Napoleon Da Legend
Brooklyn, NY, US | 4 Followers
About
Since the “Golden Era” of Hip-Hop, true school lyricists have come very few and far between. The combination of passion, flair on the mic, urban poetry mixed with torrential, jigsaw-like wordplay is a rare alchemy of attributes Napoleon Da Legend carries in his arsenal. Delivering picturesque vocals...
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Since the “Golden Era” of Hip-Hop, true school lyricists have come very few and far between. The combination of passion, flair on the mic, urban poetry mixed with torrential, jigsaw-like wordplay is a rare alchemy of attributes Napoleon Da Legend carries in his arsenal. Delivering picturesque vocals over musical canvases, N.D.L. Aka Pharoah-Gamo offers his personal rendition of what he refers to as “Reality Rap”. He is also the newest member of the legendary Bushwick NY supergroup “Dysfunkshunal Familee” of “New Ruff Flava” fame in 1994.
He draws his inspiration from a unique background and life experience. Born in Paris, France to African immigrants from the severely impoverished Comoros, and later migrating to Washington DC at the age of four, N.D.L. has been subject to enough culture shock to last several lifetimes. At the age of 16, His parents both went their separate ways and moved back overseas after divorcing. Despite his young age, N.D.L. decided to stay in the US to carve a path by himself. Having to learn to survive and fend for himself at a young age gave N.D.L the insight and inspiration for his passionate and vivid delivery. By the age of 17, he start penning projects including a limited edition maxi-single vinyl “Prison” released by indy-label “Savoir-Faire” in Europe.
N.D.L. independently put out some mix-tapes with local artists named the “Black Mafia” series, which created a street buzz in D.M.V. area (DC/MD/VA). During that period, he was featured on songs with Bad Boy artist Red Café & Universal/Barclay artist Matt Houston (“Shawty a Gansta”), as well as Trina, formerly of “Slip N Slide” (“Sex Toy”). Furthermore, former Dr. Dre prodigy Knoc-Turn'Al enlisted N.D.L on his comeback record “Red Rum Mindset”. His buzz in Europe also made him a sought out MC for features with iconic French artists such as “Rockin’ Squat” of the pioneer Hip-Hip group “Assassin” and Hip-Hop group “Saian Supa Crew”. He later leaked the “Deep Cover 2010” Big Pun tribute video, which was featured on numerous Hip-Hop blogs and websites. Since then, he has been featured consistently on sites such as Allhiphop.com (Heater of Day multiple times), kevinnottingham.com, HipHopDX.com, 2DopeBoyz and many others. In 2010, he dropped “The Myth or The Legend” EP, which was sold online and hand to hand by his street team. A year later, in collaboration with producer/personality/director Crazy Al Cayne (www.sugarcayne.com), N.D.L was featured on a full-length mix-tape “The Sugar Cayne Experiment Vol 1” on which he would create songs over beats C.A.C had authentically produced during the nineties. The songs and videos from these projects garnered an undeniable buzz on YouTube and many Hip-Hop blogs and websites. N.D.L impromptu freestyle on CAC’s “Spit in the Wip” was featured on B.E.T’s The Deal on March 2010.
In December 2012, N.D.L. was featured on the legendary Video Music Box show and interviewed by Ralph McDaniels, which aired in the NY, NJ and CT area on the NYC-TV Life channel. Since then, many of his videos have been on rotation on V.M.B. DJ Bazarro (Beatminerz Radio personality) extended him an invitation to join his rap group “Dysfunkshunal Familee” in March 2013,which he has accepted, with whom he’s been touring and doing shows up and down the East Coast. In April 2013, he released his debut full-length solo album “Awakening” featuring music with Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon and Sean Price. His satirical yet comedic video for “Wise Men” featuring Sean P has garnered a cult following online. N.D.L also made his acting debut taking part in a role for a web drama series “Back to Basics” directed by Cyril Mahe. Impressed from what Cyril Mahe described as natural talent as an actor, he later enlisted him to star in an installment of the horror/suspense series “The Devil May Care”, which premiered at Yotel in NYC in the summer of 2013.
In March 2014, NDL performed in Berlin, Germany on March 9th at Cassiopeia alongside Sadat X (Brand Nubian) and El Da Sensei (Artifacts). He then was chosen to perform at Pharoah Monche’s PTSD album release party at reknowned SOB’s in NYC hosted by Peter Rosenberg of Hot97 in April 2014.
N.D.L. has toured non-stop from 2014 to the beginning of 2015 doing shows in NYC, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, Maryland, Washington DC, Tampa Bay, San Diego, Worcester, Los Angeles, San Diego and Berlin, Germany among other places. He was selected to perform at Live at the BBQ 2.0 sponsored by Ralph McDaniels at Video Music Box and hosted by Large Professor at the 2015 Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival. Currently, N.D.L. is working on his next “Propaganda” project, as well as an album fully produced by the legendary Beatminerz (Mr Walt, DJ Evil Dee & DJ Bazarro). N.D.L. recently linked up with artist/producer BBass to release a joint project “THP” (The Happy Place). This summer opus was conceived and recorded by both artists in the span of 2 weeks just in time for the summer season and dropped July 3rd, 2015 on all digital outlets. With the overwhelmingly positive response “THP” has garnered from critics, radio and DJs as well as an ever expanding fan base, N.D.L. has surely been prepping for an eventful year.
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