NEW TEAM MATES: PRYSLEZZ AND NOX
FORMS SAN DIEGO-BASED RECORD LABEL… AND MORE
San Diego Chargers Pro Bowl wide receiver, # 89, Chris Chambers – one of the building blocks behind the Chargers' recent successes – has joined another team.
But worry not, Chargers fans; Chambers remains the ever dependable clutch catch king for the Bolts!
That's because Chambers' new playbook is all about music – rap, hip-hop, rock, alternative, club, and other musical genres.
The playing field is now a San Diego recording studio.
And, Chambers' new team mates have names like Pryslezz and NOX.
Chambers with three equal partners (he calls them his "Band of Brothers") has formed King Ape Records, a division of King Ape Entertainment (KAE).
KAE's first two releases are albums, "Death Of A Man, Rebirth Of A King" from Pryslezz (Priceless) and "The N.oise O.f X.citement" from NOX. (Both NOX and Pryslezz are partners in KAE). Both albums come with singles and videos (In fact, NFL fans can catch a glimpse of pass-catcher Chambers in a cameo role in Pryslezz' video of the first single, "More Than A Love Song" which also features Grammy winner Dwele).
"King Ape records is just the start and future expansion will include music publishing, graphic design, photography and a production company for motion pictures," says KAE founding partner, Mike Echols.
King Ape Records exists, says Pryslezz, "because Chris believes in the music that is produced inside this company and has done since before his professional football career started."
King Ape Entertainment is just one more of Chris Chambers off field activities, although a surprising one to San Diego Chargers followers who know him as a private and reserved individual away from the field. Both in San Diego and in Miami (where he was one of the most prolific pass catchers in Miami Dolphins' history), Chambers has personally and financially supported youth education and athletic programs, worked with Habitat for Humanity and mentored high school students on everything from health and fitness to money management.
Now he's in the record business.
"That's no surprise," he says. "Anybody who knows me knows that music is a big part of my life, I've been hosting and promoting concerts in San Diego for some time. I've known the guys in KAE for years – both through their music and as personal friends."
"Mike is right. This is just the start."
Echols adds: "Some people say that this is not the time to start a record label. We see it differently: all the new technologies, downloading, etc. available now mean that – used properly – there are even more avenues available to get KAE's music across."
The "Band of Brothers" tag is not a fanciful title. In one case it is literal.
This is how the four partners that make up King Ape Entertainment came together. Chambers and Echols played football together at the U. of Wisconsin. (Echols even had an NFL career of his own – cornerback for the Tennessee. Titans, 2002-04). Echols' little brother used to tag along at the Wisconsin games and impressed both players with his skill at wordplay, rap and rhyme – something neither man forgot. The little brother is now Pryslezz. Rhymsters NOX and Pryslezz have also known each other all their lives, growing up in Youngstown, OH. In fact, their fathers were best friends! "Youngstown is not the easiest place to live," says Pryslezz. "The struggle to survive and thrive gave me a hunger that shines through my work." While Pryslezz tagged along with his brother to football games, NOX tagged along with his big sister. It helped that she was Candee Reign, opening for such acts as Heavy D. and Salt N Pepa. It provided NOX at age seven with an insight and education into the worlds of hip-hop and rap no college could provide. Advantage was taken. Notes NOX: "Coming from the mid-West has exposed me to every type of music – hip hop. rock, r&b, funk. Actually Ohio was where funk was born!"
NOX's ambitions for hip hop stardom were fueled by his early contact with the artists of all kinds that he grew up listening to on the Youngstown streets – OutKast, Common, Busta Rhymes, Isley Brothers, Rick James, Cameo, Mos Def, Bootsie Collins. "If I could give what I do a new genre, I would title if Techno Soul Hop: a new aged sound with a splash of Soul that is rooted in Hip Hop."
Which just about sums up NOX's King Ape Records debut album, |The N.oise O.f X.citment."
Pryslezz' music is just part of him. He is also a painter, photographer, has books of poetry and is completing a novel. But in the Youngstown-San Diego-KAE environments, he is known for his ability to kick out an endless chain of syllables so relentlessly that even drum machines find it hard to keep up!
Pryslezz respects individuality in an artist above all else and tries to bring this into his own work. "The microphone is a tool to move and teach people and that's what I'm trying to do with my music as well as be an innovator."
About his debut shot "Death Of A Man, Rebirth Of A King," Pryslezz notes: "It's a rebirth of pieces of the man that I used to be. In order for you to change, a part of you has to die…"
To which Chris Chambers relates in football terms: "Like the coach says, no pain, no gain!"
Football and Hip Hop. Music that moves and teaches. Soul and sound business. This Band of Brothers brings it all together as a brand.
King Ape Entertainment.
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Heath Hamaguchi
Heritage Media Relations
"Toru N' Toro creating your life long image"
213.926.1183
heath@heritagemediarelations.com
