Reco Dewayne Price (born April 23, 1970), better known by his stage name Supernatural (a.k.a. Super Nat or MC Supernatural) is an American
rapper
Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...
best known for his "on-the-spot"
freestyle and
battle rap
Battle rap (also known as rap battling)Edwards, Paul, 2009, p. 25. is a type of rapping performed between two or more performers that incorporates boasts, insults, wordplay and Diss (music), disses originating in the African Americans, African-Amer ...
abilities.
He has been a regular performer and host of the
Rock the Bells Music Festival since its beginning in 2004.
Biography
Born in
Marion, Indiana
Marion is a city in and the county seat of Grant County, Indiana, United States, along the Mississinewa River. The population was 28,310 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is named for Francis Marion, a brigadier general from ...
, Supernatural began rhyming at the age of 14.
Moving to
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
at the age of 19, Supernatural began to make a name for himself on the hip hop scene and by 1993 he won the New Music Seminar. A week prior he was signed by
Elektra Records
Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...
, where he recorded an album titled "Natural Disasters". His first worldwide known single was "Buddha blessed it". He had landed a radio-show on
98.7 Kiss-FM 1994 where he met
KRS-One
Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from the Bronx. He rose to prominence as part of the ...
from the group
Boogie Down Productions
Boogie Down Productions (BDP) was an American hip-hop group formed in the Bronx, New York City, in 1986. It originally consisted of KRS-One, D-Nice, and DJ Scott La Rock. DJ Scott La Rock was murdered on August 27, 1987, five months after the ...
who became not only a friend but his
business manager
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a business manager as "a person who manages the business affairs of an individual, institution, organization, or company".
Compare manager.
Business managers drive the work of others (if any) in order to op ...
.
He is renowned for his improvisational talents, or freestyle, about which he said in a 1997 interview, "my definition of a freestyle is coming from the deepest realms of improvisational skills. Just being able to formulate and make rhymes on the spot that's the definition of a freestyle. Freestyle is the highest form of expression through one's self".
A
compilation album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...
of previously recorded tracks entitled ''The Lost Freestyle Files'' was released in 2003.
Supernatural has said in press that "this was something that I wanted to put out as like a piece of my history", and "there are little tid-bits and pieces of history on there that the real heads like to have, and it takes you back to those times. You got the dates on there, when you see the whole cover it has all the dates, and what I was doing at the time in there so you know".
In the end 2005 MC Supernatural has also released a second full-length album, called ''S.P.I.T. (Spiritual Poetry Ignites Thought)'' (2005, Up Above Records), which featured
Raekwon
Corey Woods (born January 12, 1970), better known by his stage name Raekwon ( ), is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, which achieved mainstream success following the release of the ...
(of the
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop collective formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its members include RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and, until his death in 2004, O ...
),
B-Real
Louis Mario Freese (born June 2, 1970), known by his stage name B-Real, is an American rapper. Since 1991, he has been one of two lead rappers in the hip hop group Cypress Hill, along with Sen Dog. He has also been a part of the rap metal ban ...
(of
Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill is an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in South Gate, California in 1988. One of the first Latin groups to gain mainstream recognition in hip hop, they have sold over 20 million albums worldwide, and have obtained multi ...
), and
Chali 2na
Charles Stewart (born June 26, 1971), better known as Chali 2na (), is an American painter and rapper, associated with the groups Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli. He is known for his bass-baritone voice and quick-delivery rapping style.
Personal life ...
(of
Jurassic 5
Jurassic 5 (stylized JuraSsic 5) is an American alternative hip hop group formed by rappers Charles Stewart (Chali 2na), Dante Givens (Akil), Courtenay Henderson (Soup (Jurassic 5), Soup, Zaakir), and Marc Stuart (Marc 7); and disc jockeys Mar ...
) and had Producers like Vitamin D, Jake One, Bean One, Marco Polo, DJ Muggs, DJ Khalil, DJ Rhettmatic and Evidence (of the
Dilated Peoples
Dilated Peoples is an American Los Angeles-based Hip hop music, hip hop trio, composed of rapper and record producer Evidence (musician), Evidence, rapper Rakaa, and Beat Junkies deejay and record producer DJ Babu. The group is better known in t ...
).
Supernatural's story and performances are reported in the 2005 documentary film ''
Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme'', which contains clips of his and
Craig G's battle and of the epic battle between Supernatural and
MC Juice.
On August 5, 2006, Supernatural set a new world record for the longest continuous freestyle rap at the Rock The Bells Festival in
San Bernardino, CA
San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...
. where he rapped for 9 hours and 15 minutes.
Alongside
Mark Battles
Mark Anthony Battles (born September 2, 1991) is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Indianapolis, Indiana.
In 2011, Battles released his first project ''Good Morning America'' and gained recognition for his single ''Last N ...
,
Freddie Gibbs
Fredrick Jamel Tipton (born June 14, 1982), better known by his stage name Freddie Gibbs, is an American rapper and songwriter. He signed with Interscope Records in 2006 and recorded his debut album for the label; however, its release was cance ...
and
Dorian, Supernatural is one of the only rappers from
Indiana
Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
to become widely known in the music industry.
Other appearances
* Supernatural is seen in the documentary ''
Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme'' (2000).
* He is credited as a commentator in Midway's basketball game, ''
NBA Ballers
''NBA Ballers'' is a 2004 streetball simulation video game developed and published by Midway Games, Midway. The game features fictional National Basketball Association, NBA analyst Bob Benson (voiced and depicted by Terry Abler) and Supernatura ...
''.
* Supernatural appeared on
Assassin
Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives.
Assassinations are orde ...
(French hip-hop classic) on the single "Undaground Connexion" in September, 1996 as well as the 2000 Assassin LP "touche d'espoir" with
Rockin' Squat
Rockin' Squat ( Mathias Crochon (); born 7 September 1969), also known as Mathias Cassel, is a French rapper, producer and director. He is the founder of Assassin, and co-founder of the Franco-Brazilian film festival Planeta Ginga. He has colla ...
on "Undaground Connexion Part. II".
* Supernatural is mentioned at the end of the ''
Tech N9ne
Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper and singer. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold ...
'' song 'Show Me a God'
* "Internationally Known" appears on the soundtrack of the 2003 video game ''
Tony Hawk's Underground
''Tony Hawk's Underground'' is a 2003 skateboarding video game and the fifth entry in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series, following ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4''. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 ...
''
Discography
Solo
* 2000: ''Natural Disasters'' (Recorded 1994)
* 2003: ''The Lost Freestyle Files'' (
Babygrande Records
Babygrande Records is an American independent record label based in New York City, founded by Chuck Wilson. Babygrande is distributed by The Orchard and represented by the Creative Artists Agency in Hollywood.
History
Babygrande Records wa ...
)
* 2005: ''S.P.I.T.'' (Up Above Records)
Guest appearances
References
External links
WebpageSupernaturalon
Discogs
Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Supernatural
1970 births
African-American male rappers
20th-century American male rappers
Living people
East Coast hip-hop musicians
Rappers from Indiana
Rappers from New York City
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century African-American musicians
20th-century African-American musicians