Thank you to all for your emails of love, support, suggestions, and comments. Keep them coming. I hope you enjoy this week’s two profiles as much as last week’s. Here is today’s profile from mee to you.

Michele@mvremix.com

Normally, one would say that it is not everyday you find someone with a passion for so many talents; however MVexposé profiles a second diverse individual, an emcee, a poet, and a radio show host in Toronto, Ontario: Arowbe Arowbe Arowbe “in recognition of his many selves…”

Known best as an emcee, Arowbe has released four albums and three mixed tapes with close affiliates like Rhythm of the Soul (ROTS) and DJ Mensa. It all started growing up in Vancouver, BC where Arowbe “woke up one night at the age of eight and was possessed to rap.” In 2006, he toured Japan and Cuba promoting his new single “Once Upon a Time

with Toronto songstress, Zaki Ibrahim and the remix featuring the Harlem lyricist Tom Gist of Dip Set.

Outside of the hip hop community he is known as Robert Bolton and hosts a York University radio talk show, Kaleidoscope, focusing on international issues such as a recent discussion on global human trafficking. He is currently working on his bachelors’ degree at York University majoring in Fine Arts Cultural Studies and minoring in Creative Writing.

Arowbe hosts a weekly night, Peachfuzz at Chinadoll on Thursdays along with cohorts DJ Mensa and Rod Skimmins at 587 College Street in Toronto.

You can also catch Arowbe at his best this Thursday, February 8th at the Republik for the Hip Hop for Africa show hosted by Choclair. All proceeds go to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (Canada).

For more information on Arowbe Arowbe Arowbe hit up his website at http://www.myspace.com/arowbe.

Next up, MV will be profiling Stylewalker, a bboy from Winnipeg, MB. Feast your eyes this coming Friday.

* Photo’s taken by Owen Scott, republished with expressed consent.

Hip-hop is good. Hip-hop is good! Ok fine, it can be. Mike Prosserman, founder of the York University’s Chapter of Leave Out ViolencE (LOVE) is proof you can still have faith in the good of hip-hop. This Friday, March 9th, Mike will be hosting Breakin’ the Cycle II, an event at York University’s Underground that boasts impressive performances including break dancers, rappers, graffiti writers, beat-boxers and spoken word artists. For the second year, the event has completely sold out in advance. All proceeds go to an outreach program directed to high school and university students preventing violence through the influence of hip-hop.

“There’s too many people who see hip-hop in a negative light. We want to show it in a positive way. The only way to deal with violence is to directly deal with those who are affected by it.”

In the bboy world, Mike is known as Piecez, who started breakdancing at the age of 13 from breakdancing.com‘s descriptive posts from other members of the original website.

“I started breaking when I was just turning 13 years old. I loved it right from the start and couldn’t stop practicing. Sadly, like many at the time, I had no one to practice with so I turned to the closest alternative.”

Through the breakingdancing.com, Piecez discovered Bag of Trix who offered dance lessons and workshops taught by Benzo, influencing Piecez to take his new passion further.

“After taking Benzo’s class for several years I was inspired to take this to the next level and start competing.”

Making the decision to compete, he caught the attention of many already distinguished bboys including Bigglez who recruited Piecez into the Maximum Efficiency Crew (MEC). Other than school and bboying, Piecez keeps himself busy with charity work, DJing, event planning and the management of Funk Fanatics.

If you missed out on tickets for this year’s Breakin’ the Cycle, make sure you email Piecez to add you to the list for upcoming events at leaveoutviolence@hotmail.com.

While kids in Hobart, Tasmania, a small island off the coast of mainland Australia, were listening to AC/DC, growing mullets and wearing tight jeans, Shane Millhouse opted for baggy pants and a shaved head. He diverted his attention to RUN DMC and Public Enemy for a couple years until he discovered his creative disposition.

“I always wanted to be a DJ, but could never afford turntables, so I started writing rhymes instead. When I got sick of rapping over loops I would make from U.S. hip-hop songs (pause tape style), I started digging through $1 bin records and making my own beats.”

Known as Crixus in the hip-hop community, he taught himself the basics to making beats and mixtapes on an old record player one of his relatives gave to him. A year after he moved to the mainland, he released his debut album, “Abstract Junk.” Receiving positive feedback, he received a spot on the “Culture of Kings 2” compilation, released by Obese Records. The album was distributed nationally in Australia and received heavy radio play.

In 2002, Crixus moved back to Tasmania and began performing regularly, assisted in creative writing and hip-hop workshops, and developing his scratching skills while earning a university degree. Crixus co-hosted a weekly radio a weekly radio show for Hobart’s Edge Radio and hosted a monthly open mic nights for emcees and DJs. This provided an opportunity for Crixus to meet a group of DJs with the same passion for spinning. He was able to establish a successful turntablist crew for a short period of time. He moved back to Melbourne three years after his return to Tasmania, “in search for bigger things.” For the next two years, Crixus took a break from stage-life and dedicated his life to the studio, working on solo material, collaborative works and production for other artists.

“I rarely stepped to the stage and only ventured back to Hobart to perform at a few shows, basically just to test out the new material I’d been working on in the studio. I also hit up various, Melbourne-based, spoken word poetry nights to compare my poetic lyricism with some more established writers.”

Recently, Crixus joined the MVRemix team, with upcoming Australian hip-hop podcasts to be broadcasted on MVRemix.com soon. He is expected to release two albums this year, one of which is released this month called “Throwaways Vol. 1″ and another later in the year.

If you happen to be in Melbourne, Australia, be sure to stop by Blue Bar in the suburb of Prahran to see Crixus spin. His next performance will be on March 31st at the Laundry in Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia. You can find all updates on Crixus’ myspace at
http://www.myspace.com/crixus.