made of multiple plies of material. Natural cardboards can range from grey to light brown ...

box factory. Azeem performed ''Rude Boy'' at: The

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

- NYC,

Marsh Theater In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in general ...

- SF,

Oaklandish Oaklandish is a fashion line and retail store located in Oakland, California, in the United States. The company logo is a modified version of the city logo, an oak tree with wide outspread roots. 10% of the proceeds from the sales of Oaklandish i ...

- Oakland, Hip Hop Theater Festival (

Brava Theater Brava or La Brava may refer to: Geography *Brava, Cape Verde, a volcanic island * Brava, Costa Rica, an island of Costa Rica (Isla Brava) *Costa Brava, a coastal area Mediterranean of northeast Spain *Barawa, a town in Somalia commonly known as ' ...

)- SF, San Francisco Theater Fest -

Yerba Buena Gardens Yerba Buena Gardens is the name for two blocks of public parks located between Third and Fourth, Mission and Folsom Streets in the South of Market (SoMA) neighbourhood of San Francisco, California. The first block bordered by Mission and How ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Redline Theater The redline is the maximum engine speed at which an internal combustion engine or traction motor and its components are designed to operate without causing damage to the components themselves or other parts of the engine. The redline of an engin ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

IL. He also produced and directed ''The Secret Circus'', a

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

show at the Marsh Berkeley.Arnold, Eric K. (2006)
Rapper Azeem takes his YouTube blessings and curses all in stride
, ''

'', October 3, 2006, retrieved 2011-07-30 In 2008, Azeem released another solo effort ''Air Cartoons'', In 2010, Azeem performed live with

Heavyweight Dub Champion Heavyweight Dub Champion is a music and art collective founded in Gold Hill, Colorado in 1997 by Resurrector & Patch.

Discography

Albums

Singles and EPs

Other appearances

* ''Afro Mystic'' (1999), Om Records - "Shoplift The Future" and "Trivia Terrorist" * ''Spearhead'' (1997), Capitol - "Keep Me Lifted", "Food for the Masses" and "Madness in the Hood" * ''Groove Active'' (1997), Om Records - "The Message" (Telefunken) * ''Grand Slam'' CD — Azeem the Invisible Man

References

External links

www.thepoetazeem.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Azeem American hip-hop musicians Living people 1977 births