MG! The Visionary

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Martin George Brazier, Jr. (born September 26, 1973),^[1] who goes by the stage name MG! The Visionary (shortly known simply as Visionary), is an underground hip hop artist who was a member of New Life Crew, known from 1993-1996 as Third Nail Productions (or 3NP!), considered by many to be a founding member of the Christian hip hop community. He was the mind behind the original concept and inception of Uprok Records, a hip-hop division of Seattle based Tooth and Nail Records. Unfortunately as many of the great musicians of their time have found, the "business" of music has its own way of getting in the way of the music itself. As Uprok continued to go a completely different direction from the original intention MG! began to distance himself and eventually parted ways with the label, relieved to see the eventually folding of Uprok, his idea, as it had lost sight of the original purpose and strayed so far.

MG! writes all original music and lyrics and produces most of his own content and is now independently releasing albums. With his first solo album on Uprok, he worked with the every legendary Pigeon John, World famous Beat Junkey DJ Melo D, and also singer-songwriter/guitarist Pauly Paul.^[2] He also produced and recorded the project Sinner's Prayer released in 2000, which is the first full length praise hip hop album ever released,^[3] and contains other artists such as Mars Ill and Playdough, Othello, and MO, just to name a few.

It's been said that MG stands "Man of God", which is true to be certain. But it is actually the first 2 initials of the artist's given name. As the story goes, MG! had no desire to come up with some witty or poignant reference to whatever movie or scripture or book or ANYTHING so many rappers had subsequently drawn from in the early 90's. Instead, he felt his first 2 initials were good enough - M being for Martin and G for George; the very same letters donned on the back of his letterman's jacket reading "The MG!". MG! had always desired to allow the people to label him as opposed to labeling himself and has stood by this same principle throughout his career. Strangely enough, at the first show his original rap duo 3NP! (Third Nail Productions) headlined, MG! was approached after the show by - of all people - a young concert goer no more than 11yrs of age. The child asked him quite excitedly, "Does MG! stand for man of God?". Little did the child know, his question would became a hallmark in MG!'s career as he had now finally found his name/tag. And thus, out of the mouth of babes...

Years later, a fellow musician and friend - by the name of Dwight "Dewey" Bennett - would challenge MG! on the grounds of MG!'s forward thinking lyrics and progressive musical direction that, truly, MG! was a visionary and should add such a title to his name. Feeling it all had quite a profound meaning and the undertones of a movement which begun in his heart long ago, MG! did add The Visionary to his moniker and thus...you get MG! the Visionary: part childlike innocence and part dramatic revolutionary.

For a period of time it has been noted the artist had been, briefly, also referred to simply as The Visionary but make no mistake...he is still MG! the Visionary.^[3][4] Visionary has cited "Charlie Peacock, KRS-1, Queen, Seattle music scene, The Roots, U2" as being strong influences^[5] and has a unique hip-hop sound. He plays guitar and sometimes has a live drummer on stage, but he always tries to involve the crowd in his shows. He grew up in Seattle, but has lived in various placed across the country, most recently Cleveland, OH.^[6]

The Visionary is widely known for his big rhythm, crazy antics while on tour, and heavily animated musical arrangements but can also be heard singing and incorporates many melodic elements to his music. He is an avid producer and audio engineer and has been producing for other artist for years. He now runs his own studio (Reign Room Studios) in Federal Way Washington where he produces original music as well as covers and any other project he can get his hands on. He also licenses music through several licensing houses. His music has been used in conjunction with entities and companies such as: Adidas, Tony Hawk, the Super Bowl, A&B Fitch, AMC Movie Classics, YouTube, and a plethora of companies both large and small worldwide. Through his brief modeling career MG!'s face is seen all over the world from Japan to Germany, from Verizon to Apple and everywhere in between. He has been married and divorced twice, eats food, breathes air, loves God and loves his children. And strangely enough, this was written before he was even divorced twice. Life is stranger than fiction...this much is true!

Discography

• Transparemcee (2000, Uprok Records)
• That cru (single) (2001, Uprok Records)
• LifeMusic : Bob's Place (Tour Edition) (2004, Dramatik Records)
• LifeMusic : Bob's Place Volume 1(2006, Modurn Languaj Asosiashun Records)
• LifeMusic 2 : Journey2TheCenterOfSelf (2008, Independent')

Produced

• Sinner's Prayer (2000, Uprok Records)

References