Benjamin Miller (born 5 May 1983), better known by his stage name Wrekonize, is an American underground rapper and current member of Miami band ¡Mayday!. He is currently signed to the record label Mayday Music, after previously being signed to Tech N9ne's Strange Music.
Wrekonize | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Benjamin Miller |
| Born | 5 May 1983[1] London, England, U.K. |
| Origin | Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Occupation(s) | Rapper, singer |
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Labels | Strange Music Mayday Music |
Early life
editBenjamin Miller was born in London and raised in a household of both British and African descent. His mother was England-born and his father had immigrated to England from Cape Town, South Africa.[2] After moving to Miami, Florida, in 1988, Miller's parents had formed a local band together. They performed on occasion with MC Guru for his original Jazzmatazz album. At the age of 11, Wrekonize was introduced to Guru, who helped inspire him to make his own music.[3]
By the age of 13, Miller became involved in graffiti. Attempting to imitate the works of Miami graffiti artists Os Gêmeos, he spotted the term "Wrekonize" in Martha Cooper's Subway Art book.[4] Admiring the graphic, Miller chose to adopt it as his stage name. Miller has stated that his stage name is intended to reflect the state of being "observant and always alert to the surroundings and the people in them".[5]
Musical career
editIn his early career, Wrekonize performed as a battle rapper. He competed in MTV Battle II: The Takeover in Times Square in 2003, beating ten other rappers to become the winner.[3][6] Though Wrekonize was promised a record deal with Roc-A-Fella Records as a grand prize, it was reported several months later that Wrekonize had never been offered a contract.[3] Soon afterward, he signed to SouthBeat Records, where he released a mixtape titled The Waiting Room.[3][7] The Waiting Room was planned to be the first mixtape to a three-part series he planned to release through Southbeat Records. With the subsequent fall of the label, the album had minimal publicity on its release, but it later resurfaced on the underground hip hop database DatPiff as an album of the week. After the online success of the first album, Wrekonize self-produced a second installment called Elevator Music. During this period, Wrekonize also collaborated with ¡Mayday!, a Miami-based hip hop band and fellow SouthBeat Records signee.[3][8]
Eventually, ¡Mayday! offered Wrekonize full-time membership in the band as a vocalist. In 2010, Wrekonize released Stuck on an Island, his first album with ¡Mayday!, as well as a solo album called A Soiree For Skeptics.[3] After ¡Mayday! signed with Strange Music in 2011, the band released the Take Me To Your Leader album, the Thrift Store Halos EP, and the Smash & Grab mixtape in 2012; Wrekonize also completed the Waiting Room mixtape trilogy that year by releasing the Rooftops Mixtape.[3] Wrekonize remained signed to Strange Music until 2022; during this period, he released three solo albums and participated on five additional ¡Mayday! albums through the label as well as a collaboration album with rapper MURS titled ¡MURSDAY! Wrekonize has also produced various freestyles via numerous blogs and web sites.[9]
Discography
editStudio albums
edit| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions[citation needed] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | US Rap | ||
| A Soiree For Skeptics[10] |
|
– | — | — |
| The War Within[11] |
|
88 | 27 | 5 |
| Into the Further[12] |
|
– | — | — |
| Pressure Point[13] |
|
– | — | — |
"—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory.
Collaboration albums
edit| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions[citation needed] | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | US Rap | |||||||||||
| Stuck on an Island (with ¡Mayday!) |
|
– | — | — | |||||||||
| Take Me to Your Leader (with ¡Mayday!) |
|
86 | 18 | 15 | |||||||||
| Believers[14] (with ¡Mayday!) |
|
75 | 19 | 11 | |||||||||
| ¡MursDay![15] (with ¡Mayday! & Murs) |
|
45 | – | 4 | |||||||||
| Future Vintage[16] (with ¡Mayday!) |
|
112 | 9 | 8 | |||||||||
| Search Party (with ¡Mayday!) |
|
— | — | — | |||||||||
| South of 5th (with ¡Mayday!) |
|
— | — | — | |||||||||
| Minute to Midnight (with ¡Mayday!) |
|
— | — | — | |||||||||
| "—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||
References
edit- ^ "Twitter / Wrekonize: My birthday is the 5th but". Twitter. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ^ "Wrekonize – A Soiree For Skeptics". 305hiphop.com. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g Artist Biography by David Jeffries. "Wrekonize | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
- ^ "KodakGirl.com". KodakGirl.com. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ^ "Meddafore: Mr. Let 'em Know: Let 'Em Know: Wrekonize". Meddafore.blogspot.com. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ^ "MTV Onair – Mcbattle – 2003 – Round 2 Finalists". MTV. 9 March 2006. Archived from the original on 2 December 2003. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ^ "RELEASE: Wrekonize (from ¡MAYDAY!) A Soiree For Skeptics – Lil Wayne". Zimbio. 3 September 2010. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ^ "MAYDAY Music, Lyrics, Songs, and Videos". Reverbnation.com. 6 April 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ^ Smith, Bruce (25 June 2013). "Wrekonize [Mayday] – The War Within | Read Hip Hop Reviews, Rap Reviews & Hip Hop Album Reviews". HipHop DX. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
- ^ "iTunes Music – A Soiree For Skeptics by Wrekonize". iTunes Store. 30 August 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "iTunes Music – The War Within (Deluxe Edition) by Wrekonize". iTunes Store. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "iTunes Music – Into the Further by Wrekonize". iTunes Store. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ "iTunes Music – Pressure Point by Wrekonize". iTunes Store. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
- ^ "Strange Music, Inc". Blog.strangemusicinc.com. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ Emmanuel C.M. (16 April 2014). "MURS And ¡Mayday!'s Joint Album Is Coming Out in June – XXL". Xxlmag.com. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
- ^ Emmanuel C.M. "Future Vintage by ¡MAYDAY!".