Matthew Santos | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Matthew Santos |
Born | December 28, 1982 |
Origin | Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
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Instrument(s) |
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Years active | 2006–present |
Labels | |
Website | matthewsantos |
Matthew Santos is an American rock and folk singer-songwriter, musician and painter. His music was used in a series of two radio ads for American Family Insurance. [1] He became well known for his collaboration with Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco on the single "Superstar". He was signed to Lupe Fiasco's 1st & 15th Entertainment record label, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records.
Matthew Santos was born on December 28, 1982, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His mother, Judy, is from Denmark and his father, Dave, is of Filipino and Spanish descent. [2]
He graduated from Southwest High School in Minneapolis. [3] He moved to Chicago in 2001 to study music composition at Columbia College Chicago. [4]
Santos released his album Matters of the Bittersweet in November 2007, under indie label Candyrat Records. Following the release of the album, he developed a following surrounding his video performances on YouTube. [5] [6] His five-piece band includes Aviva Jaye (vocals, keyboard), Robert Tucker (drums), Graham Burris (bass), and Matthew Nelson (keyboard). [7] [8]
In 2006, Santos was featured on Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor album on the song "American Terrorist." [9] Santos was featured on three additional tracks on Lupe Fiasco's The Cool , released in December 2007; "Superstar", "Streets On Fire", and "Fighters". [9] [10] Santos joined Fiasco on his world tour in 2008, including appearances on MTV's Total Request Live and Spring Break, Jimmy Kimmel Live! , The Ellen DeGeneres Show , The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and a debut talk show performance on David Letterman's first live show after the 2007 Writers Guild of America Strike. [11] [12]
In 2007, Santos opened the mtvU Woodie Awards with Lupe Fiasco and performed at the 2008 mtv's Video Music Awards. [13] In addition, Santos performed at Glastonbury Festival, Bonnaroo Festival, the Las Vegas Vegoose Music Festival, Lollapalooza Chicago, South by Southwest, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Summerfest, and Chicago's Around the Coyote Arts Festival.
In 2009, Santos was featured on the single "Chaconne" by Twin Cities hip hop artist Dessa, a member of Doomtree, from her album A Badly Broken Code . That summer, he was featured in Chicago magazine as one of the city's top singles. [14]
In 2010, Santos released the album This Burning Ship of Fools. [15] In 2012, Santos released the album Quickly Disappearing.
Year | Song | Chart positions [16] | Certifications | Album | ||||
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U.S. Hot 100 | U.S. Pop 100 | U.S. R&B | UK | UK R&B | ||||
2007 | "Superstar" (Lupe Fiasco featuring Matthew Santos) | 10 | 13 | 19 | 4 | 1 | Lupe Fiasco's the Cool | |
2009 | "Shining Down" (Lupe Fiasco featuring Matthew Santos) | 93 | — | — | — | — | Lasers |
Year | Song | Artist(s) | Album |
---|---|---|---|
2006 | "American Terrorist" | Lupe Fiasco | Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor |
2007 | "Superstar" | Lupe Fiasco's The Cool | |
"Fighters" | |||
"Streets On Fire" | |||
2009 | "Shining Down" | Lasers | |
2010 | "The Chaconne" | Dessa | A Badly Broken Code |
Lasers is the third studio album by American rapper Lupe Fiasco, released on March 7, 2011 by Atlantic Records. Production for the album took place between 2008 and 2010. Lasers features production by The Audibles, The Neptunes, Needlz, Alex da Kid, Syience, and long-time collaborator Soundtrakk, among others. Trey Songz, John Legend, Skylar Grey, Sway, Matt Mahaffey, MDMA, Eric Turner and Sarah Green contribute vocals to the album.
Kenna Zemedkun, known professionally as Kenna, is an Ethiopian-born American musician, philanthropist and technology creative. His track "Say Goodbye to Love" was nominated for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in the 2009 Grammy Awards. Kenna is the founder and producer of the Summit on the Summit clean water initiative, and also partnered with Justin Timberlake to re-imagine the social network Myspace before its purchase by Time Inc.
Japanese Cartoon is an American rock band that was formed in 2008 by rapper Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, otherwise known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco. The band consists of Jaco (Vocals) who can be heard singing in a Mockney accent for some songs, Graham Burris (Bass), Matt Nelson (Keyboard), and Le Messie (Production). Their album In the Jaws of the Lords of Death was released July 16, 2010 as a free online download from their website.
Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco, is an American rapper and record producer. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his debut album, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor. He also performs as the frontman of rock band Japanese Cartoon under his real name. As an entrepreneur, Fiasco was the chief executive officer of 1st and 15th Entertainment.
"Touch the Sky" is a song recorded by American hip hop artist Kanye West for his second studio album, Late Registration (2005). The song features Lupe Fiasco on his career debut. It was produced by Just Blaze, standing as the album's only track to not include production from West. The song was released in the United Kingdom as a digital EP through Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam on January 1, 2006. On February 14, the aforementioned labels serviced the song to US mainstream radio stations as the album's fourth single. The next month, it was released in various countries for digital download by Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam and as a CD single through Universal Music, respectively.
Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor is the debut studio album by American rapper Lupe Fiasco, released on September 19, 2006, on 1st & 15th Entertainment and Atlantic Records. The album features production from The Neptunes, Kanye West, Mike Shinoda, Craig Kallman, Prolyfic, Needlz, Soundtrakk, and Brandon Howard. Jay-Z, Chill, and Fiasco himself are credited as the executive producers for the album. Songs on the record discuss poverty, Islam, terrorism, racism, and individuality.
Lupe Fiasco's The Cool is the second studio album by American rapper Lupe Fiasco. It was released on December 18, 2007, by 1st & 15th Entertainment and Atlantic Records. Recording sessions took place during 2006 to 2007, with Lupe Fiasco himself, alongside Charles Patton (Chilly) serving as the records executive producers. A concept album, The Cool was based upon the song and a title character from his debut album, Food & Liquor (2006). The album features guest appearances from Gemini, Snoop Dogg and Matthew Santos, while the production was provided by Patrick Stump, Soundtrakk and Unkle, among others.
American rapper Lupe Fiasco has released eight studio albums, seven mixtapes, seven soundtrack albums, 38 singles, and 37 music videos.
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"Superstar" is a song performed by rapper Lupe Fiasco featuring Matthew Santos. It is the first single off his 2007 album Lupe Fiasco's The Cool. iTunes released "Superstar" on September 25, 2007 along with a radio version of "Dumb It Down."
"Us Placers" is the debut song by American supergroup Child Rebel Soldier, a musical collaboration consisting of American hip-hop artists Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, and Pharrell Williams. It was released as the third song on the track-listing of West's 2007 mixtape Can't Tell Me Nothing. The song was produced by Fiasco and samples the 2006 song "The Eraser" by Thom Yorke. In "Us Placers," the trio speaks on the entrapments of fame. Having been released on a free mixtape, the song did not enter the charts but became an online hit and received strong reviews from music critics.
Matters of the Bittersweet is the first solo acoustic album by singer Matthew Santos. Released in November 2007 under Candy Rat Records, the album features addition of four songs where he is joined by band members Robert Tucker on 'Humming'burd' and Aviva Jaye on vocals and clarinet on three songs; 'Unnamable', 'Daughter of the Sun', and 'Drop a Coin'. The video recordings off "Matters of the Bittersweet" are among the top rated videos on YouTube.
"Hip-Hop Saved My Life" is a viral video, and the second single from Lupe Fiasco's second album, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool. The track features vocals from Nikki Jean, the lead singer of Nouveau Riche.
Prolyfic is an American Grammy-nominated hip-hop record producer, and songwriter best known for his work with hip hop artist Lupe Fiasco.
Demarco Lamonte Castle, also known as Gemstones, is an American singer and rapper from Chicago. He is most well known for his affiliation with fellow Chicago artist Lupe Fiasco.
"Shining Down" is a song by Lupe Fiasco. It was intended to be the first single of Everywhere, the first of three CDs of Lupe Fiasco's triple album, Lupe Fiasco's LupE.N.D., but because of its release being withheld, there was speculation circulating that it may be the first single of his third album, Lasers. The song, however, was only included in the iTunes deluxe version of the album and was considered a promotional single. The song is produced by Soundtrakk and features Matthew Santos, in the same collaborative manner in which the lead single "Superstar" was composed for Lupe's critically acclaimed second album Lupe Fiasco's The Cool.
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