Matlock

After making a name for himself in the Chicago underground hip-hop scene during the late 90’s, Matlock’s music found its way to the airwaves when Kevin Beacham played it on the “Time Travel Show” on local college radio station WNUR, where he soon became a regular. Matlock began performing all over Chicago, and independently released Crazy Artist Type (on cassette) in 1999 and Paradise Lost in 2001. He caught the attention of many more established local acts such as All Natural, battle legend JUICE (1997 Scribble Jam Emcee Battle Champion- defeated Eminem) and Chicago hip-hop pioneer E.C. Illa, who he worked with on an unreleased song “Strugglin” produced by Kanye West, right before Mr. West’s rise to super stardom. After years of paying dues and bad business experiences, Matlock later signed with Chi-Town independent label Gravel Records and dropped the auto-biographical vinyl single, "Moonshine" b/w "Don't Sleep" & "Pignose" featuring the legendary R.A. the Rugged Man to critical acclaim. UndergroundHipHop.com CEO Quest said it might be the best 12-inch of 2006, and "Moonshine" is voted #2 in the best records of the year on WMSE's Late Night Hype Show. The Moonshine LP is released in 2007 (featuring a tuxedo-clad Matlock on the album cover), and it debuts at #8 on the UGHH.com best-seller list. The album features PaceWon (Ousidaz, Redman "Malpractice", Fugees "The Score"), Kaz One on production as well as DJ Babu (Dilated Peoples/World-Famous Beat Junkies) on Matlock's ode to those who came before him entitled "This Music", where he rattles off a laundry list of musical influences ranging from Lord Finesse to Neil Young. The album receives great press in publications such as XLR8R & SCRATCH Magazines. OkayPlayer reviews Moonshine and gives it 4 afros and Matlock is featured on URB Magazine's NEXT 1000 emerging artists. He performs at the 2008 SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas and begins promoting his mixtape, "Matlock Hates You" and his new label, FLY PIG. With “Moonshine” and “This Music” becoming recognized as bonafide underground hip-hop classics, Matlock began writing and recording a new project, “2707”, a concept album based on the section 8 apartment building he grew up in. The first single and video from the record “Brand New Nikes” (produced by Mr. Green), was an instant hit on hip-hop blogs, and also caught the ear of Matlock’s old friend and graffiti writer turned video game icon, H3CZ who turned his thousands of YouTube followers on to the song. The video for “Brand New Nikes” (shot by Albert Downing) was soon racking up hundreds of thousands of views in a matter of months, gaining Matlock a whole new younger audience from around the globe in addition to the true hip-hop heads that have followed him already for years. With a strong buzz growing from the strength of the single, the 2707 LP is released in January of 2011 and is praised by rap fans and the media alike. RapReviews.com gave it Review of the Month and begs the question: “Matlock as an MC is extremely good…why on earth is he still so relatively unheard of?”. The album showcases his talents as a well-rounded lyricist and a very serious song-writer over diverse yet cohesive production by Mr. Green, Kaz One, Chicago native Prolyfic (who produced Lupe Fiasco’s song “Pressure” featuring Jay-Z) among others. A string of videos from the album follow, including “Bright Sunny Day”, “God vs. Money” & “Knife & Fork”) and more people are starting to take notice. Matlock is nominated for Chicago indy artist of the year by the Chicago Tribune & MetroMix.com (the only hip-hop act nominated), and plays the Hard Rock Café in downtown Chicago for record execs from Capital and other labels who were blown away by his stage performance. With a hot album out, growing popularity and 100% independent mind state, Matlock starts booking his own shows around Chicago, mainly at the venue Subterranean in the city’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Month after month the crowd grew and after a few shows, the venue was asking him back to open for such national touring acts as Jedi Mind Tricks and People Under the Stairs to packed audiences. In an otherwise dying hip-hop scene in Chicago (also known as “Haterville”), Matlock’s following was growing by the day and he soon became determined to fill the venue himself without the help of a big-name national group to headline. That determination would pay off later that year, when he called on Chicago hip-hop all-stars to perform at a show called “The Great Chicago Fire”. The night featured incredible performances from the city’s best artists in front of a sold out crowd and was said to have resurrected the scene.