Brandon

In a relatively short time Brandon has gone from an up and coming rapper to a highly talented artist in the contemporary Finnish music scene. But Brandon is more than just the latest artist to blow up. His lyrics, which cover topics from his personal experiences and positive outlook on life to prevailing social problems, reflect his multi-cultural upbringing.
The youngest of six children, Brandon was born in Tallahassee, Florida on 31.10.1984 to parents Pirjo and Bruce, both accomplished track and field athletes.
Being the youngest of six siblings did not come without its problems. In stark contrast to his current musical abilities Brandon didnt learn to talk until the age of three. His mother, alarmed, took young Brandon to a speech therapist that diagnosed Brandon as having a speech delay. It took Brandon just one week in speech therapy at the University of Florida to learn to speak. This could be considered as an indication of his future abilities.
His life took a dramatic turn when his parents divorced in 1988. Left with six children to care for on her own his mother decided to relocate the family to the somewhat safer environment of Finland. He attended the elementary school of Käpylä in Helsinki. However his mothers fear of being a single parent of a herd of six didnt subside and she decided that moving to the countryside and enrolling her children to a small rural school near Riihimäki would be a better choice than living in the capital.
Bringing up six children in the countryside wasnt any easier and so the Bauer family moved back to Helsinki where Brandon attended a school in Itäkeskus. Deciding to prevent her two youngest sons swaying from the good path Brandons mother made him and his brother Michael join an athletic club. Having been introduced to hip-hop music by his older brother Shane, Brandon did not take athletics too seriously, his heart was already set on hip-hop. That however did not stop him from winning the high-jump silver medal at the Junior Finnish Championship games.
At the age of 16, Brandon had his first gig at Kiasma, an outdoor happening, in 2001. By that time his family was split in half. His three sisters, Kirsi, Susan and Anne-Marie where back living in the States, whereas Brandon and his two brothers remained in Helsinki. This split also in a way mirrors his cultural personality. He was born American but has spent most of his life in Finland, and although he prefers to live in Finland he often visits the rest of his family in Pennsylvania.
Having met a promising producer, Sakke, who studied at the same school, they quickly joined forces and started to record songs at a local youth-house. During this learning process Brandon slowly started gaining recognition among the Finnish hiphop scene. This opened opportunities for numerous live performances around his hometown. Brandon and Sakke had ambitious intentions to release the accumulated material on their own, but these plans changed when they were approached by Elastinen, of Fintelligens fame, the CEO of the leading Finnish hiphop label Rähinä Records Oy.
He was offered a recording contract to Rähinä's newly formed sub-label, Alarm Entertainment. The contract was signed, and on the same summer of 2004 Alarm Ent. released Brandon's "This Town The Mixtape", to give a taste of things to come for the already expanding fanbase. Over the past year Brandon has spent time performing around Finland from clubs to opening for acts such as Lloyd Banks, Young Buck, The Game, D-12, De La Soul and Afu-Ra.
Brandon released his highly anticipated debut album "The Outcome" in 2005. The album is a tight package of banging beats and hard, uplifting lyrics. Guest appearances feature Finnish hiphop-star Elastinen and Mike Mechanix from the Swedish supergroup Spotrunnas. Remember the name Brandon, he is here to stay.



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