Adeem (rapper)

Early life

Adeem began rapping at age 15, when he started a group called Mellow Minds with a pair of local rappers in Keene, New Hampshire. The group appeared on Keene State College Radio from 1994–1996, where Adeem began to freestyle. In 1996, Adeem met DJ MF Shalem, and the two began working on routines and choreographing a live set.

In 1998, during a trip to Portland, Maine, rapper Sole convinced Adeem to attend Scribble Jam to perform with his group, The Live Poets. Adeem did not intend to participate in the emcee battle that year, but his friends registered him to compete anyway. After eliminating Atmosphere’s Slug in the final round, Adeem won the Emcee Battle— it was his first victory in an organized competition.^[3] The day after the battle, Mr. Dibbs expanded the 1200 Hobos DJ Crew to include emcees; Adeem was invited to the crew along with Buck 65, Sixtoo, Slug, Dose One, Eyedea, Adverse, Sole, and Alias. Although the crew did not release any projects as a collective, Adeem claimed membership in the group for many years.^[4]

20th century

In late 1998, Adeem met Sage Francis at an Open Mic event in Providence, RI. The two artists collaborated and played shows together for a few years afterwards. In 1999, Adeem and Sage flew to Halifax, Nova Scotia and recorded a 30-minute song with Buck 65 and Sixtoo, which became known as “The Untitled Canadian Recordings.” During this time, Adeem and Sage collaborated with Sole and Alias to produce “I’m Afraid,” which was released on Sage Francis’ “Sick of Waiting…” in 1999.

Later in 1999 Adeem and DJ MF Shalem recorded their first album, "The First Few Inches" on cassette tape. The title of the album was an inside joke; the artists did not have enough money to press a 12-inch single but thought that a tape constituted a good first step. On the A-side, Adeem freestyled while DJ MF Shalem played classic funk and rock songs. The B-side was the first collection of written songs ever released by Adeem. The album, almost exclusively produced by Shalem, was individually dubbed and all inserts were cut by hand. The album featured a guest verse by Adverse, who joined Adeem and Shalem in 2000 to create a group called The Dorian Three.^[5] In the following years, The Dorian Three produced two albums and toured nationally.

21st century

During the summer of 2001, Adeem finished his first solo album, Sweet Talking Your Brain. The album was produced by the Vinyl Monkeys (MF Shalem, The Eclectic, Elektro4, Scott Matelic, Moodswing9, DJ Mayonnaise, Maker) and was self-released in the Fall of 2001. The album was later licensed by Syntax Records in the USA and by Tri Eight Records in Japan in 2002. Tri Eight subsequently pressed a 12-inch single with the tracks “Sweet Talk,” Forgotten Habit,” and “Stargazing.”

Adeem entered the emcee battle at Scribble Jam again in 2001. He won by defeating battle heavyweights like Sage Francis, Blueprint, and Mac Lethal. At the time, nobody had ever won the emcee battle more than once in the history of the hip-hop festival.^[3] Because his longtime partner, DJ MF Shalem, was occupied as Sage Francis’ tour DJ, Adeem connected with DJ DQ with the intent to create a touring act. At approximately this time, Maker, a producer from Them Badd Apples in Chicago, sent Adeem a collection of beats over which to rap. After successful projects with both DJ DQ and Maker, the trio decided to visit Maker in Aurora, IL to create a touring act. The group, originally called Seconds Away, ultimately became Glue.

In 2003, Adeem was chosen to compete in an emcee battle on Last Call with Carson Daly. He finished in second place, behind Breeze Evaflowin. The final battle lasted two rounds, only one of which was aired by NBC.^[6]

In 2004, Glue released its first album, “Seconds Away” to critical success from trade publications and the blogosphere.^[7] That summer, Glue was asked to play at the Warped Tour with a set at every show that summer. Instead of buying a seat on one of the buses like most small acts, Adeem and DJ DQ followed the tour in a Honda Civic; as a result, the vehicle became a lyrical theme in Glue’s later songs.

During the summer of 2004, Glue leveraged contacts at Fat Beats to make plans for the release of its next album, “Catch as Catch Can.” However, because of the immediate popularity of a Catch as Catch Can demo track posted to Myspace (the song “Early Morning Silence”), the group decided to release an EP between its two full-length albums. The EP, named after Maker’s basement studio, was called “Sunset Lodge,” and was finished within a month. The album was released by legendary Cincinnati label Shake It Records in December 2005.

“Catch as Catch Can” was ultimately released on September 16, 2006 to critical acclaim;^[8] almost 10,000 copies of the album were sold worldwide. Glue supported the album with three coast-to-coast tours between 2006 and 2007, playing with acts like Solillaquists of Sound, X:144 & SPS, and Hangar 18.^[9] In January 2008, MTV2 contacted featured Glue on its “On the Rise” program, highlighting the group as an innovative, new hip-hop group from Chicago. The group toured briefly in 2008 but decided to take a break before working on its next album.

In late 2008, Adeem began working on a new two-album solo project. Conceptually, Adeem intended the first album, “The Volume in the Ground,” to feature a gravedigger who could hear the stories of the dead and the second, “The Bandit Hymn Project,” to revolve around a motorcycle gang of ghosts.

“The Volume in the Ground,” released in May 2011, featured collaboration with DJ MF Shalem, Maker, Chadeo, and Nobs; each artist brought a unique style to the project. Adeem recorded vocals in Orlando, FL with Solillaquists of Sound members Swamburger and Alexandrah. Weeks after he returned to NH, he was given a new beat from Chadeo and decided to do one last song for the album. He contacted Ben Rogers to record at Loud Sun Studios in New Hampshire. After recording what ended up being “Thirty One Songs,” Adeem decided he liked the sound so much that he would re-do the entire album in that studio; he re-recorded every song on the same microphone that he used for “Thirty One Songs,” using what he discovered in Orlando.^[10] Before finalizing the album, Adeem collaborated with violinist Bjorn DelaCruz, singer Kaleigh Baker, bassist Eric Gagne, DJ DQ, and vocalist Sean Hurley all of whom became a critical to the album’s sound. Rogers engineered the recording of every song on the album, opening up a new sound in Adeem by using an empty warehouse as a natural echo chamber. In total 20 people added their talents to the album. Adeem mixed and mastered the album with Tobe Donohue (animal crackers, Bootsy Collins engineer) for 2 weeks in Cincinnati. The album was released, DIY, on Winners Never Sleep Records.^[11]

In early 2011, Adeem and DJ MF Shalem began working on a follow-up to their 2004 album. A temporary return to Adeem’s braggadocio style from the mid-2000s, the sample-free album, “Made in New Hampshire” will be released in October 2011.

Adeem currently lives in Keene, NH with his wife and daughter.