Kashmere

b. Obiesie Adibuah, 22 January 1980, London, England. Kashmere came blasting into the psyche of the UK hip-hop fraternity in 2002 with his EP Raw Styles, released under the Iguana Man moniker on Receptor Records. The track had a lo-fi dirty delivery much like the US group Gravediggaz, and gained much airplay on London’s many pirate radio stations. Mixing with critically acclaimed hip-hop producers Braintax, Mr. Thing, and Breakin’ Bread helped Kashmere to hone his production skills. This culminated with the release of his 2004 debut album, Technical Illness/Back Hand Slap Talk, on Low Life Records. The album was produced by Braintax, and had his signature raw style akin to a live mix, with the scratching on the album executed to perfection by Mr. Thing, and additional beats performed by Kashmere and Ghost giving it a truly home-grown sound. The album was also released as an instrumental album later in 2004, with Kashmere, and Verb. T taking care of one disc each. Kashmere spent the next two years releasing his own records, but also appearing on releases by the High Plains Music, Breakin’ Bread and Hip Hop Connection Magazine labels. It was in 2005 and 2006 that his lyric writing turned to the dark side, with an occult-based flavour that surfaced on In The Hour Of Chaos. The use of sound clips from the movie The Omen, biblical imagery and samples of hymns gave the album a haunting and slightly disturbing tone.