Thursday, April 29, 2010

Be On The Look-Out: Artist of the Week- Nova AKA Boom



A true artist standing at 6 feet tall it is obvious that Nova is a force to be reckoned with. Besides the street credit he has received all over NYC in the past 10 years he is also known for being a beast on the mic. Rashaun Lovitt better known by his stage name Nova aka Boom, was born August 29 1987 in Jamaica Hospital at 8:53 p.m. He grew up in Jamaica Queens, New York with his mother, grandparents and younger sister. During his early childhood Nova spent a great deal of time with his grandmother who mostly listened to Motown greats such The Temptations, The Manhattans, Earth Wind and Fire, and Rick James, but it wasn’t until the age of 8 that he began listening to hip hop. At the age of 12 in the 7th grade he began rapping under influence of his cousin Christopher “Blitz” Middleton. They formed a group called The Fully Loaded Assassins that consisted of Blitz, Nova and two other members. The group did not last long because its members were all very young, inexperienced and none of them took the work seriously. Nova still continued rapping but only with neighborhood friends. He continued his education at St John’s High school. While there he met a local rapper named Queenz and before long they became good friends. During Nova’s first two years of high school he did not show any of his rapping abilities. Although most of the local rappers rapped on train and bus rides home, that did not interest Nova. While he did support is friend Queenz when he battled on the train, Nova thrived for more. After two years in St John’s Nova transferred to Newtown High School. In Newtown he ran into Blitz again. Blitz had been working on a solo album after have some problems with his prior group and asked Nova to get on a track with him. Rashaun recorded his first verse on Blitz’s “Taken’em Down” and soon after recorded another verse on Blitz’s “How can I Make You See” which became a hit at their high school. After hearing these two tracks many people wanted to hear more from Nova. Knowing of the building anticipation, Nova worked on getting his first mixtape released.



By the age of 17 Nova hit the recording studio. Right from the start he used an array of styles, lyrics and flows and collaborated on songs with various artists such as Quenna Ariel and of course Blitz and thanks to great beat makers like Jewlz there was no denying Novas talent. While working on the mixtape he took some time out to build Team Blaze Entertainment with the help of Blitz. This is when Nova started realizing many things although he never spoke particularly about it; he says "it felt great; I love the feeling of music". Nova released his first mixtape under Team Blaze Entertainment entitled "Any Questions" on June 19, 2007. The majority of "Any Questions" was produced by Jewlz who is a great producer according to Nova.



After graduating high school Nova began exposing his music throughout the boroughs. He performed at places including; Crimson Lounge, Bronx, NY in September 2005, Don Hills, New York, NY in June 2006, Summer Fest, Brooklyn NY August in 2007, Who Got Next, New York , NY in October 2007 and Public Assembly in March 2009. As well as doing performances Nova was also interviewed by Drahma Magazine in March 2009 however the issue has not yet been published. Nova is now working on the second mixtape entitled "Just Practicing" which is scheduled to release May 2010. Nova also plans to release the sequel to Any Questions in the future. In September 2009 formed a trio with Frank "Emek" Pijuan and Andrew "Emanon" Dominguez. The trio is better known as the "Sons of New York". Sons of New York mixtape entitled My Stress Therapy is scheduled to release summer of 2010.


Discography
2007-Any Questions ( http://www.zshare.net/download/75353261b8b318ea/ )
2010- Just Practicing (may)
2010- My Stress Therapy/w Sons Of Of New York (summer 2010)
2010-6-3-4 Double Play/w Queenz (summer 2010)
2010-Any Questions Part 2 (winter 2010)



Foolish Lil Girl song link - http://www.mediafire.com/?a2mwndwgcyd