Yun6 Canon

Yun6 Canon has truly lived a crazy life that most rappers just rap about. However, this is no movie for Yun6 Canon. A native of Southwest Philadelphia, Yun6 Canon has experienced triumph, trouble, happiness, sorrow, anger, poverty, and a taste of living well.

Born in Houston, Texas, a first generation American, born to Liberian parents, Yun6 Canon moved around a lot as a child. He moved from Texas to Philadelphia, then to Queens, New York. In middle school, he lived in suburban Houston. Things were prosperous for his family, then in the blink of an eye, it all came crashing down.

In 9th grade, Yun6 Canon moved back to Philadelphia with his family. That is when he began to build a reputation on the streets. He was always getting good grades, but he got into lots of trouble as well. He was consistently getting into fights. He stood up to anyone and everyone.

To take away from the stress, Yun6 Canon began rapping. Influenced by the Philly hip-hop scene and 90's hip-hop, Yun6 Canon found clever ways to put words together. In fact, he began freestyling on a regular basis.

At the same time, he started at clique he named "The District", which is a group of friends and family who would be there for him no matter what situation arose, whether it would be good or bad.

Then, one event changed Yun6 Canon's life forever. At the age of 15, he was shot at. Yun6 Canon luckily was unharmed, but this lead to rapping about the gun talk most rappers never really lived. Most people could not look at life like how he looks at it now. He was sent to Minneapolis for a couple years, and then at 17, he moved back to Philadelphia to finish out high school. He picked up where he left off.

During these tough times, Yun6 Canon did get accepted into Penn State University. Along with his brother, Ahmed, they began their first year of school. During the next school year, in 2005, they cut their first demo called "A Struggle Will Never End", which had five songs, recorded under the group name, 5-6 Famalia. The song, "Drop It" had some minor radio play at Pittsburgh's former hip-hop station, 106.7, WAMO. They sold 1,000 copies of their demo throughout Pittsburgh and Philadelphia within a few weeks of release.

He cut a mixtape with 5-6 Famalia called "The Element of Surprise" in December 2006. His younger brother, Holliwood Pennsylvania joined the group at the time to make the group a trio. They recorded several songs within the next couple years, while attending Penn State. After a show in Detroit in September 2008, Yun6 Canon impressed the event promoters, and in return, 5-6 Famalia received a full page article in Treal Magazine, next to OJ Da Juiceman, who was unknown at the time.

Yun6 Canon and his brothers never disbanded 5-6 Famalia, but they created a new experimental group Kings of Dreamland, which was a pop and rock influenced hip-hop group, drawing comparisons to a mix of Outkast, The Doors, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Canon still rapped, but musically, the songs were deeper and a departure from the street rap he'd been accustomed to making. The alternative influences were inspired by Ahmed, who had named himself Hero in this project as he took on a Jim Morrison/Andre 3000 singing style instead of rapping.

They almost got signed while they were in Atlanta in 2009, but there were lots of roadblocks and clauses that only benefited the label, and not the artist. In December 2009, they partnered with college friend and roommate, Matt Bible. He had been running their marketing team for a couple years. He knew them better than anyone in the industry did, and had the same vision they had. He was a natural fit as their new manager.

Kings of Dreamland performed in North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, and Tenessee in 2010. They recorded a lot of new tracks, they performed and spoke on 88.1 in Clemson, SC, 103.5 in Asheville, NC, and had a feature article in the Upstate Be of Anderson, SC.

Due to creative differences, in 2011, Kings of Dreamland disbanded. Yun6 Canon restarted his solo career. He returned to the street style he had when he cut his first demo. He released his first solo mixtape, "Finally Made It Vol. 1" this past October. It has spun several singles, including the street anthem "On Dat Side of Town" (which just had video shot for it), the Philly anthem, "Souljaz Anthem", two tracks for the ladies, "Just 4 Yu", and "Pleasure". This mixtape lit up the streets of Philadelphia and San Antonio, TX, due to it being produced by long time friend, producer, and collaborator Romey Rome Beatz, who had produced for Frenchie of 1017 Brick Squad.

On November 15, 2011, Yun6 Canon's world changed again. Just as momentum was growing for his mixtape, Romey Rome Beatz was brutally murdered in San Antonio. While Canon has lost many of his people to the streets, this hit him especially hard. Yun6 Canon flew to San Antonio for Romey Rome's tribute