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Davood Ali Asgari, better known by his stage name Locksmith, is an American rapper from Richmond, California.[1] He is half of the
formerunderground duo The Frontline, which pioneered the "New Bay" resurgence movement in the Bay Area in the 2000s.
Locksmith first gained notoriety outside of the Bay Area as a battle rapper. In 2003, after beating the likes of Mistah FAB and A-Wolf on
radiostation 106.1 KMEL,[11][12] he qualified for and became a contender on MTV's MC Battle joining a pool of 32 contenders, judged by
JustBlaze and Kanye West. Locksmith was the only contender from the We ...read more
Davood Ali Asgari, better known by his stage name Locksmith, is an American rapper from Richmond, California.[1] He is half of the
formerunderground duo The Frontline, which pioneered the "New Bay" resurgence movement in the Bay Area in the 2000s.
Locksmith first gained notoriety outside of the Bay Area as a battle rapper. In 2003, after beating the likes of Mistah FAB and A-Wolf on
radiostation 106.1 KMEL,[11][12] he qualified for and became a contender on MTV's MC Battle joining a pool of 32 contenders, judged by
JustBlaze and Kanye West. Locksmith was the only contender from the West Coast.[3] The event was the first-ever televised battle
raptournament.[13] Locksmith then made it to the "elite eight" live telecast on May 17, judged by Method Man, Ludacris and Kevin Liles.[12]
[14]Despite his strong performance, he finished as the runner-up in the championship final decided by votes by viewers at home. The
pollingnumbers and percentages were never shown. Speaking back on the upset, he states "I was a little surprised, but actually I expected
it.Everybody kinda felt like there was a bias, which there was."[3] Between late 2008 and 2009, he did a series of battles in Grind Time
battlingthe likes of Dizaster, Jonny Storm, Passwurdz and Daylyt.
Locksmith met his childhood friend Left on the basketball court of their junior high school.[2] In 1996, the two formed The Frontline. In
2002,the duo appeared on the Watch Out Now mixtape, along with several other Bay Area rap prospects, one of which was Oakland rapper
Balance.[3] In December 2002, Locksmith and Balance appeared for the entire duration of a Saturday night broadcast of The Wake Up Show
on KMEL,hosted by Sway Calloway, King Tech and DJ Revolution. Astonished by their performances, Sway commented, "These cats don't
sound likeregular Bay Area dudes." To which, Balance responded, "It's a New Bay."[16] Led by The Frontline and Balance at the forefront, the
New Baymovement included The Team, Mistah FAB, The Federation, Certified Ryders, San Quinn, F.E., and Esinchill.[17] It gained further
momentumin 2003 following Locksmith's appearance on MTV's MC Battle in which he shouted out the "New Bay" in front of a nationwide
audience.[17][3]
In February 2004, The Frontline signed a deal with E-A-Ski's label IMG. Between 2002 to 2004, the duo had released three mixtapes.
Theyreleased their debut studio album, Who R You, on October 12, 2004, which peaked at #48 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart.
[18] OnMay 10, 2005, The Frontline released their second studio album, Now You Know, which peaked at #46 on the Independent Albums
chart.[19]In 2007, they released their third and final album, titled Left & Lock, on September 25.
In March 2009, it was announced that Locksmith was working on a solo album titled Frank The Rabbit.[20] It was slated to be
entirelyproduced by E-A-Ski.[21]
It wasn't until he began his solo career in 2010, he started to cultivate a loyal fan base. Locksmith has toured with Joe Budden, Murs, R.A.
theRugged Man, Vinnie Paz of Jedi Mind Tricks and collaborated with producers 9th Wonder and Ski Beatz. Locksmith has been featured on
MTV,BET, Sirius XM's Shade 45, Hot 97's "Who's Next?" concert series and all major hip hop blogs.[22][23][24]
Locksmith released a series of mixtapes from 2010 to 2013. His first official album A Thousand Cuts was released April 15, 2014.
[25]Previously, Locksmith has collaborated with Funk Volume's Hopsin and Jarren Benton, as well as, Futuristic and Apathy. His second
album,Lofty Goals, was released on June 30, 2015.[26] The album features Jarren Benton, Futuristic (rapper), Chris Webby and others.[27]
In March 2015, Locksmith performed at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas.[28]
Locksmith released his 3rd album "Olive Branch" on March 31, 2017. « hide |
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