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Mr. Hill of Oldominion

A fixture of the Pacific Northwest’s emergent hip hop scene since the mid-90’s, Mr. Hill (nee Todd Gumke, of the region’s dominant crew, Oldominion) built a name for himself as an innovative, prolific deejay/producer the old-fashioned way: a tireless grind tempered by a true love for the work he does & the music he creates. What began at an early age as an avid appreciation for music of all genres bred a more specific passion for hip hop music after years shuttling back and forth between his home in Washington and his father’s house in the Bay Area. An ever-growing record collection led him to purchase his first set of turntables and in 1994, Hill tried his hand at deejaying and was hooked; by 1995, he was working as a deejay on the pirate radio station FUCC 89.1 with Putney Swope on their two-hour show, Hip Hop Drunkies.

It is Swope who first introduced Hill to the world of beat making when, in 1997, Swope acquired a Dr. Boss sampler and later an MPC 2000 (Swope & Hill would go on to form the now defunct production crew, Chapter 29, alongside DJ Kashun). He quickly became an addict, soon investing in his own arsenal of samplers & beat machines and in 1999 “Investigation Zero” off of Footprints’ Operation Raw went down in Seattle hip hop history as the first track to feature “production by Mr. Hill” in its credits.

Since then Hill has become independent hip hop’s ace in the hole, lending his considerable talents & signature sound to projects by notable Northwest acts Grayskul (Rhymesayers), Boom Bap Project (Rhymesayers), Cancer Rising, Onry Ozzborn, Sirens Echo, Myg, & Silent Lambs Project, as well as national artists Kool Keith, Canibus, Busdriver, Abstract Rude, Sonspot Jonz, & Casual. 2008 finds him working on tracks for forthcoming solo efforts by Oldominion’s JFK, Destro, Onry Ozzborn, & Candidt, as well as the follow-up to the Niteowls’s (Hill’s group with Barfly of Oldominion and Gatsby of Cancer Rising) 2007 self-titled release.

For a complete discography go to: www.myspace.com/mrhill

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Vinroc aka Vincent Punsalan, 28 started his career in music at the age of 10. He discovered his passion for music through djing. Growing up across the river from Manhattan in Jersey City, he was influenced by the melting pot of music that New York city had to offer. Hip Hop, House, Reggae Dancehall and everything else in between, A former two time world champion DJ and a producer, DJ Vinroc relocated to the west coast in 1997 to the Bay Area. Based on the west coast He began working with and performing with some of the most celebrated djs in the music industry: tour dates alongside DJ Z-trip, The Beat Junkies, Kid Kapri, DJ Qbert and Mix Master Mike just to name a few. He has even had the privilege to speak on a DJ panel at a hip hop summit with the late Jam Master Jay and flanked by Afrika Bambaataa! He has also been featured in numerous publications including urb magazine, the Source, XXL, the cover of DJ times, and rolling stones throughout his career.

Vinroc represents two DJ super groups on each coast:5th Platoon from New York City and the Triple Threat DJs from the Bay Area, whose member includes celebrated Mixtape DJ Neil Armstrong as well as Former ISP member DJ Shortkut .

Currently Vinroc is focusing on music production and has had the privilege to do remixes and music for Talib Kweli, Black Thought of The Roots, Bay area soul siren Goapele, and Souls of Mischief. True to the Bay area's independent musical spirit, Vinroc runs his own distribution and promotion of his own projects all available at www.bsiderecordshop.com and numerous other locations.

Vinroc's current projects include a instrumental Album called "Ethni-Cali: Music inspired by California", as well as new music from various artists that he works with. He works out of a studio In Oakland not far from his home in a secret location somewhere in the East Bay Hills.

DNAE BEATS is a ridiculously dope producer from San Francisco. He specializes in the art of making the blap. His production credits include Gift of Gab of Blackalicious, Fuel Tv, San Quinn, Mr.Lif, Universal Records, Sprite, Lateef The Truthspeaker, Kaz Kyzah of The Team, Pigeon John, Z-Man, Azeem, Quannum Projects, Nightclubberlang of Boom Bap Project/Rhymesayers, M.F. Grimm Existereo, Akuma & Liferexall of The Shapeshifters, Repoman, Ellay Khule of Project Blowed, Thunderhut, Writers Block Of The Visionaries, Otherwize, Okwerdz, Conceit, Boac, Eddie K, Enzyme, Dave Dub have all used my beats. DNAE is currently producing Gift of Gab’s upcoming release “Escape 2 Mars” as well Conceit’s new album, “Last Of The Scohican” & Z-Man’s “Six Pack Of Dynamite”
Check out more of DNAE Beats:
http://www.myspace.com/dnae
dnaebeats.blogspot.com