Art of Fresh

Art of Fresh is a hip-hop duo with soul that is made up of Guinness World Record holder D.O. (Defy the Odds) and JUNO Award winning producer Slakah the Beatchild. In 2013, the group released “Where I Go”, the first single from their upcoming third album “Good Morning Yesterday” and quickly hit over 1 million views on Youtube while also going #1 on two US college hip-hop charts.

The Toronto, Canada based duo has had a track record of worldwide success with their releases. The groups’ debut album, Back to the Earth (Northstarr / Nova Music Group / Universal), released in 2008, earned a four star review in Eye Weekly and also reached #2 on Canadian college radio charts. The album also helped Art of Fresh land a spot in the URB’s Next 1000 list and a performance on Canada’s MTV Live. The duo toured nationally, first opening for Sweatshop Union and then headlining two tours. Then the group headed on an Asian tour with stops in Japan and Taiwan. They landed in national newspapers The China Post and The Taipei Times and played to packed shows.

Art of Fresh has performed at Winter Music Conference in Miami, CMJ in New York City and rocked a College University tour stateside as well. Their music has been used in campaigns from Volkswagen, Chevrolet, and Orville Redenbacher popcorn. They have also performed throughout Europe with a showcase at MIDEM in France, New Skool Rules in the Netherlands, and rocked several shows in the UK.

The group met in the small city of Sarnia, Ontario where they both attended the same high school, but not at same time. D.O. was in university when he got word of the young beat-making prodigy Slakah. The age gap between the two contributes to the groups’ unique sound, which is the perfect blend of old school meets new school and can best be described as Tribe meets Outkast. D.O. grew up in the 80s, a time known as the golden era of hip-hop, while Slakah was exposed to the neo-soul influenced hip-hop of the 90s.

D.O. and Slakah the Beatchild make up Art of Fresh, but in addition, they both focus on their own solo projects.

Slakah the Beatchild’s videos have had great success internationally. The video for the single Enjoy Yourself has received airplay on MuchMusic, MTV, VH1 and B.E.T. As well as his accomplishments as a solo artist, Slakah the Beatchild is a highly sought after producer who has produced for Drake, Melanie Durrant and Divine Brown. Slakah won a JUNO Award in 2009 for the Divine Brown album Love Chronicles. Slakah is signed to BBE (Will.i.am, DJ Jazzy Jeff) and his debut album Soul Movement (2008) was met with critical acclaim worldwide. Slakah’s current project The Slakadeliqs earned international acclaim including a Polaris Prize long list nomination and a tweet from long time collaborator Drake saying that Slakah is “One of my favorite producers I ever worked with.” The project is vastly different from his previous hip-hop focused work and showcases his range and musical diversity. The album featured Justin Nozuka, Swedish Grammy nominated artist Tingsek, Juno nominated artist Shad and more.

D.O., an accomplished emcee, set the Guinness World Record for the longest freestyle, which he set in 2003 by rapping for over 8 hours and 45 minutes. He frequently collaborates with Canadian heavyweight Classified. D.O. has been inspiring thousands of youth with his initiative Stay Driven since 2001. The initiative is a one-hour motivational assembly that combines speaking with live performance and addresses relevant teen subjects including bullying, goal setting and literacy.

Weblinks: www.theartoffresh.com or www.twitter.com/artoffresh