Thug Life Army

Those forced to witness the West Coast rap elite fade into obscurity breathed a collective sigh of relief when a young, ambitious emcee named Balance took ‘up the torch of hit-making in the Bay Area. A student of the glory days of hip—hop, the rap artist says “I came up during a period where you couldn’t say you rhymed unless you earned your stripes battling” says Balance.

As battling helped him gain notoriety, he knew he had to break himself into the Bay Area’s independent hip-hop scene. His first opportunity was with Sacramento rap legend Brotha Lynch Hung’s compilation, First Degree the D.E. (1999) on the track “I Told The Nigga.” Other compilations in the Sacramento area soon followed with Msane (1999) and Leaving The Life (2000).

A huge fan of the New York mixtape scene, Balance found someone in the Bay Area looking to break new talent, DJ T­ski. His reputation as a sick freestyle artist allowed him to work with DJ’s in other regions like veterans DJ Whoo Kid, DJ Viad, DJ Clinton Sparks, DJ Absolut, and DJ Kool Kid. The intense buzz on the street soon took to the airwaves with Balance providing drop~ for Bay A~ea radio station 106.1 KMEL’s on-air personalities/DJs Chuy Gomez, Mind Motion, Sana G, Rob and Rick Lee.

His exposure would reach a national level with his contribution to the World Famous Wake Up Show intro song. The show, hosted by MTV’s Sway, King Tech and DJ Revolution has long been recognized for revolutionizing hip—hop radio and for breaking new artists. On one particular guest appearance Balance along with members of fellow Bay Area group, Frontline, were featured for an entire show and ripped the performance causing Sway to comment, “These cats don’t sound like regular Bay Area dudes.” And Balance replied, “It’s a New Bay.

Now poised to release “Young and Restless,” Balance is eager to follow in the footsteps of the Bay Area hip-hop, rap and other greats who came before him such as Sly & The Family Stone, Con-Funk­Shun, Metallica, Green Day, Too Short, E-40, Toni Tone Tony, Hieroglyphics, Digital Underground and many more, as well as continuing to dictate what’s next for the Bay Area. With the first single “Gotta Get It” already creating buzz,

Balance ‘Young and Restless’ drops January 24^th.

Visit Balance at his web site for more information - http://www.balanceskillz.com