Aryginal: the story of an icon
(short free-hand version)
11/11/07

Aryginal was born Andre Moss Jr. on May 31, 1984 to parents: Charlotte Campbell and Andre Moss Sr. in Dayton, Ohio. He took a liking to music at the early age of seven because his Uncle June (Carl Campbell-RIP) was a Jazz player and all of his older cousins (S.R. and S Cam to name a few) were aspiring Hip Hop artists. After being neglected by his older cousins, he and his younger cousins (Young Sin, King Pooh, and Paydro to name a few.) decided to embark on a musical journey of their own and vowed to become hip hop phenoms. His entire carrer, Aryginal‘s always been respected for his lyrical content and demanding delivery. At the age of nine they begun working on mixtape casettes that they passed out to their peers and family. Over the years, life‘s ups and downs caused Aryginal to lose direct contact with a few of his younger cousins later to reunite with them.
Fast-forwarding to his high school years, he had grown as an artist and acquired a nice following. During that time he became acquainted with his future labelmates: Romair, Kasper, & Blaze Murda; as well as G-18, whom he‘d already met in Junior High School on somewhat questionable terms. Ice Aryginal (the alias he went by for the majority of his career), Kasper, and Romair kicked it off almost instantly. However, he and Blaze Murda represented opposing rap crews which demanded an immediate beef. They went through most of their years in high school beefing, fighting, and battling each other in the historic Colonel White cafeteria. That all changed though, because late 2001 the two were propositioned to co-exist and write a Christmas song for their High School choir to perform at a huge venue. At that moment they realized that the chemistry they shared was much more than a camp and they joined forces as Blakout. Not to mention those done before the Blakout venture, they went on, along with G-18, to shut down stage after stage and in doing so caught the attention of two local record labels.
The first deal was put on the table by Iron Fist Records for Blakout only, which was shot down by both Aryginal and Blaze. The next label was Ronald Mista B Blake‘s creation, Streetlight Entertainment for their entire crew. Already on the Streetlight roster was: Romair, Mr. Redeyes, and the all female trio, Desire (members of Aryginal‘s partial label, Franchise Familia along with: Swat team {Young Sin, 10 o‘clock, and Scorpio}, S.R., T. Carp, Antwan Young, Tre Pound, Celsius, S.Cam, Young Pit {now known as A-Menace}, and partner Blaze Murda). After sitting down with Blake, Aryginal influenced both G-18 and his partner Blaze, who was somewhat skeptical of the deal, to go back, draw up the papers, and sign the contract. From their Streetlight Entertainment was birthed with the likes of Romair (a young flamboyant track lacer), Blakout (a combination of two hip hop juggarknots with contrasting but similar styles that demanded attention), G-18 (superproducer/artist), Kasper (well-spoken lyrisist), and Mr. Redeys. Desire resigned from the label a week after the contractual agreements were signed by Aryginal‘s entourage due to personal problems with both, the label and their group. This unfortunate event crushed Aryginal for they were like sisters to him and they still have yet to reunite. In April 2003 the label dropped their debut compilation album, Midwest Takeover vol. 1. In the years to follow Blakout released their debut LP, When Darkness Falls, in 2004 and Romair‘s debut LP, Underated, in 2005. Around the release of the Blakout LP creative differences began to arise between a few of the artists and the label. A couple months after the Blakout LP Mr. Redeyes began to fade out of the picture and conflicting schedules inside Blakout made it difficult for the label to organize promotional shows, interviews, and trips for the When Darkness Falls LP. The album flopped.
A couple of months before Romair‘s Underated LP was to be released, Aryginal put togther a mixtape hosted by DJ SKNO to showcase the array of artists in his camp and launch his solo career entitled, Blakout presents: Franchise Familia Mixtape vol. 1 (collector‘s edition). Even though he and Blaze were able to reconnect, get back on the same page, and appear on the mixtape as BLAKOUT, the album would be just as it states (a collector‘s edition) because Franchise literally crashed and burned due to all of the ego‘s within the organization. Blakout was born again. During the recording of Romair‘s Underated LP the creative differences between the select artists and the label grow even more, causing G-18 and Blaze to depart from the label leaving behind Romair and Aryginal to hold down the fort. Blakout splits again. Following the release of Romair‘s Underated, Romair felt that the label wasn‘t promoting the project correctly, so he also left. Wanting to keep the family together, Aryginal decide to divorced the label as well, in search for better things. Blakout re-unites.
Scott Childress, the engineer behind all of Streetlight Entertainment‘s LP‘s, also parted from Blake due to creative differences and saw a golden oppertunity to keep together what has been described by most as Dayton‘s most thorough crew in years. So the crew was reborn, with the addition of some new faces and the exception of a few old faces under a different label, Beatcity Productionz. Beatcity‘s roster stands as: Blakout (Ice Aryginal & Blaze Murda), G-18, Slim Goodie, Kyi Murda, and Desert Eagle. 2006 marked the official beginning of Beatcity‘s reign with the bombshell compilation, Streetfire vol. 1, where Aryginal and Blaze made their statement that Blakout was not only still Dayton‘s premier duo, but also here to stay. The compilation hit so hard that later that year the label dropped a follow-up, Streetfire 1.5 mixtape hosted by AR-15‘s DJ Homegrown. Aryignal and Blaze Murda again appeared as Blakout and shook things up. After release of the Streetfire vol. 1 compilation Blakout began production on their sophmore LP, The Rebirth that was set to drop 1st quarter 2007. Again conflicting schedules and creative differences between Aryginal and Blaze forced the label to postpone release of the project. Instead Beatcity released G-18‘s The Prince is Back Mixtape which came out beautifully crafted. Blakout got back in the studio once again to continue production on the The Rebirth LP. One thing led to another and the decision was made for the two to go on and persue solo careers first and complete the sophmore LP in the future, if fate allows it.
That brings us to the present hour. Perhaps Dayton‘s most untainted, brilliant, and lyrical specimens, Ice Aryginal sets forth to persue a solo career that most say has been long overdue and others say is before it‘s time. In an attempt to re-invent himself he decided no longer to go by Ice Aryginal, for it represented a past time that he wants to forget. He is now simply, Aryginal the Black Golden Child. Be listening for the soul touching, mind clutching, jaw dropping sound that Aryginal will be bringing to the table from 2008 and beyond. I think Aryginal with prove himself to be an intricate part of the hip hop culture and go down in history as one of the greats. Who he‘s worked with, who he‘s shared the stage with, and who he respects in the game are all irrelevant subject matters. He‘s now focused on the future success, trials, and tribulations. The movement is just beggining, Team Aryginal/ Beatcity Productionz. GOOD LISTENING.