St. LaRok's Page

Name:

St. LaRok

Bio:

INFLUENCED BY MANY. FOLLOWER OF NONE.

S t . L a R o k is the product of 80's avant-garde eclecticism, early 90's Hip Hop aesthetic, and new-skool sensibilities. An artist with a keen sense of then, now, and the next.

LaRok realized music was in his blood at an early age. Naturally blessed with an ear for music and the gift of creativity, Saent would always hear his mother singing and listening to music of different genres, from 70's soul to 80's pop rock and contemporary R&B and Hip Hop. Saent was exposed to Hip Hop mainly thru his older brother and cousins. He was fortunate enough to soak all of this in during the late 80's in the "Golden Era" of Hip Hop. They also listened to different kinds of music, especially early House music created by it's Chi-Town pioneers. All of these elements combined contributed to the eclectic taste for music that he would develop, and still has to this day.

He took an interest in Hip Hop production just from listening to beats crafted by the greats...Premier...Pete Rock...Dre, etc. in the early 90's. By about age 11 or 12, he figured out the basics of how to make a simple drum pattern, and couldn't wait to get his hands on a machine that would allow him to create one. When the jiggy era started to creep in around '94, Saent began to get turned off by most mainstream Hip Hop. Ironically, that was the same year Hard to Earn by Gangstarr, and The Sun Rises in the East by Jeru the Damaja dropped. Upon hearing the beautiful sample arrangements and dirty drums laced by Premier, he knew he wanted to pursue a career in production. At the age of 14, his mom put him on a plane to visit his big brother in Germany, who was stationed there in the military at the time. During one of their phone conversations Saent expressed his interest in beats, and was told that once he came to visit he would be taken to a friend's house who had a small production setup. His brother kept true to the promise. They sat him down in front of an old Boss Dr. Rhythm drum machine, and within minutes he created a basic, yet impressive drum loop all by himself. They were shocked. The rest is history...

By junior high Saent started getting deeper into Hip Hop culture, including graffiti, and by high school was writing rhymes seriously, battling other MC's in the cipher, tagging up the hallways, and gaining respect amongst his peers. Being from the Mid-West, he was inspired and influenced by Hip Hop from all over. He earned his first production credit with the track "Nacro Ordo Seclorum" with the founder of the legendary Chicago-based Nacrobats crew,Pugz Atomz.

In 2005, he attended an audio engineering school in Florida where he met Brandon Toledo and Chip Williams, who he would form a partnership with 3 years later in the Miami Beat Wave Productions collective. In May of 2009, they were invited to go against other up-and-coming producers at the One Stop Shop Producers Conference Beat Battle held by G-Unit Records president Sha Money XL, and in June '09 saw the release of the Nintendo DS video game Miami Law, which contains tracks produced by MBW. Now, with the help of the good folks at AUSTIN BILLION KRAFT TEAM he is set to release the Leap Year EP on their CALL IT.MISCHIEVOUS imprint, a collection of tracks summing up his first year of stepping into the forefront, produced entirely by St. LaRok alongside his crew . The future Hip Hop is bright...indeed.

Info For Stalkers - Email, IM, Skype and Whatnot:

saentlarok@gmail.com
myspace.com/saentlarok

J-O-B:

Poet/MC, beat constructor, visionary

Recordings:

Leap Year EP - coming soon

The Written Word:

Seven steps beyond repentance/
or seeking God's acceptance/
I found redemption for conscious effort

Breathless/
I bore witness to creations essence/
and even in Revelation found a place for reflection

Chose to shed the close EYE slept in/
with awakened sensory perception/
receptive to the text sent

in the last seconds/
thru a telepathic message/
that answered the question that kept the masses guessing

wondering if salvation would select them/
they looked towards the sky for heaven/
with a false sense of direction

only to find resentment that it beckoned/
while most only saw red, I saw every color of the spectrum

- untitled poem circa '02

Who Are What You Eat:

Semi-Vegetarian

Orientation

Full-time Heterosexual

Band Members:

St. Larok - beats, rhymes, life
Miami Beat Wave - beats, mixing, engineering, crew and extended fam

Band Influences:

James Brown, CURTIS MAYFIELD, Afrika Bambaataa, Newcleus, Rakim, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Dr. Dre, D.I.T.C., Organized Noize, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, The Roots, King Tubby, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Portishead, RZA, The Opus, Timbaland, J Dilla, Roots Manuva, The Ummah, The Neptunes, Radiohead, C-rayz Walz, Kanye West, Fat Jon, Madlib, Freestyle Fellowship, Tortoise, Rick Rubin, Stereolab, DJ Paul & Juicy J, Björk, Just Blaze, DJ Toomp, Alchemist, Nottz...

Band Label:

CALL IT.MISCHIEVOUS