Truth I
Born and raised on the East Coast, Truth I's passion as a writer and a performer began as a child. He won a New Jersey state poetry contest at the age of 8, and spent hours plugging a microphone into a cassette recorder to make tapes. He recalls performing for his family in the living room, mic in hand.
Truth I sang throughout middle and high school, traveling to Europe twice to perform with his school's concert choir. Meanwhile, his interest in the rhythms and cadences of late '80s and early '90's hip-hop music had been piqued. Like many other high schoolers of the era, he and his friends experimented with writing raps and freestyling. During his freshman year of college at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he began to acquire instrumental beats and wrote lyrics.
In the summer of 1997, on coastal North Carolina's beautiful Topsail Island, Truth I and old friend Ben Baylin (lead singer of LA band, The Beautiful and Damned, http://www.myspace.com/thebeautifulanddamnedofficial) began to record together, using favorite instrumentals and a basic karaoke-style stereo.
In the fall of 1998, at the University of North Carolina, Truth I joined Hip-Hop Nation, a collective of budding poets, MC's, and musicians, and was soon shocking audiences with his unassumingly fierce stage presence and raw delivery. Out of Hip-Hop Nation sprang Crimzen Guard, Truth I's first group, which also featured Kaze (East Coast underground sensation, Soul Dojo Records, www.souldojo.com). Though performing throughout North Carolina for over a year, Crimzen Guard never recorded and broke up in 1999.
Truth I spent the next few years traveling and writing, though not performing. In 2002, he began to produce beats and record in his own studio, then formed live band hip-hop group, The Motives. Alongside phenomenal keyboardist Kevin Timmons (www.myspace.com/remixproject, www.remixproject.com, www.whosbad.com) Truth I and The Motives rocked across North Carolina until 2004.
In early 2005, Truth I moved to Los Angeles, quickly finding his way into the active spoken word poetry scene. He hosted several benefit open mic events, and over the summer of 2006, finally linked up with Javis the Bravest, Free Will, and Amore 1, forming Venice based hip hop group, The Luminaries, now playing all over Los Angeles. In spring of 2007, The Luminaries added the talented and beautiful Silvermoon to the group, filling out their sound with her lovely voice and poignant lyrics (www.silvermoonmedicine.com). The Luminaries are elevating hip-hop to new levels of positivity, higher consciousness, and social activism, while taking their message to large crowds. Scheduled to record in February 2008, in rhythm with the need for upliftment in the world, the Luminaries look forward to sharing the songs of their evoLUtion.
In addition to working with the Luminaries, Truth I and Silvermoon are collaborating on a joint project under the title I, Star.