Soul Khan
| Soul Khan | |
|---|---|
 On stage at Knitting Factory | |
| Background information | |
| Born |
April 18, 1985 West Hollywood, CA |
| Origin | Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, United States |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Labels | Unsigned |
| Associated acts | Homeboy Sandman, Brown Bag Allstars, Akie Bermiss, Koncept, Sene |
| Website | http://soulkhan.com |
Noah Weston, better known as Soul Khan (born April 18, 1985) is an American songwriter, rapper, and retired battle rapper. Born in West Hollywood and raised in Woodland Hills, California, he currently resides in Brooklyn, New York City.[1] After a short career in battle rap that started in late 2008, in which he appeared in American circuits such as Grindtime and Smack/URL, as well as outside the United States, notably in Canada (KOTD) and United Kingdom (Don't Flop), he retired from the scene to focus his attention on his musical career in early 2010. He is a member of the Brown Bag AllStars, a collective of emcees and producers from the Brooklyn area.[2]
Music career
Soul Khan started his rap career after he met his current group, The Brown Bag Allstars while working at Fat Beats[3] in Manhattan, NY. In late 2010, Soul Khan released his free album Soul Like Khan.[4] The following year, he started releasing his Love Supreme series, four EPs in dedication to John Coltrane's legendary album by the same name, A Love Supreme.[5] The first EP, Acknowledgement was produced by DeeJay Element with an upbeat approach to help listeners feel "renewed."[6] The second EP, Resolution, was produced by Marink.[7] Pursuance EP,[8] produced by Audible Doctor is the third and Psalm, produced by Abnormal completed the series.[9] Soul Khan's song "Speeding Bullets" was also on the 2012 College Radio Day album.
Soul Khan performed at 2013 Bonnaroo with Black Violin, Jeni Suk, & Knower as the collective "Sooper Groop.".[10] Soul Khan lists Pharoahe Monch, Posdnous, Paul Robeson, & David Ruffin as musical influences.
Soul Khan was listed in Allhiphop's Top 50 Underground Hip Hop Artists of 2012.[11]
Battle career
Soul Khan burst onto the battle scene with a decisive victory over Yellow Rat Bassterd in a 2008 GrindTimeNow battle. From here Khan continued to battle in the GrindTimeNow circuit against many other GrindTimeNow heavyweights such as Cortez and Syd Vicious. Soul Khan's popularity grew within battle rap as more and more fans were being introduced to the subculture.
In early 2010 a fresh-shaven Soul Khan made his first appearance on the Ultimate Rap League(URL) stage against an Ohio rapper named Deacon Frost. Although this battle was highly debated, it is an example of why Soul Khan is so highly respected amongst many different battle rap leagues, and has such a diverse following of fans. Also in 2010 Soul Khan had two international battle rap performance in Canada's main battle league King of the Dot (KOTD) where he defeated Aspire, and top ranked Canadian battler Porich in a controversial decision.
Soul Khan continued to battle throughout 2010 in GrindTimeNow against other big names such as QP (SONS), Madness, and Fresco until he eventually got invited for another international appearance. This time Khan appeared in the United Kingdom on the prominent Don't Flop stage where he battled Don't Flop veteran Sensa in a classic three round clash.
Soul Khan went on to perform one more battle on the URL main stage in December 2010 against SONS rapper Fox, in what is widely considered one of the most one-sided battles in URL history. Soul Khan announced his retirement from battle rap for the sake of wanting to focus on his more lucrative music career, and getting out while he was still on top. Occasionally, Khan attends big name battle rap events as either a guest judge, or even just as a fan of the battle rap culture, but has stated that he has no intention of ever coming back to battling. In a recent interview with buzzntheburgh.com, Soul Khan reiterated that he will never battle rap again unless his music career took off dramatically.
Soul Khan has become an online YouTube sensation, having numerous videos eclipse the 300,000 view mark.
