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This Beat is Distorted
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This Beat is Distorted (Born John Allan Zgambo Jr), officially known by his rapper name DJ Twenty6, is a Zambian music producer, song-writer and independent short film director. He is well known for his work outside Zambia, especially in neighboring Namibia, where he is pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Engineering. He has produced for many hip hop and rnb artists including NAMA(Namibian Music Award) award winning artist RU, Quido, M-Dwayne, Tesh, Ms. DramatiQ, Liquid, YUNG N.A.M.S, Snowflake I.N.G, Mark Mushiva, Trevor Boginz, Blaze Ur Ego, Kleo Kiki Kash, Mappz, Doppy Drama, Brain.The Tool, Justified ACE, Shawty P, C.L.I.Q.U.E, Nadia, LB, Skohkoh, Miss Cassy, L4, Deadlyness, Kilogrammar, Ttitsah, The Boy Jay, Harry, and talented Zambian female rapper, Tichy. He was born in Kitwe, a small town in Zambia on May 6, 1990 to parents Easter Musesa (a multiple award winning sales advisor and marketing specialist) and corporate mogul, John Allan Zgambo. He is the first of four children from both parents, and has three nuclear siblings; 20 year old Timothy Zgambo (an accountant and record label co-owner ), 16 year old Mary Zgambo (a student and drummer) and 7 year old Anthony Mapalo Zgambo (popularly known as "Charlie Dollars"). He is currently in talks with LSK Records, a Record Label based in Zambia and the UK. EARLY LIFE John was born in Kitwe, Zambia, where he attended St. John's Convent school. He lived in an up-market suburb called Riverside, before moving in with his Uncle after his father's previous business venture collapsed. He and his siblings, Mary and Timothy (before Anthony was born), lived with their mother's brother, Mr. Vigirio Musesa (whom everyone jokingly referred to as "Uncle Shi-Hellen" as a reference to his first born daughter, Hellen), while their mother moved to the capital city of Zambia, lusaka, in hope of rebuilding their lives there. The children, due to the family's financial crisis, had to be withdrawn from their respective Schools for nearly a year. In 2001, Easter Musesa moved her children from Kitwe, 6 months after she had left for lusaka. They relocated to Lusaka's Kalundu suburb, where their mother had briefly secured a 5 bedroom mansion. They lived in Kalundu for almost a year, and at this time attended Olympia basic school in neighboring Olympia. During this period, their father had started rebuilding his business. They later moved out of Kalundu and settled in Chilenje, where their late aunt, Martha Zgambo a school teacher, offered them school places. Having shown excellent progress after returning to School, John was immediately put in an examination grade, grade 7, as his aunt had faith he had the ability to progress and was only being slowed down had he been put in the 6th grade. To the surprise of all who had ridiculed his aunt's assumption, John scored the highest points in the school in that year's examination. Having performed well in his exams, John was given an option of attending Hillcrest Secondary School (boarding School), one of Zambia's premier government owned schools. However, due to his attachment to his mother, he opted to go to a day school, and applied to Arakan High School, where he was accepted. He began his 8th grade in 2003 at the military school, which was well known for discipline. It is here where he met successful gospel rapper Antonio Mwanamuke (The Yellow Dove) and Mutale 'Ntlale' Bwalya. A year later, younger brother Anthony was born. MUSIC CAREER Having met Antonio and Mutale, John decided to try rapping. He and the boys all shared a passion for music and decided they would give it a shot by releasing a single. They had no studio, so they moved from place to place looking for a place to do their song. They later found a small studio, operated by Daniel Lyapa Sikazwe (K-Star), at the cottage of a pre-school ironically called J-Star. Here, K-Star produced their break-out single, "DANCE"-a cheesy gospel song which garnered a few praises and brief airplay. The song debut on Q-Fm's "Recycle Bin", where it was voted a hit by listeners. Later, it received airplay on Zambia's most popular hip hop show at the time, "Hip Hop 2 Rock Ur Block", which was hosted by veteran DJ, Drex. After the success of their single, they created a group called HOODSTARS, adding John's younger brother Timothy to the group as a rapper. John started experimenting on production platform software, FL Studio, with Mutale. Mutale did not continue with their new hobby and opted to rap, while John focussed on improving his production techniques. They recorded several songs, including the hit track "Hoodstars", which was later remade and featured on The Yellow Dove's album. The four would perform at School shows and birthday parties. Later, Timothy introduced the group to his friend Rapheal (known as 'The Beat Beast of The East' at the time), who was talented at Beat Boxing. The boys then decided to create a wider group called 'Blu' Ink Ent'. They added Rapheal, Charisma, Kandy and others to the group, and began recording with Man Gobah and SmyleeFace, while John would produce for them (simultaneously expanding his production knowledge by working with producer, Peezey Cables, before the establishment of 428 Media). After a while, Rapheal decided to expand his abilities and started rapping. He decided to go by the name Rapheal, and then 'Last Born' but later changed his name to simply 'LB'. LB is now one of Zambia's biggest local Hip Hop artists. After the collapse of Blu' Ink, John moved his focus to online ventures. He became a regular on Africanhiphop.com, and caught the eye of Thomas (Juma4), one of the site's founders, who asked John for his assistance in moderating the site's forums. It is here where he started communicating with Duncan Sodala (The Holstar), who is now the manager of 'Zone Fam', and Fred Phiri (Freddy BankNote$). The two, Holstar and Freddy, had embarked on a venture called The Hip Hop Foundation, which they invited John to be a part of. John agreed, and late 2008, he was inducted into the organization's committee, with others such as website designer Chizzo, DJ Peewee and C.R.I.