FIRST CITY

First City was started in 2006. The Original members were producers Bookz and Nato with MC Deadli (Now MC Kush) and MC K-Swift on the mic. The crew came together to bring something new to the urban music scene; America's first Grime music crew. The group for the next 2 years took over the NYC underground scene performing at all best venues and clubs, along with an interview and freestyle on BBC 1xtra, and finally supporting Skream at the Knitting Factory. In 2007 First City gained new members, MC King Colby from Brooklyn and MC Germz from London.



The following year saw the group come together and drop the long awaited mixtape/street album "Kings of New York". The mixtape sold out within a few months and has since become a classic part of First City History, being one of the first records to feature NYC based talent doing both Grime, Dubstep and HipHop. The mixtape also saw production from Code of Arms, The One (Man Vs. Machine) and solidified a new Alliances with both DJ Dore from Code of Arms (NYC's first dubstep crew/label) and the Locked and Loaded Crew (Germz's crew from London with DZA and Snoopy Montana).



In late 2008, negotiations for a record deal with several major labels began along with a new management deal. After long and hard negotiations the crew decided to maintain its freedom and decided not to sign any deals in order continue independently. First City then made history again with the release the first EP with Code of Arm's Soroka, Nebulla and DJ Dore "The Beginning" in early 2009. The record was the first record to feature NYC based MCs and a more "Dubstep" sound reflecting the changes in the underground sounds of NYC at that time. The EP however unlike Kings of New York was not received well on the streets and then issues regarding payment caused First City to stop collaborations with Code of Arms.



In Late 2009 saw two major collaborations with First City. First Nato's track "Going Bezurk" with Germz featuring Snoopy Montana got mainstream plays on Rinse FM and lead to Nato working on both Germ's solo album "Nervous Breakdown" and Snoopy Montana's debut (still untitled) Album. Then Bookz's "Get Paper" got vocaled by none other then grime legends Dizzee Rascal and Newham Generals on Tim Westwood on prime time BBC radio 1. Sadly by the end of 2009 both MC Germz and Snoopy Montana went to jail and only "Nervous Breakdown" was released uncompleted. K-Swift also left the crew and the sequal "Kings of NEw York 2" was put on hold. Bookz and Nato in the meantime went onto release both "Kings of New York - The Instrumentals EP" along with "Top Producer" EP, showcasing the groups heavy unreleased riddims blending Grime, Dubstep, Hip-Hop and Dancehall together.



In 2010 First City disbanded as a music crew and were turned into a fully independent label. Nato went on to form his own "Mad Scientist" Productions to reflect his new "Grimey Bashment" sound which has already been played on London's Rinse FM, this time on the Heatwave and not the Grimey breakfest show. MC Kush has been working on his debut solo project and is due to be completed this year and will also be released on First City Records. Around the same time, DJ Dore left code of Arms, and co-founded a new music blog "DontSleepNYC.com" along with producers Nato, Bookz and new member/promoter P-Dubz.



Unfortunately, former crew members and MCs, King Colby, Mannifest and Germz are all serving time in prison. Germz is expected home soon and will continue to put out records with First City.



Bookz, Nato and DJ Dore released "Ammuntion" EP in early/mid 2010 and are all back in the lab working on new material.



Also, This summer expect to see Nato's (Mad Scientist) Grimey Bashment EP landing very soon as well as new material from the new DontSleepNYC (DSNYC) camp. To get into contact with us, do not email us here as we get so much spam we never get any of the real messages. To contact us directly, please email : nato.firstcity@gmail.com .OR. Bookznyc@gmail.com



Myspace Layouts by Pimp-My-Profile.com



- Myspace Editor - Image Hosting



Put an image at the top of your profile!