Discography
- Brown Bag Season Volume 1 January 2011, Album
- Soul Like Khan November 2010, Debut Album
- Acknowledgement April 2011, EP
- Resolution September 2011, EP
- Pursuance December 2011, EP
- Wellstone March 2012, EP
- Psalm December 2012, EP[12]
Singles
- Offshore Drilling - January 2002, Single
- Crush it to Diamonds - November 2008, Single
- Soulstice, April 2010 - Single
- Thunder in Paradise (with Marv Won) - July 2010, Single
- Brown Bag Flava in Ya Ear (with Big Chief) - January 2002, Single
- Soulstice II - December 2010, Single
- Soulstice III - April 2011, Single
- When The Plague Starts - November 2011, Single
- Soulstice IV - October 2012, Single
Selected Guest Appearances
- Aabaraki - "Karate f/ Soul Khan" "Aabaraki" (2011)
- PremRock & Willie Green - "Had To Be Me (f/ C-Rayz Walz, Soul Khan & DJ Addict) PremRock & Willie Green (2011)
- El Da Sensei... - "Nu World (Part II) (f/ Nutso and Soul Khan)" The Nu World Remix EP (2011)[13]
- Koncept - "Aspirations (f/ Soul Khan)" awaken. (2012)
- Koncept - "The Only Thing (f/ Soul Khan)" awaken. (2012)
- The Audible Doctor - "Stayin Busy Remix (f/ Silent Knight, Kon, Rasheed Chappell, Yc the Cynic and Soul Khan) I Think That... (2012)
- YC The Cynic - "More and More (f/ Soul Khan, Van Pea and Sene)" Fall FWD (2012)
- Sene - "We Are Couleurs" (f/ Soul Khan)" Brooklyknight (2012)
- Sparx - "Just Begun" (f/ Kirswords, Koncept, Aayu, Soul Khan, Joe Swisher, and Enrichment) (2012)
- Nitty Scott MC - "Beautiful Struggle" (f/ Soul Khan & Akie Bermiss) "The Boombox Diaries, Vol.1" (2012)[14]
- Danimal Lector - "Look Out Now" (f/ Soul Khan) "Bars Attack" (2013)
- Kirswords - "Tri-State Mindstate" (f/ Soul Khan and Joe Swisher) (2015)
Battle Rap History
- Yellow Rat Bassterd, Grind Time Now, circa December 2008
- Rhapsodist, Grind Time Now, 26 January 2009
- J Ka$h, Grind Time Now, 3 March 2009
- Unorthodox Phrases, Grind Time Now, 31 March 2009
- Amazin Crack, Grind Time Now, 24 April 2009
- Dirtbag Dan, Grind Time Now, 6 June 2009
- Cortez, Grind Time Now, 12 July 2009
- Z.M., Grind Time Now, 8 November 2009
- Syd Vicious, Grind Time Now, 16 December 2009
- Deacon Frost, Smack/URL, 25 February 2010
- Aspire, King of the Dot, 7 April 2010
- QP, Grind Time Now, 24 May 2010
- poRICH, King of the Dot, 18 July 2010
- Leathle, Grind Time Now, 9 September 2010
- Fresco, Grind Time Now, 15 November 2010
- Madness, Grind Time Now, 28 November 2010
- Sensa, Don't Flop, 11 December 2010
- J Fox, Smack/URL, 14 February 2011[15]
References
- ↑ "Official Bio". Retrieved 31 January 2013.
- ↑ "Soul Khan bio". Retrieved 31 January 2013.
- ↑ "Village Voice interview". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ↑ "Daily Tar Heel interview". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ↑ "Village Voice interview". Retrieved 11 December 2012.
- ↑ "MTV News interview". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ↑ "The Madd Bloggers". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ↑ "Birthplace Magazine". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ↑ "Kevin Nottingham". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ↑ "Fuse TV interview". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ↑ "Allhiphop.com". Retrieved 24 June 2013.
- ↑ "Allhiphop.com interview". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ↑ "2Dopeboyz". Retrieved 4 November 2011.
- ↑ "Complex review". Retrieved 28 August 2012.
- ↑ "Soul Khan battle profile". Retrieved 31 January 2013.
http://buzzntheburgh.com/soul-khan-interview/
External links
- Soul Khan on Facebook
- Soul Khan on Twitter
- Soul Khan YouTube Channel
- Soul Khan profile on Rap Grid
- Soul Khan Official Website
- Soul Khan Bandcamp Page