$.I.$, serving on the online committee. In 2009 however, he moved to Namibia for studies which ultimately brought an end to his involvement in the organisation. In Namibia (2009), John met Snowflake ING, a female rapper, who he befriended. She introduced him to Verbalize, a campus music and poetry platform. He began Deejaying there, and ended up meeting Ms. DramatiQ, Mappz, Mark Mushiva, Team Gundam and other artists such as Harry, John D and B-Cross. He began making beats for most members, which ultimately led to his introduction to then Hi-notes Muzik owner, Matthew ("Cyko"). John made several beats for the label, and in exchange would record there for free. It is here where he met producer DJ Psyon (Namibia's top dub-step producer) who would record him. Later, he was introduced to super-producer, Tshuutheni Emvula (Becoming Phill), who became the label's in house producer after Psyon left to study sound engineering in South Africa. John would regularly sit in on sessions by Phill just to learn a few tricks, while Phill would listen and advise him on his beats. Tshuutheni was generally critical of john's production as he would always tell him; "it lacks something that you will eventually find if you work hard. Don't make everything too loud, we can always work on elevating levels in the studio when mastering, but it's hard to control distortion". It is during this period that John would joke about his beats being distorted, which he eventually started using as his producer name. At his School, he also met Mc. Kay, who introduced him to Quido. John then introduced Mc. Kay and Quido to Hi-Notes where they recorded a few songs. Hi-Notes closed down, but John continued exchanging beats with Quido. In 2010, RUN N.A.M.S, a spin-off of Hinotes Muzik, broke through and in turn created a subset, YUNG N.A.M.S, for the younger members of the group. John joined YUNG N.A.M.S as a producer and rapper, with the likes of Sam-e-Lee Jones (famed as one of Namibia's top house producers) and MagiQ. He also joined a campus band, Eviction Notice, which broke-up in 2011. On the other hand, Quido signed to 061 Music and eventually launched his successful debut album, Soweto Boi Certified, on which John featured as a producer. While working on his first mitape, Take 6, John approached rapper RU for a feature, having met RU through rapper Snowflake. After John sent RU a sample of the beat they would work on, RU loved the beat and asked John if he would let her have it all to herself. John agreed and RU recorded the single 'Hockie Pockie', which featured on her debut mixtape. The mixtape went on to win her a NAMA (Namibian Music Award) for best Single, ultimately establishing RU in the Namibian Music Industry. Back home, his brother, Timothy, and Kent Ngoma (Izzie) had agreed to partner up and continue FlyBy Entertainment, a company previously owned solely by Izzie. John, at first had no affiliation to the label but knew Kent and Zikani Kaira (Doppy Drama) as Timothy's friends. It is in 2010 that he decided to work with the label, getting to know the members personally. It is here where he made his first and second mixtapes, which feature production mainly from him, Izzie and Doppy. John announced to friends via Twitter that he is currently working on his third mixtape, 'Pa relax: Break Time', which he thinks will be his last effort before he retires as a rapper. PERSONAL LIFE John is single. He is fluent in English, Nyanja, Bemba and Lamba, and knows basic Tumbuka, Chinese and French. He is 1.65m tall, and has a unique birthmark on the left side of his face. He is Tumbuka. In November 2011, he introduced the 'I REP KAPIRI MPOSHI' campaign to refute claims that he is Pro-Lusaka (basically XYZ) or Pro-kopala Swag. He said; "I find it really sad that we are now kind of forced to choose one. I spent 11 years in Kitwe and 10 in Lusaka. So I really can't choose a side. For now I rep Kapiri Mposhi, since it's central.lol" DISCOGRAPHY Top 10 Radio songs: Snowflake ING - "Wash Away" Quido - "Basics" feat. M-Dwayne RU - "Hockie Pockie" Mappz and Jay - "Do You Wanna" Ms. DramatiQ - "EarMuffs" C.L.I.Q.U.E SQUAD - "Incomplete" feat. Nadia Doppy Drama - "White Girls" feat. Deadlyness, Justified ACE and D-Money L4 - "Reload" feat. DJ Twenty6 L4 - "Reload 1.5" feat. Justified ACE and DJ Twenty6 L4 - "Reload Part 2" feat. Deadlyness and DJ Twenty6 Blaze Ur Ego - "Down on me" feat. B-Boy This Beat Is Distorted's full Production Discography (here) FILMOGRAPHY Smelly FOET - Look at me Now (Spoof) - 2011 (Director) Engineering Activities - 2011 (Writer/Director) Vampeers- 2012 (Producer/Writer/Director) REFERENCES http://www.africanhiphop.com http://allafrica.com/stories/201108250141.html http://en. .org/wiki/Quido http://www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid41696&titlePopya with Miss Cassy http://allyouwanttoknowaboutmusic.blogspot.com http://rucutegeek.buzznet.com/user/.../namibias-illest-female-rapper-ru 
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