Overlord X
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Overlord X (real name BJ Balogun, born in Hackney) was one of the earliest British hip hop artists to receive national acclaim in the UK, with his most well known song still being his second single release, 14 Days in May (Westside Records, 1988) about Edward Earl Johnson. He worked with DJ Sir Preme T as well as other members of the "X Posse", and now works under the name BJ. He runs the music and creative production company MO-Am Masters.
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[edit] History
Overlord X first began rapping at the age of 14, before which he practised DJing - something which helped him in his later career to produce and record his own music for his songs. He first came to attention on one of John Peel's sessions, with three tracks recorded on 24 November 1988. He returned to the show on 02 August 1988, by now having joined Sir Preme T to record four further tracks.
Overlord X's first release was the song Let There Be Rock on the first of the legendary Hard as Hell compilations in 1989. This was followed by his break-through single, 14 Days in May (Westside, 1989) where he raged against capital punishment and in particular the case of Edward Earl Johnson, who was executed on the grounds of a confession that he claimed was made under duress.
The record was a great success, and brought X to the attention of Mango Records, who promtly signed him to record some singles. and an album as the X Posse, featuring many other artists who were part of Overlord X's crew. The album, Project X (Mango, 1989), introduced a new generation of rappers to the UK audience, but none ever gain the same success as their mentor.
This album was quickly followed by X's solo debut album. However, at the time Westside Records refused to grant permission for 14 Days in May to be used on the album, and so X had to record a sequel instead, called 14 Days in Hell. The album, Weapon Is My Lyric (Mango, 1989), pioneered a new British hip hop, laying a blue print for a rock influenced hardcore style that was to dominate the scene for many years.
The album's success led to some strange ventures: one of the tracks, Visa To Rock, was re-recorded by Overlord X with new lyrics relating to chess for a BBC documentary about the game fronted by a young Stephen Fry. A clip of the documentary, featuring Overlord X's re-recorded tune, was shown when Fry was a guest on Jonathan Ross' BBC chat show in 2005. His success also led to a long running feud with fellow rapper MC Duke, which culminated in X recording the diss tune Die Hard about the rapper on his You Oughta Get Rushed (Mango, 1990) single.
That single was taken from the follow up album X Versus the World (Mango, 1990) which features a distinctive cover and comic strip story by artist Joe Jusko. The album also gave prominence to X's alter egos, Sidekick and Lord V/Lord Vader - Sidekick was X with the pitch of his voice turned higher, and Lord V was him with the pitch turned down. The album was a critical and scene success, and Overlord X was working on a third album - Master of Menace (Unreleased) when he decided he didn't like the way the scene was heading, and left his record company.
[edit] Recent career
Working under the name Tim Shade (and sometimes BJ), Overlord X formed the boy band Benz, who released singles between 1995 and 1997. This led to trouble with Mercedes-Benz, who accused the group of attempting to infringe their trademark when they attempted to register a dissimilar trademark that used the name Benz. In 2000, the courts decided against the Mercedes Benz objection, and the company were forced to pay £935 [1].
[edit] Benz
Benz released a number of records on the Hacktown Records (a sub-label of BMG group) and Hendricks Records record labels including the top 40 hits "Urban City Girl", "Miss Parker" as well as the record that described their sound "Boom Rock Soul".
Band Members
- Tim Shade
- BIG Ben
- Darkboy
Management and Music /writer/Producer
He started producing in1998 working with small unsigned acts.. One of the acts BJ worked with was called cherise and she went on to win the mobos best unsigned award with a track he produced called 2nd Best .that led her to sign an album deal with WEA/eastwest records. Bj aty this time was orking with a keyboardist/ engineer that was a prodcer in he's own right and joined forces with micheal scherchen and the duo combined a production force called BJ Mike soul and prouced numerous tracks together for 3 years. 1ust before that time l, Bj put together the girl group Tommi, who released the single Like What which got to number 11 in the national charts. (Sony, 2003) The band is still going with original members Bambi and Peekaboo minus 3 members and a new member called juice . A solo singer called Flick has also joined the group which is now known as F.A.T (flick and Tommi) Overlord X still works as a music producer but works alone He music credited with writing, producing and remixing a number of songs for artists such as Big Brovaz, Martine MCcutheon, Craig David, Peter Andre, Michelle Gayle, Beverly knight, Aron Soul, He went on to sign with Zomba publishing and creating he's own musc publishing company MO-AM Music.
MO-AM Masters Company TV and Video Director
2004 Overlord X now known to many as simply BJ made a drastic turn in he's career by stepping out the music scene and intering into `The world of video, Tv and film. He created an an umbrella company called MO-AM Masters. which now houses MO-AM Music, MO-AM Models, MO-AM Creatice studios, Kikalomy Graphics and RIMZ TV. Bj Worked har solidly for the next 3 years homing in on he's creative skills directing 52 lowbudget videos, 3 adverts, 2 shorts andd one feature length film as well as editing, motion graphics, lighting and 3D modelling.
Novemeber 2006 Bj got approached by a small broadcaster on sky called Sumo TV to create an entertainment show for Unsigned musicians.
Bj produced and directed 6 shows called Sumo unsigned which was aired 2007. It was presented by Peeks which is one of the girls from TOMMI
During 2007 Bj started working with the metropolitan Police on a number of documentaries with a Government funed charity called WCEN.
Later 2007 BJ came up with an idea forn a TV show and pitched the idea to Sumo called 'Rimz' about the modified car scene. Sumo Loved the idea and commissined Bj to make 12 shows. The show is currently on air on Sumo TV channel 144 on sky.
At present Bj is developing a cartoon for a comic to be launched in 2008 and will further develop into an animation.
Bj
[edit] Discography
Overlord X:
- Weapon Is My Lyric (Mango, 1989)
- X Versus the World (Mango, 1990)
With X-Posse:
- Project X (Mango, 1988)
