Napoleon Maddox

Napoleon Maddox (b. Springfield, Massachusetts, ca. 1973) is a hip hop vocalist from the Lincoln Heights area of Cincinnati, Ohio. Also known by the stage name NapoleonSolo, he is a proficient rapper, beatboxer, and singer, and leads the socially conscious group IsWhat?! (formed in the fall of 1996). Unlike most hip hop artists, Maddox generally performs with acoustic instruments, including double bass and saxophones. With IsWhat?!, he has toured the United States and Europe; in 2007 the group performed with Archie Shepp in Italy.
He has recorded with Hamid Drake and also toured with the New York City-based duo Transmitting (Jane LeCroy and Tom Abbs). He has worked with Chuck D, Henry Grimes, Oliver Lake, Claire Daly, Ming+FS, Karsh Kale, and Magic Malik.
Maddox also works supporting or is a member of Sotto Voce (featuring Roy Nathanson, Tim Kiah, and Sam Bardfeld), Burnt Sugar Arkestra, The Fonda/Stevens Group, and JC Hopkins Biggish Band.
Between 1994 and 2001, he hosted The Social Factor, a hip-hop/urban issues radio program, on WAIF in Cincinnati. The show featured live and pre-recorded interviews with personalities such as Spike Lee, Channel Live, Jurassic 5, Rahzel, The Roots, Jay-Z, Big Jaz (Jaz-O), Group Home, Mos Def, Watts Prophets, The Last Poets, Burning Spear, and Souls of Mischief. The phone lines were open for on air call-ins regarding current events, community affairs, and political discourse. The show also featured the music of such groups as Self Scientific, KAM, Steel Pulse, Natural Resources, Gang Starr, Ras Kass, Nina Simone, Lester Bowie, Boogie Down Productions, Nas, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
In 2008 he performed at the Vision Festival. In February 2009 he hosted a workshop at the Bridge Centre in Stoke on Trent, England, as part of Sing Up, the Music Manifesto National Singing Programme. It was attended by year 5 students from St Augustine Catholic Primary in Meir. He taught them how to beatbox and they developed their own raps. His 2009 schedule includes performances in France and Estonia.
Maddox was named "Best Jet-Setter" in the 2009 Best of Cincinnati awards.
Discography
===With IsWhat?!===
*2003 - You Figure It Out... (Hyena Records)
*2006 - The Life We Chose (Hyena Records)
With Claire Daly
*2004 - Heaven Help Us All (Daly Bread)
With The Fonda/Stevens Group
*2005 - Forever Real (482 Music)
With Kryon
*2003 - Blue Gold (Compagnia Nuove Indye)
With Roy Nathanson
*2005 - Sotto Voce (Intuition; rereleased in 2006 by Aum Fidelity)
With Transmitting
*2007 - Dark & Full of Life (DrummerMan Records)
With WingNut
*2003 - Live at Art's Bar & Billiard, Cincinnati 2/27-28/03 (Wingnut Jazz)

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