Ohmega Watts
Encyclopedia
Ohmega Watts, real name Milton Campbell, is a hip hop
producer and vocalist from Brooklyn, New York. He releases music under the name Ohmega Watts and as a part of the Lightheaded crew.
He grew up listening to many types of music including reggae
, backwoods hillbilly country
, calypso
, soca
, death metal
, 80's pop and hip-hop, but only started to take a serious interest in music when he was around 11 years old. He gravitated towards hip-hop, listening to "Golden Age
" artists including Run DMC, LL Cool J
, Big Daddy Kane
, Dana Dane
, BDP
, Eric B. and Rakim
, Pete Rock
and C.L. Smooth and Gangstarr, but the artists who influenced him the most were artists in the Native Tongues Posse
, such as A Tribe Called Quest
, Jungle Brothers
, De La Soul
, and Black Sheep
.
Ohmega Watts' first release was “A Request”, a soulful and DJ-friendly solo 12” featuring his group Lightheaded and Quannum Recording Artists The Lifesavas. “A Request” received praise from respected DJs, including Mr. Scruff, Gilles Peterson, Greyboy, and the Los Angeles-based Heavyweight Record Pool. Ohmega Watts' sound was compared to Digital Underground drunkenly colliding with Pete Rock at a high rate of speed.
A record deal with Ubiquity Records
was signed shortly after this first release. Ohmega Watts' first solo album, "The Find", was released on Ubiquity in 2005.
Producing since 1997 and MCing since 1993 the Ohmega Watts resume includes tracks produced for Mars Ill on Ill Boogie, for Listener on Mush, plus he’s recorded as Lightheaded for Day By Day Ent, and as Return To Sender on the Piece of The Action compilation. Hailing from Flatbush, Brooklyn, brought up by Jamaican parents Campbell moved to Florida for college and then settled in Portland, Oregon. He is now part of a bustling Northwest independent scene that includes the Lifesavas (who appeared on his debut single), Boom Bap, Soul Plasma, DJ and MC MungXXXtreme, Libretto, Lightheaded and The Blacknotes.
In 2005 MC and producer Milton Campbell aka Ohmega Watts will come correct with organic and energetic hip hop, funk and soul on his debut album “The Find”. The Find refers to both musical and personal inspiration, as well as a time where he was walking through the city and came across a one dollar bill, and track themes span from crate diggin’ dreams and musical reminiscing, social commentary and spiritually charged story telling all the way to the far out extremes of experimental fusion emo glam butt rock. Inspired as much by hip hop legends like Eric B & Rakim and Premier as contemporary electronic producers like RJD2 and Fallout Boy
, and old school experimentalists like Shuggie Otis, The Find pushes current industry-standard boundaries. “Sick of the monotony; we got the remedy; Magic had AIDS; but money made him healthy” he declares in “Long Ago.” Most of the music is played live and re-sampled by Watts and a cast of supporting musicians - there are no loops or played-out samples and within tunes he often switches beats up moving from one musical vibe into another.
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
producer and vocalist from Brooklyn, New York. He releases music under the name Ohmega Watts and as a part of the Lightheaded crew.
Biography
Campbell was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, by West Indian Parents from the Island of Jamaica. He lived in Brooklyn 8 years before moving to Laurelton, Queens, NY.He grew up listening to many types of music including reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, backwoods hillbilly country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, calypso
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
, soca
Soca music
Soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a musical development of traditional Trinidadian calypso, through loans from the 1960s onwards from predominantly black popular music....
, death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
, 80's pop and hip-hop, but only started to take a serious interest in music when he was around 11 years old. He gravitated towards hip-hop, listening to "Golden Age
Golden age hip hop
Hip hop's "golden age" is a name given to a period in mainstream hip hop—usually cited as being a period varying in time frames during the 1980s and 1990s said to be characterized by its diversity, quality, innovation and influence. There were strong themes of Afrocentricity and political...
" artists including Run DMC, LL Cool J
LL Cool J
James Todd Smith , better known as LL Cool J , is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and actor...
, Big Daddy Kane
Big Daddy Kane
Antonio Hardy better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MC's in Hip Hop...
, Dana Dane
Dana Dane
Dana McLeese, better known by his stage name Dana Dane, is an American hip hop recording artist known for performance of humorous lyrics and for his fashion sense.-Early life:...
, BDP
BDP
BDP may refer to:* Bank Deposit Program* Bandwidth-delay product* Beclometasone dipropionate* Blu-ray Disc Player* Boogie Down Productions, hip hop group* Brain Dead Psycho * Building Design Partnership, UK architects....
