Animal Farm, Mic Crenshaw, Serge Severe, DJ Wicked, Rascue January 3, 2009

Focused Noise Presents live hip-hop featuring Animal Farm, Mic Crenshaw, Serge Severe, DJ Wicked, Rascue, and the Wright Family.

Saturday, January 3rd
Ash Street Theater
225 SW Ash Street
Portland
21 and Over
$6

Animal Farm is one of the hottest groups to burst upon the northwest hip-hop scene, creating a significant buzz in just three years after joining forces. The group has quickly developed a large regional following after performing live throughout the United States with the likes of Common, Method Man and Redman, GZA and RZA from Wu-Tang Clan, N.E.R.D., KRS-One, The Cool Kids, Brand Nubian, Aceyalone, Mike Jones, Del the Funky Homosapien, Tha Alkaholiks, and at festivals such as CMJ Music Marathon and MusicFest NW. Animal Farm’s MCs, Hanif Wondir, Gen.Erik, Fury, and KWils, have gained recognition due to their extremely energetic live show, which combines potent lyricism with a lighter side of comic relief.

Animal Farm's new album, "The Unknown", features the legendary KRS-One and Nightclubber Lang from Rhymesayers’ Boom Bap Project. "The Unknown" is currently receiving radio play throughout the country, and recently peaked at #3 on the CMJ Hip-Hop Charts, where Animal Farm remained in the Top 10 for seven straight weeks.

The group is a collaboration of MCs from Portland and Eugene, OR, and was recently praised in Urb Magazine’s Next 1000, which claimed “The animated Animal Farm achieves a classically feel-good tone.” The group also been featured on numerous prominent websites, including hiphopdx.com, urb.com, hhnlive.com, rapreviews.com, and 2dopeboyz.com, among others.

"Portland shines yet again with GenErik on soulful, retro-sounding production and a crew of MCs, including a guest spot from KRS-One. Lovely!"
-XLR8R Magazine

Mic Crenshaw is one of the most talented and revered MCs in the Northwest. After gaining a number of fans as a part of Suckapunch, Cleveland Steamers, and Hungry Mob, Crenshaw is releasing his first solo album, "Thinking out Loud", which features Stic.Man from Dead Prez, Nightclubber Lang of Boom Bap Project, and Gen.Erik from Animal Farm, among others, and is now available online and in stores.

Born and raised on the Southside of Chicago, Crenshaw moved to Portland via Minneapolis, where he quickly became one of the most respected artists in the Northwest. The Portland Mercury called Crenshaw and the Lifesavas "two of the very best hiphop artists in PDX." Crenshaw has also shared stages with the legendary Fugees, Ice Cube, Outkast, and many others, and is well-known as a Portland, Oregon poetry slam champion and national finalist. He was recently featured by URB Magazine, who included him in their Next 1000 column. He also has been featured in XLR8R Magazine, on Myx.tv, hiphopdx.com, okayplayer.com, and a number of other music websites.

"Crenshaw redefines "keeping it real" to mean staying true to your beliefs rather than being a thug, and I hope his definition of real, and his take on hip hop, become the norm. We need less rappers talking about making it rain, and more dropping lines like "everybody has a right to be free.""
-RapReviews.com

Serge Severe is a Portland mic-slayer on a mission. He is one of the most well-rounded, multi-dimensional Mcs in the Northwest, possessing a formidable stage presence, strong song-writing skills, and ferocious freestyle ability. He has shared stages with Hip Hop heavyweights, Rza of Wu Tang Clan, Method Man and Redman, Planet Asia, Living Legends, Del The Funky Homosapien, Blue Scholars and many more. He was also recently praised in URB Magazine's Next 1000 Column, which called Serge's music "...a brand of lyricism and humor that are downright Ghostface-esque... Serge is a true wordsmith that isn't afraid to be himself." Serge's first album, "Walk in my Shoes" was received with great praise from fans and reviewers alike, and was named one of the "Top Ten Underground HIP HOP Albums of 2006" by Hiphoplingustics.com. His new album, "Concrete Techniques" is available now online and in stores.

"Put "Concrete Techniques" on and imagine an alternate universe where Diddy never happened, where Eric B. was still president, and where hip hop stayed true to its roots."
-RapReviews.com

Official Website: http://www.focusednoise.com