Prada West
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | SELF
Music
Press
This band has no press
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Prada West was born with music in his soul. Since the tender age of five music has held a special place in his heart; and having a professional drummer for a father only helped contribute to the success of who Prada West is today. It was with his natural ear for music that Prada taught himself to play a wide range of instruments throughout his childhood. Although this passion stayed in his heart, failure to find his niche caused Prada's interests to waiver.
As a teenager Prada started exploring the different dynamics of the culture surrounding rap and hip hop. Exploration that was influenced in part to the Spanish and Latin Hip Hop, and West Coast Rap that he and his friends were listening to at the time. Inspired by this genre of music Prada started writing his own poems, later on transforming them into rhymes. It was then that Prada started emcee'ing and free styling occasionally at parties; but due to the lack of opportunities for growth Prada failed to take things seriously. During this time Prada went through a rough patch and was incarcerated on and off. It was during this time that Prada started writing more frequently as an outlet for dealing with his experiences.
At 22 his older sister gifted Prada with a poem entitled “Peaceful Warrior.” This poem contained her personal reflections surrounding Prada's perseverance through adversity and her views regarding his talent for writing and performing. For the first time Prada was able to see himself through the eyes of someone else, allowing him the chance to see not only his untapped talent but his potential as well. Prada was then inspired to take writing at a more serious level and in turn established his distinct style of lyricism. In 2010 to early 2011 at the age of 23, Prada started working with a rapper named Konfidential and started recording; his first performance was at age 24. In April 2011, Prada put together a collaboration with Merkules and Konfidential entitled “No Matter Where I go,” and shortly after released the music video for it. Noticed by the founder of Ephin Apparel and of S.D.K. (StompDown Killaz a local crew of rappers based out of Surrey, B.C.), they opted to release Prada's video on their website, and Prada's video received an overwhelming 100,000 views. In 2012 Prada became a full blown member joining S.D.K.'s other artists Caspian, Snak the Ripper, Evil Ebenezer, and Merkules.
What truly makes Prada West original is that he doesn't feed into materialism and refuses to sugarcoat anything, unlike that of his competitors. Prada was once asked “If someone had never heard your lyrics or watched you perform what would you want them to walk away with?” His response was “If nothing else I want to be able to give them something to hold onto, something that will inspire them or something they can relate to.” “I want to give them insight on a situation that they're going through, and I want them to see me perform again, but mostly I just want to earn their respect about what I have to say.” There is speculation from critics to why Prada West draws the attention of so many youth. Prada attributes this to a combination of his raw lyrical content and the fact that they identify with his struggles. When Prada performs “Goin Gets Tough,” youth can be seen rapping in unison at the top of their lungs, “When the going gets tough, then the tough gets going. Even though it hurts inside, you won't show it. You won't be the last, cause you weren't the first, just keep telling yourself it could always be worse.” It's performances like this when it's hard to distinguish who's the performer and who's the audience as emotions run high and lines blur.
Currently having toured across most of Canada, Prada has performed live over 200 times, and has released over a dozen music videos on You Tube, and various other social media sites, all of which he is dominating at a rapid pace. Prada has opened up for Vinnie Paz (Jedi Mind Tricks), EPMD, ILL BILL of Non Phixion, GZA, Raekwon (Wutang Clan), Dub C (Westside Connection), Bone Thugs and Harmony, Xzhibit, Beatnuts, Machine Gun Kelly, Swollen Members, Warren G, Outlawz, Masta Ace, Marco Polo, Trick Trick, and Bizarre just to name a few. His fan base stems throughout all of North America, and most of Europe. His albums include “Lost In Thought,” “The Take Over EP,” “On The Run,” “The Versatile EP,” and “The Lost and Found.”
Band Members
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