Gary Arsenic
Cape Town
Arsenic is a South African Hip-hop producer/beat-maker, sound engineer and entrepreneur, based in Cape Town.
He was first introduced to Hip Hop at the tender of 11 and was immediately drawn to the conscious artform, eagerly devouring all aspects of the culture's elements. He first emerged as an emcee, but due to the need for original beats, began producing his own in 2001.
He had found his calling.
Arsenic's unique style is characterised by an undeniably jazzy sound, contextualised and grounded in his distinct Hip Hop flavour. The evolution of his style consistently keeps heads turning and directly challenges any narrow-minded views of what Hip Hop should sound like.
He has become entrenched as one of Cape Town's sought after Hip Hop producers and has produced beats for a long list of mcees ranging from local Hip Hop heavyweights, to some of Cape Town's most promising newcomers, including, Garlic Brown, Youngsta, ILL-Literate Skillz, Bonzaya,Andy Mkosi, Fungus, Ben Sharpa, Konfab and The Archetypes, just to name a few.
In 2011 Arsenic began performing his beats live with a drum pad and a sampler. Now in 2014 he can proudly say he is one of the only Cape Town hip hop producers to have performed his music live at some of South Africa's most prestigious festivals, including The Cape Town International Jazz Festival (DNA), The Standard Bank Youth Jazz Festival as part of the The Grahamstown Arts Festival (Jitsenic) and The 969 Festival (Jitsenic) at Wits University in Johannesburg.
He is currently working on a number of projects which are at various stages of completion. Some of these projects are a collaboration project with Bonzaya as well as separate one with Andy Mkosi.
He is also working to complete Volume 5 of his Hidden Formulas Mixtape Series. His work with Jitsvinger as Jitsenic is ongoing, as is his work with Youngsta as DNA.
CREWS & COLLABORATIONS
Deurie Naai Alliance(DNA):
In 2011 Arsenic found a unique creative chemistry with Cape Town's golden boy, Youngsta, who at the time was still fairly unknown. The two decided to compile some tracks over a 2 year period and in August 2013 they released an album entitled “Deurie Naai Alliance” or “DNA”, which has also become their crew name when they perform together. They have
performed the DNA material live at various events around Cape Town, most notably the “Cape Town International Jazz Festival” 2014.
The two also had the rare opportunity of opening for the “Party People Reunion” which included the likes of international artists & pioneers like Master Ace, Kev Brown and Bahamadia.
Jitsenic:
Jitsenic is the collaboration of two Cape Flats Hip Hop custodians Jitsvinger (MC, composer) and Arsenic (beat-maker, producer) dabbling in an experimental fusion of eclectic sounds in a futuristic mix of Cape Jazz, Blues, Rock, Swing, Hip Hop and Folk. They recently performed at the 2014 Standard Bank Youth Jazz Festival as part of the The Grahamstown Arts Festival (Jitsenic) as well as the 2014 969 Festival at Wits University in
Johannesburg.
Writers Block & The Maniac Metalloids:
Apart from his solo beatmaking, Arsenic has been involved with Hip Hop crews since the beginning of his career, the first being the eight-member crew, Writers Block who achieved enormous attention both locally and internationally, releasing the Writers Block Compilation in 2005 and The Brainstorm EP in 2006.
He is also one third of a producer-based unit called The Maniac Metalloids, where he is joined by beatmakers Bromine and Selenium. In 2006 they released 'The Metalloid EP.'
OTHER WORK
Aside from beat-making, Arsenic is also a sound engineer. He records, mixes and masters tracks from his production studio, the Metalloid Lab, placing intense focus on the quality of sound that comes out of his lab and has also assisted many artists in developing their careers and overall sound. In 2013 Arsenic teamed up with DJ Ruthy Pearl in an effort to further the vision of the Metalloid Lab and together they started “Metalloid Lab Productions”. In this realm Arsenic is open to working with a variety of musical genres but still maintains a strong focus on hip hop. He welcomes anyone who requires experienced assistance with their music, vocal recordings or post production. Alongside DJ Ruthy Pearl, Darryn Welman, Wesley Wessels, and Chris Gaudy, Arsenic also co-hosts “The Dankish” on Bush Radio 89.5fm every Saturday from 6- 8pm. The concept of the show is to celebrate music that is generally uncelebrated by commercial radio stations. Arsenic contributes mainly to the 1st hour of the show, which is now entirely focused on local hip hop.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/arsenicmusicpage
Twitter: @Arsenicbeats
Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/arsenicbeats
Bandcamp: arsenicbeats.bandcamp.com
Jitsenic: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jitsenic/202529586594762?ref=br_tf
For beats and bookings: arsenicbeats@gmail.com
Metalloid Lab Production Enquiries: metalloidlab@gmail.com
Arsenic Beats’s tracks
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