FEATURED ARTIST OF THE WEEK 2/21/2010 PRESENTS: CONFIGA

This week I am proud to present CONFIGA as my Featured Artist of the week. CONFIGA is from the UK, so NOLA Belle has officially gone international!!!! Configa has a different style that I JUST HAD to add to my blog, very reminiscent of The Gorillaz. So, lets find out more about CONFIGA. Below is his bio, pictures, music links & contact information. Ladies & Gentleman, I present to you CONFIGA...enjoy...and feel free to comment & provide feedback.  

***Who Is He?

UK based Configa A.K.A Andrew Laidlaw first got into hip hop in 1988 via the sounds of The Native Tongues.  As a young teenager Laidlaw saw his future as lying in radio, and even had his own hip hop show on a local unlicensed station, but ultimately the draw of the mic proved too great and he started writing his own rhymes at the age of 16 under the pseudonym ‘M.C. Unique’. Early ventures included making mix tapes that were sold and distributed on the local streets, freestyle battles and exploiting musical avenues through the relatively new medium of the Internet.  As a noted battle rapper, Laidlaw decided to build upon his buzz and release his debut album entitled ‘Baptizm Of Fire’ in 2000. Aside from mic duties the album was also self-produced/mixed/manufactured and financed by Laidlaw himself.  The album notably featured a collaboration with B. Down the owner of LA based ‘Rap Junkie Records’ who signed Laidlaw to his fledgling independent label in 2001. Laidlaw (as ‘M.C. Unique’) featured on two mix tapes on the LA label (Independent Game 1 (2001) and Independent Game  (2002) and released his second album ‘The King Of Linguistics’ in 2002 also through ‘Rap Junkie Records’, this album again being mainly self produced by Laidlaw himself. The album garnered favourable reviews and received solid exposure including a mention on MTV.com alongside the ‘8 Mile’ Soundtrack and Christina Aguilera on its release date and was subject to European and US wide distribution. Following the promotion of the album, in 2003 Laidlaw decided to take a back seat on mic duties and rebrand himself ‘Configa’ where he has focused on production work since. In 2004 Configa formed, along with Wargasms, Arsenal and C-Gully, the crew ‘Slept On Fam’. The album ‘Audio Crack’ was released in 2006 to critical acclaim. Rapreviews.com asked the rhetorical question “What makes Configa so good?” and heralded his “splendiferous sonic scenery”; music Insider Gian Fiero stated “It's not often that I get a group Rap project that embodies this much personality, influence, and talent”; ukhh.com exclaimed that “Configa serves up the production crack for those audio canals” and Blues & Soul magazine pinpointed “Configa’s stirring production”. To coincide with these rave reviews the accolades started pouring in, culminated by Slept On Fam in 2007 winning ‘Group of The Year’ at the second annual Get ‘Em Magazine music awards in Florida (hosted by the legendary boxer Roy Jones Jr), beating such luminaries as recent Oscar winners Three 6 Mafia. More recently Configa has begun work on his solo album entitled "Inside The Echo Chamber” which will be entirely produced by Configa himself with a host of different MC’s guesting on the tracks. The album is set for release early 2011.

***The Music

"Green Power" by Slept On Fam (produced by Configa)

http://www.zshare.net/audio/728548108b8d31aa/

"The Way They Do My Life" by Slept On Fam (produced by Configa)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/7285500906340f94/

Configa featuring Floriginul "Hot Off Da Press"
http://configa.com/track/hot-off-da-press-configa-ft-floriginul
Taken from Configa's forthcoming album "Inside The Echo Chamber"

 

***Where Can You Hear & Find Out More?

Main Site: http://configa.com

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/Configa

Email: configa@gmail.com

 

  

Thank you very much Configa for letting me share your talent & music with the world. I look forward to watching your talent & career go further in the industry.  Congratulations & keep up the good work.