DREW JAMES
Born to a Jamaican father (I. Wildman) and a Barbudan mother (L. James) on June 20th 1984 Andrew spent most of his years growing up in Rexdale's Mt. Olive neighbourhood, Andrew was always surrounded by the streets. Between 1988 and 1996 Andrew would spend his summers in Rexdale and his winters in Antigua & Barbuda traveling with his mother who owned a business in her native country. Over the years he developed his artistic side by spending a lot of his time perfecting his skills in visual arts.
But everything changed in 1993 when a friend at school gave him Snoop Dogg's "Doggystyle" tape. The track "Who Am I" changed Andrew's life forever, from that moment on he would always have a calling for music. In the summer of 1996 Andrew chose to stay in Canada to be among friends. Over the next 5 years he would move from relative to relative, from T.O. to Barrie to Brampton, from school to school, constantly being suspended several times a year for fighting or being disrespectful to his teachers. It was in Brampton ON while staying with his father and attending Heartlake Secondary School, Andrew found himself cutting class to go freestyle with fellow classmates in the school's hallways (one of his schoolmates was Nem-s-iss a Toronto emcee). After 2 years of living with his father Andrew grew tired of his father's ignorant ways and moved to Barrie to stay with his mother.
In May 2003 three while waiting in line at a local nightclub Andrew was given word that a freestyle battle was taking place that night. As a joke he entered the competition under the emcee name Kombat, surprisingly he destroyed every emcee that he battled that night in front of the 900+ plus crowd. It was then he became an instant local phenomenon. Over the next 2 years Andrew now known as Kombat would enter numerous freestyle battles in the clubs and in the streets winning almost every single one hands down, while battling in the Ruff Ryders battle hosted by Jin, Kombat's first line was "go against me I'll destroy you son, I'll beat you worse than Jin beat Hassan in week one" after the battle Jin slapped hands with Kombat saying "I'm now a fan".
In 2004 while at a battle Kombat was approached by studio owner & producer James "Realize" DaSilva who immediately recognized his talent and wanted to develope his skills as an emcee and record a full length album. With the help of Realize, DJ Skitz, Slakah The Beatchild and, Tyme One, Kombat was no more K.O. was here and the album Black English was born. The rest is history!!...except for the fact that the frustration would bring Drew James aka HWY 400 out in 2008..... stay tuned!
Discography:
Black English (album) - June 2005
Ridin' Clean (mixtape) - Feb 2006
Still Hustlin' (mixtape) - June 2006
Gimme The Throne (mixtape) - May 2007
Return Of The Bad Guy - Oct 2007
Video:
Think They Know Me - Music Video - Released Sept 2007
King Of The City Vol. 2 - Freestyle Battle ( I was accidently listed as Tails )
King Of The City Vol. 3 - Think They Know Me ( Music Video ) Dec 2007
Alter Ego
Web: www.myspace.com/drewjamesproductions
Web: www.ruffryders.ca
Web: www.myspace.com/ontariorr
Web: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=41600588686&ref=ts
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