Example (rapper)
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| Example | |
|---|---|
 eeeeeeeee:
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Elliot John Gleave |
| Also known as | Example: |
| Born | June 20, 1982 |
| Origin | Hammersmith, London, England |
| Genre(s) | Hip Hop, Rap |
| Occupation(s) | Rapper |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals |
| Years active | 2005 - present |
| Associated acts | Mr. Rusher, Pro. Green, Hadouken, The Natives, The Streets, Lilly Allen, Kate Nash, Plan B |
| Website | www.myspace.com/leadingbyexample |
Example: (b. June 20, 1982 as Elliot John Gleave) is an English rapper formerly signed to The Beats record label. His pseudonym arose due to his initials forming "E.G.", a common abbreviation for "example".
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[edit] Biography
Born 20 June 1982 at West London hospital in Hammersmith, Gleave attended All Saints Primary School in Fulham High Street. He later went on to attend ADT College, Wandsworth (now Ashcroft Technology Academy). Aged 15, Example entered a rap battle at a house party in Shepherds Bush and in his own words "completely destroyed a useless wanker and a fight broke out so [he] sprinted home".[1].
In 1992, he won Royal Mail Poet of the Year, winning his school a new computer. This didn't really matter as his school was a technology college, and already had 2,000[citation needed]. In 2000, Example attended Royal Holloway University, London to study film directing. While at University, Example started garage MCing to make some money. It was during this period that he met Rusher, the producer with whom he would later go on to work with. Example and Rusher made a concept album in the audio booth of the University film department. After graduating in 2007, Example emigrated to Australia for a year where he "did lots of landscape gardening and work on scaffolding, met a loada idiots with mullets, learnt a lot about [him]self and BBQs, grew [his] hair and learnt to surf on [his] last day in the country".[1] After moving back to London, Example decided to pursue a career as a professional rapper. After releasing three singles through his own label "All The Chats", including "I Dont Want To" in January 2006, Example received attention from Pete Tong and others at Radio 1. Example also caught the attention of people at five major record labels - perhaps most significantly Mike Skinner (of The Streets), owner of The Beats label.
In 2005 Example and his producer Rusher recorded two tracks onto 12" white-label. The two songs were "Pointless Song" and "Who's Ready?" Both had Dirty, Clean and Instrumental versions on the record. These are hard to come by due to the fact there are only rumoured to be approximately 250 of them. After signing a deal in April 2006 with The Beats, Example put out a response to Lily Allen's "Smile" entitled "Vile" and received Radio 1 airplay from Zane Lowe, Jo Whiley and Chris Moyles. His first proper release on The Beats was "What We Made" in November 2006, the video for which was filmed in Chernobyl, Ukraine (see below).
Example's second single entitled "You Can't Rap" was released in March 2007 with an album set to follow in June. He has performed live all over the UK supporting various artists from different styles and genres including The Fratellis, Westlife, Disney On Ice, Leona Lewis, B*Witched, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly., Plan B, Just Jack, Arrested Development, Killa Kela, Bromheads Jacket, Metronomy, Akala, The Automatic, De La Soul, The Rifles and most recently Hadouken! Example's following single was "I Don't Want To" which was re-released on 11 June 2007 the video can be found on MTV Overdrive along with "You Can't Rap". "I Don't Want To" was followed by the single "So Many Roads" which eventually turned out to be the opening track on Examples full-length studio debut. Example's next single will be Me + Mandy, to be released on March 10th 2008. His 2008 tour begins on Feb 23rd at MoHo in Manchester supporting the Versus Cancer at the Aftershow. He is a man of many talents.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Singles
- "I Don't Want To / Loneliness Costs" – January 2006
- "What We Made" – November 2006
- "You Can't Rap" – March 2007
- " I Don't Want To" – June 2007
- "So Many Roads" – 2007
- "Me + Mandy" – March 2008
[edit] Albums
- We Didn't Invent the Remix – 2006
- What We Made – September 7, 2007
- What We Almost Made – 2008
[edit] Film making
Whilst filming a promo video for his track "What We Made" in the abandoned city of Chernobyl in northern Ukraine, Example also filmed an 18-minute documentary in the ghost towns he visited and their deserted schools, hotels and funfairs, many of which still remain exactly as they were when they were abandoned after the infamous disaster 20 years ago. "I don't think anyone who's been here can be for nuclear power," he said, looking around at empty cots and babies' gas masks in a disintegrating schoolroom near Chernobyl. "I've read stuff recently about how we're only ever going to survive if we make nuclear power available, but you just think: why would you want it to happen after seeing this?"[2]
