Growing up in Ottawa, Ontario in Canada, Leon was always in love with hiphop music and dancing. He used to come home from elementary school with his brother, and watch RapCity on MuchMusic. He would focus on the videos, memorize all the new moves and mimic them. Leon was always involved in the school talent shows, and exhibited his moves at all the dances – from elementary to high school. As a youth, he had always been an avid listener to hiphop music, and learned songs front to back. When he turned 14, he wrote his first lyrics to Digible Planets - The Blowout Comb, and continued writing verses and songs with his older brother. However, more of his time was spent on creating and perfecting bboy and hiphop moves as it was his first real passion.
Leon didn’t really start taking his dancing and spitting seriously until he moved to Dallas in the summer of 1998. As time and his skills progressed, he started getting into the bboy and hiphop scene more by going to local events and practicing with others – which helped diversify his style. He also started going to clubs and shows at this time – mainly one club, The Lizard Lounge where he met, DJ Love. When it came to hiphop music, Leon focused on his lyrical flavors, manifesting skills drawn from several different mentors. East coast mainly, as that flavor influenced his part of Canada, coupled with the uptempo flavor that he enjoyed dancing to. Lyricists like Canibus, Vinnie Paz, KRS One, Nas, Large Professor, Masta Ace, and MF Doom, fueled his mentality for lyricism and wordplay. Also fathered his delivery and approach.
In 2004, he was approached by DJ Love to do a hiphop track and work on making more music, because he too had the same passion about getting good forms of it out to the people. They started working together on ideas, concepts, and production – which spawned the original idea of The Nova Lab Project. They worked progressively on creating hiphop music – as Leon, also focused on his bboying and dancing. In doing shows and events he gelled with several different scenes and networked with influential people in Dallas and beyond. Also at this time, Leon met with Capital P, as they were both employed by the same company. Both individuals having the same drive and dedication to hiphop and hiphop music, helped spawn Iron Chef Productions. Over time the two worked on the foundation of their styles, created beats, and focused on their sound.
Now, after years of representing hiphop and the forms of the culture in Dallas – Leon has established himself as an experienced, diversely-styled, bboy and dancer. He has performed in all of the major cities in Texas, and has been on a national tour with C & C Productions’, The Body Art Ball, for the past two years. Leon is working on several music projects, with DJ Love and Capital P for their albums and with The Nova Lab Project and other local artists. Upcoming projects included the Iron Chef Mixtape, Kixpo mixtapes, the single "It's Hot" for DJ Love's solo album, and his own solo project slated for release in late 2008/early 2009. Lastly, Leon is a founder of The LIFE Group – a company and team of individuals who are working to change the aid life in Dallas by changing the scope and mentality of nightlife, trends, and events thru their own original ideas, and creative marketing. |
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