Bio
On his new record, Sabotage Gigante, Rob Sonic returns with a progressive hip-hop sound that is rooted in classic, Bronx boom-bap. The album is full of head nodding beats and mind spinning lyrics, if you listen deeper you can hear the voice of the pill swallowed and rejected. Robs experiences have taught him how to handle his weapons of choice, his beats and rhymes, with a cold accuracy. Aimed at the over commercialized, under scrutinized world of the Disney brand Times Square. The record was made with the hope that it would speak to the prepared and disconnected. And that it would remind it’s listeners to bang as loudly as possible, on as much shit as possible, whenever possible.
Born in DC, and raised in the surrounding suburbs, Rob Sonic was brought into the world by parents whose great love of music was equaled by their troubling love of drinking and gambling. His childhood was filled with music, arguing, violence and visits to the hospital. As Rob began to spend more time at the psychiatrists office than at school, he developed a cynical dry wit to deal with isolation from his peers as well as the members of his family. Rob’s taste for the raw music of Hip Hop, Punk, and the culture of graffiti was a direct extension of his rebellion. These cultural expressions struck a deep chord with the troubled young boy.
Rob Sonic started rapping in Junior High School, during what were, and are, considered the most creative years of hip-hops infancy. It was at this time that Rob surrounded himself with the music and the culture of his greatest influences, many of which are considered the most important rappers of all times. Among others, they include Kraftwerk, The Soul Sonic force, Grand Master Melle Mel, David Bowie, Grand Master Flash, The Beatles, The Treacherous 3, Led Zepplin, Mantronix, The Clash, Run DMC, The Ramones. And, as Rob continued expanding his musical vocabulary he discovered BDP, Rakim, EPMD, and Public Enemy. Rob Sonic spent the best parts of his youth visiting New York City, or “running away" to stay with various relatives all over the city. And, when he was finally out of high school, he made it his home in 1992 to further pursue his music.
He arrived in The Bronx with exactly $232 to his name and soon got a job as a courier in Manhattan. He spent the time honing his MC skills, battling and ciphering on street corners, and making frequent stops for beer and nickel bags while on delivery assignments. After toiling in the guts of the scene for a year or 3 and losing every job he could find to lose, Rob met the guys at Ozone Entertainment through a frend, Mike Ladd. At Ozone he formed the group Sonic Sum. It was through Ozone that Rob began meeting like-minded artists such as El-P of Company Flow, The Anti Pop Consortium, Mr. Lif, Breeze Brewin and Saul Williams. The burgeoning independent music scene, and the influences around him at Ozone, offered a kind of home base for Rob, where he felt comfortable with for the first time.
Having become dissatisfied with the age-old hip-hop convention of MC rapping over a producer’s track, Rob soon began dabbling in production and by 1999 was self producing his own music. As Rob’s music developed, friend and collaborator El-P had established his own label Definitive Jux Records, and Rob began the work that would become his first album, Telicatessen. For his first attempt at producing a whole body of work, Rob drew from the city around him and the climate of post 9/11 NY during the second Bush regime. Since Telicatessens release Rob has toured and worked extensively, sharing stages with Public Enemy, Kool Kieth, Wu Tang Clan, Mos Def alongside label mates Aesop Rock, El-P, Mr. Lif and others.
Back now with Sabotage Gigante featuring guest appearances by Busdriver and Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic is poised to impact the scene that he has helped form with extensive touring along-side Aesop Rock and on his own.