Moka Only | |
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 Moka Only in 2015 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as |
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| Born | Daniel Denton November 14, 1973 |
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| Occupations |
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| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Labels |
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| Website | https://urbnet.com/moka-only |
Daniel Denton (born November 14, 1973), better known by his stage name Moka Only, is a Canadian hip-hop artist and producer. He has released music through Rapstar Records, Legendary Entertainment, Battle Axe Records & (currently) with URBNET Records.
Contents
- Discography
- Awards
- Juno Awards
- MuchMusic Video Awards
- Western Canadian Music Awards
- Other Awards
- References
He is originally from Victoria, British Columbia, though in the early 1990s he lived in Vancouver. [1] In 1995, along with Madchild and Prevail, the trio formed the hip hop group Swollen Members, Moka conceiving the name. [2] Though he left soon after to work on his own music (eventually re-joining shortly in the early 2000s). In June of 1995, he released his debut album titled Upcoast Relix with Rapstar Records. He continued making tapes under this label through the late 90’s and was a pioneer of DIY hand to hand distribution. [3] In 2001, he partnered with Legendary Entertainment to reissue them on CD.
Much of his earlier work was produced by a variety of different people (including himself). Most notably Deceo Ellipsis, who entirely produced 4 of Moka’s albums. [4] However, in 1999 he started building a personal studio and a year later he released his first fully self-produced project Beauty is a Free Road. He went on to self-produce many more projects, nonetheless, he still worked with a number of other producers such as J Dilla, Ayatollah & Factor Chandelier. He has a large personal collection of keyboards and other instruments and uses both analog and digital techniques in his recording process. [5] Aside from his own work, he has produced for other artists as well like Sunspot Jonz, Lil B, Snak the Ripper & Gabriel Teodros. [6]
Also in 1999, he was featured on the songs “Crypik Souls Crew” & “Crazy Cause I Believe (Early Morning Sunshine)” by LEN from their breakthrough album You Can't Stop the Bum Rush . He also made a cameo appearance in the music video for the groups hit song "Steal My Sunshine”. Around this time, he paired with fellow B.C native Ishkan to create Nowfolk. Their first album together named Style Gangsters released in 1999, followed by The Moon in 2002. The duo recorded two more albums from 2001-2003 named Magnesium Opium & The Winter. From 2001. However, in June of 2003 Moka’s ADAT system was destroyed, effectively halting the projects release until 2016. [7]
On April 3, 2001 he released Lime Green, his first album with Battle Axe Records, the same label as Swollen Members. Later in 2001, he returned to the group on the song “Fuel Injected”, which catapulted them from underground to Canadian mainstream and won four MuchMusic Video Awards. [8] The next single “Bring It Home” reached #3 on the Canadian Singles Chart and helped the album Bad Dreams achieve Platinum status in Canada. [9] Also in 2001, he released the solo album Moka Only is… Ron Contour and the collaboration album Code Name Scorpion with Prevail & Abstract Rude. In 2002, Swollen Members released Monsters in the Closet, a collection of B-sides, unreleased tracks and 3 newly produced songs. The album earned a Gold certification and peaked at #7 in Canada. [10] Just weeks prior Moka released the solo album Flood, though it was largely overlooked in favor of the group’s album. In June of 2003, he released the album Lowdown Suite, which suffered a similar fate as his previous solo effort. [11] The groups next album Heavy released later in the year and includes Moka on every song, for the first and only time. The album reached #14 on the Canadian albums chart. After this he returned his focus mostly to solo work. In total, he released six albums with Battle Axe Records (including two under subsidiary Underworld Inc.) and was an integral part of Swollen Members second and third albums.
On August 16, 2005 he released his final album with Battle Axe Records titled The Desired Effect, an album he would later describe as “The Not So Desired Effect”. Due to issues with distributor Nettwerk his vision was not fully met and he felt his artistry was somewhat compromised. In October of the same year he released an alternate version titled Dirty Jazz, a Japan exclusive CD, with new tracks and a few from the previous album. A year later, Desired Effect was unveiled. In his own words, “THIS is what I really wanted The Desired Effect to be.. raw, continuous and to the point”. Finally, in 2007 he released Vermillion, which includes more songs that were initially intended for The Desired Effect. [12]
In 2007, Moka started the Airport series, with a spring themed album. In the same year he released three winter-themed albums titled Martian Xmas. He continued the Airport series, releasing annually for six years. The Martian Xmas series is ongoing and has totaled 21 releases. [13] From 2006-2012 he released music through a number of different record labels. Mostly URBNET Records, which became his primary label by the early 2010’s. In 2016, he released 12 full length albums, one in each month. [14] The albums were released digitally and as a limited edition, two part cassette collection. [15] [16]
Moka has collaborated with a number of notable artists including MF Doom, Del the Funky Homosapien, Kool Keith and Sweatshop Union. [17] He has also collaborated with individual members of prominent rap groups, including Bootie Brown of The Pharcyde, Opio of Souls of Mischief, and Plug 2 of De La Soul. He has named Native Tongues, and jazz artists like Ornette Coleman, Herbie Hancock and many more as influences. He once said, “In the back of my head, I always wanted to be a jazz artist, but didn’t feel I had all the skills, so I channeled that energy into hip-hop. The way I did it was to marry both worlds together.” [18]
Denton has released music under different aliases, most notably Ron Contour. In addition to making music, he painted the cover artwork for his albums In and of Itself, AMALAMA & Spooky Beats n’ Other Treats, and EP’s The Mothership & Beaming. [19]
Moka is a fan of skateboarding and can be seen riding in a few music videos. His music is featured in two Red Dragons skate videos “RDS / FSU / 2002” [20] & “Skateboard Party” [21] . In 2012, he and Def3 released a music video for the song “Dragon’s Gate”, which takes place in the companies warehouse. [22] Additionally, the brand Skull Skates made the cover art for his 2013 album Mutant [23] and in 2015 they created a signature deck for him. [24]