|
4T4's been deejaying, producing, and simply active as a musical artist since 1987. That's right, people have been paying him for playing records for 20 years now...
His first platform was hiphopmusic, which was of course a much more open style in those days and as a crossbreed included house, funk and whatnot. It all really started for him after the Beasties and Run-DMC came to town in '85... In 1996 he released his first record, "Do you believe in Magick?", under the name of Magik Ballet Ensemble, which, along with its successor "What do you mean", gained him critical acclaim, but the greater succes only came with 't Hof van Commerce, a hiphopgroup rapping in flemish, together with mc's Serge Buyse and Flip Kowlier. They have scored big with 4 albums and a number of singles since then, with sales and succes topping some of the biggest pop/rockbands in Belgium.
Around the year 2000 the interest in dancemusic took the upperhand over the hiphop-oriented occupations, with the exception of the activities with 't Hof, of course. This manifested itself in two ways: as a deejay he would choose a more specific direction and personality and he founded Ultrasonic (7), a soulful danceproject featuring vocalists Tom Derie and Nia Saw which scored hugely on a national level with the hit "Lips They Move" in 2003 and a couple of other smaller hit records. The group was 8 strong on stage, with very memorable sets on some of the biggest festivals in Belgium.
Come 2005, the whole Ultrasonic-thing had grown over 4T4's head and distantiated itself much too far from his original ideas and intentions, so this group was buried despite (or maybe according to) its succes. Work on the very first real 4T4-record, "Fortification", started, come what may. Back to basics...
|