Bishop Lamont

In an industry that likes to keep artists boxed into predictable molds, Carson, California native Bishop Lamont has always stood out from the hip-hop crowd.
From an early love of visual arts and books spanning just about every imaginable subject, Bishop embraced music at the age of 13 — a very natural step given a stable, church-based home life that was awash in such diverse music as Beastie Boys, Aretha Franklin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, D.J. Quik, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Public Enemy, Big Daddy Kane and many others.
With an influential aunt who's a minister, Bishop proudly says, "My background comes from church . I have to still touch the Gospel realm but make it so it can be accessible to kids and still speak the truth — speak about topics and social issues we're confronted with but not (push it). It's a history lesson and deals with a lot of stuff."
With his mix of street rap, politics, religion and social commentary, Bishop had the good fortune of literally handing his mix-tape "Who I Gotta Kill to Get a Record Deal, Vol.1," to Dr. Dre at a video shoot. Bishop simply believed the legendary producer was being polite when he said he'd give the tape a listen — right up until Dre announced on top Los Angeles radio station Power 106 that he was planning on working with a young talent he'd been fortunate enough to encounter: Bishop Lamont!
After several independent singles, Dr. Dre signed Bishop to his Aftermath Entertainment label in 2005 and Bishop is said to be a significant contributor to the long-anticipated Dre album "Detox."
Bishop's career began to soar that year, having worked closely with Warren G, on Warren's album "In the Mid-Nite Hour." He also made tracks for various video games, including NBA Live 06, Scarface: The World Is Yours 06 (in which he was a caricature), Madden NFL 07, NFL Street 08 and Midnight Car Club 09. His Internet and street mixtapes "N*gger Noize" (2007), "Caltroit" (2007) (a collaboration between Bishop and Detroit native Black Milk) "Pope Mobile" (2007), and "The Confessional" (2008), raised his profile.
From the title track "Welcome to Havoc", featured in "Havoc," a film starring Anne Hathaway, and the film "I Got The Hookup" starring Master "P" in which Bishop had a role, Bishop has now found himself in front of the camera with a starring role in the upcoming feature film "513 Degrees Fahrenheit" with Christian Audigier (in his first silver-screen role), Tom Sizemore, Malik Barnhardt, Dave Stewart, Damon Whitaker, and others in a star-studded cast— and is looking forward to continuing work as an actor as well as musician.
Bishop also made an appearance with Travis Barker in an episode of MTV's top rated TV show "Fantasy Factory" starring Rob Dyrdek and dropped a new single with Dyrdek (as Bobby Light), "Dirty Girl Part 2."
Steadily increasing his international appeal, Bishop recently linked up with French rapper Black Kent in the studio and then hit the streets of Paris to shoot a video for their single "Pass That," which will be featured on Black Kent's upcoming "Yes I Kent" record. Bishop continues to perform in many venues in the U.S. as well as tour extensively abroad.
Working with Indef and DJ Skee, Bishop also dropped a hugely popular street album "Team America: Fuck Yeah!" with a no-holds-barred, controversial, satirical look at Osama bin Laden, Kim Jung Ill, Scientology and contemporary politics. Bishop continues to work on his album with a new title "God Damn N*gger It's About Fucking Time" for release in 2010.
When asked "what he'd like to do most – even if he didn't get paid for it" – Bishop says unequivocally, "Music!" I can share my truths of life with the masses thru music. I can give back and give people the truth on both sides of the fence and have fun doing it thru my music"!