Luck-One

Rarely do you find an artist whose message transcends the music through which he or she speaks. Only a few special artists each lifetime have the exceptional ability to incite a movement that is far more valuable than the sounds they create. From the same mold as important socioeconomic and political sculptors Tupac Shakur, Bob Dylan, and Bob Marley, comes Luck-One; an awe-inspiring hip-hop artist from Portland, Oregon. A classically trained musician since childhood and son of an on-again Read more on Last.fm …read full bio

Rarely do you find an artist whose message transcends the music through which he or she speaks. Only a few special artists each lifetime have the exceptional ability to incite a movement that is far more valuable than the sounds they create. From the same mold as important socioeconomic and political sculptors Tupac Shakur, Bob Dylan, and Bob Marley, comes Luck-One; an awe-inspiring hip-hop artist from Portland, Oregon. A classically trained musician since childhood and son of an on-again, off-again jazz musician, Luck-One (Hanif Collins) has always been dynamic in his approach to the music that would grow to be his lifes calling. Nearly ten years ago, as Luck was on the verge of releasing his debut LP Live From the Underground with his now defunct group, Seventh Science, he was arrested on robbery and gun charges. After being tried as an adult under Oregons mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines, the 17-year-old would tragically wind up serving over half a decade behind penitentiary bars. While serving time, Collins voiced his critique of the prison system through the orchestration of food strikes, and organized prisoners previously divided along racial and political lines, around common causes. Throughout his sentence, the force of Collinss activism would cause him to serve over two years in solitary confinement, yet he continued to sharpen his social awareness through study and observation. By the time of his release he had managed to teach himself a second language, compose thousands of songs, and study marketing in a self-motivated effort to emerge from the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution a savvy businessman. Since his confinement, Luck-One has emerged triumphantly with a vision to use his music as a cross-cultural medium for change. In February 2009, less than a year after his release, Luck-One collaborated with up and coming production wiz Dekk to release the not-for-profit EP Beautiful Music, which was acclaimed by critics everywhere, and raised funds to fight poverty in the Western Hemispheres poorest nation of Haiti. Beautiful Music was regarded as one the Top Ten EPs of the year by the widely popular blog, Kevinnottingham.com, named Editors picks three months in a row by CDBaby, and proclaimed Breakout Hip-Hop album of the year in Willamette Weeks 2009 year in review. Riding off the buzz from Beautiful Music, Luck-One has built a dedicated following, and has shared stages with Internationally known superstars such as Talib Kweli, The Game, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Mike Jones, dead prez, RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, Zion I, and Naughty By Nature. After over a year in the studio, Luck-One released the Free EP, True Theory Outtakes on October 2nd, in conjunction with DJBooth.net. Although Outtakes was composed of songs that did not fit onto Luck-Ones forthcoming full length album True Theory, the EP still received strong reviews across the board and left fans and critics wondering If this is the outtakes, whats on the album? Many fans on the edge of their seats will receive the answer to this eagerly awaited question on March 22nd, when True Theory is released. With this and other incredible projects on the horizon, it is no wonder why so many music writers, bloggers, and fans consider Luck-One to be among a select group of artists to watch out for in 2011 and for many years to come. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.

…shrink me down again