, Eric B. and Rakim
Rakim
William Michael Griffin Jr. , known by his stage names Rakim , Rakim Allah, R.A.K.I.M., and The Master, is an American rapper. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and most skilled emcees of all time. Eric B...
, Pete Rock
Pete Rock
Peter Phillips , better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapper. He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth...
and C.L. Smooth and Gangstarr, but the artists who influenced him the most were artists in the Native Tongues Posse
Native Tongues Posse
The Native Tongues is a collective of late 1980s and early 1990s hip-hop artists known for their positive-minded, good-natured Afrocentric lyrics, and for pioneering the use of eclectic sampling and later jazz-influenced beats. Its principal members are the Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, and A Tribe...
, such as A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985, and is composed of rapper/producer Q-Tip , rapper Phife Dawg , and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but rejoined in 2006...
, Jungle Brothers
Jungle Brothers
The Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop group that pioneered the fusion of jazz and hip-hop and also became the first hip-hop group to use a house-music producer. The group began performing in the mid-1980s and released its first album, Straight Out the Jungle, in July 1988...
, De La Soul
De La Soul
De La Soul is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987 on Long Island, New York. The band is best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres...
, and Black Sheep
Black sheep
In the English language, black sheep is an idiom used to describe an odd or disreputable member of a group, especially within a family. The term has typically been given negative implications, implying waywardness...
.
Ohmega Watts' first release was “A Request”, a soulful and DJ-friendly solo 12” featuring his group Lightheaded and Quannum Recording Artists The Lifesavas. “A Request” received praise from respected DJs, including Mr. Scruff, Gilles Peterson, Greyboy, and the Los Angeles-based Heavyweight Record Pool. Ohmega Watts' sound was compared to Digital Underground drunkenly colliding with Pete Rock at a high rate of speed.
A record deal with Ubiquity Records
Ubiquity Records
Ubiquity Records is an American music label that focuses on funk, rare groove, soul, and hip hop and other musical genres. It is located in Costa Mesa, California and has a satellite office based in San Francisco, California...
was signed shortly after this first release. Ohmega Watts' first solo album, "The Find", was released on Ubiquity in 2005.
Producing since 1997 and MCing since 1993 the Ohmega Watts resume includes tracks produced for Mars Ill on Ill Boogie, for Listener on Mush, plus he’s recorded as Lightheaded for Day By Day Ent, and as Return To Sender on the Piece of The Action compilation. Hailing from Flatbush, Brooklyn, brought up by Jamaican parents Campbell moved to Florida for college and then settled in Portland, Oregon. He is now part of a bustling Northwest independent scene that includes the Lifesavas (who appeared on his debut single), Boom Bap, Soul Plasma, DJ and MC MungXXXtreme, Libretto, Lightheaded and The Blacknotes.
In 2005 MC and producer Milton Campbell aka Ohmega Watts will come correct with organic and energetic hip hop, funk and soul on his debut album “The Find”. The Find refers to both musical and personal inspiration, as well as a time where he was walking through the city and came across a one dollar bill, and track themes span from crate diggin’ dreams and musical reminiscing, social commentary and spiritually charged story telling all the way to the far out extremes of experimental fusion emo glam butt rock. Inspired as much by hip hop legends like Eric B & Rakim and Premier as contemporary electronic producers like RJD2 and Fallout Boy
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of vocalist, guitarist and composer Patrick Stump, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band released five studio albums from 2003–2008...
, and old school experimentalists like Shuggie Otis, The Find pushes current industry-standard boundaries. “Sick of the monotony; we got the remedy; Magic had AIDS; but money made him healthy” he declares in “Long Ago.” Most of the music is played live and re-sampled by Watts and a cast of supporting musicians - there are no loops or played-out samples and within tunes he often switches beats up moving from one musical vibe into another.
LPs
- The FindThe FindThe Find is the first full-length album by hip-hop artist Ohmega Watts. It was released in 2005 on Ubiquity Records.-Track listing:#"Introducing"#"Where It All Started" feat. DJ DNA#"That Sound" feat. Lightheaded, The Procussions, & Noell...
(2005, Ubiquity RecordsUbiquity RecordsUbiquity Records is an American music label that focuses on funk, rare groove, soul, and hip hop and other musical genres. It is located in Costa Mesa, California and has a satellite office based in San Francisco, California...
) - Watts HappeningWatts HappeningWatts Happening is rap artist Ohmega Watts' second album released on October 9, 2007.-Track listing:# What's It Worth# Triple Double # No Delay # Shorty Shouts# Model Citizen...
(2007, Ubiquity RecordsUbiquity RecordsUbiquity Records is an American music label that focuses on funk, rare groove, soul, and hip hop and other musical genres. It is located in Costa Mesa, California and has a satellite office based in San Francisco, California...
)