Blade (producer)

Brandon Bowles, better known as Blade, is an American platinum-selling record producer, songwriter and arranger.

History

Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Blade eventually relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth area at the age of 13 to live with his father who was a record executive at BMG Distribution and was well-known and respected throughout the music industry. While both his parents played heavy roles in embedding a deep passion for music within him at a very young age, it was because of his father's long career in the industry that Blade was constantly exposed, not only to the creative side, but also the business side of the music industry throughout his entire childhood.

Career

Early on, at the age of 12, Blade began honing his skills as a rapper. During his freshman year in high school, he met long-time friend Carl Boganey who shared the same passion for hip-hop music and they formed a two man rap group which they entitled, The Thredz. It was at this point that Blade began to really focus on his production skills in order to provide quality music for the group.

After years of working with The Thredz and progressing in his artistry, Blade began to branch out and produce for other local artists in his area as a means to make extra money. After years of working with his own group and other local artists, Blade got his first taste of major work when a friend passed a CD of his beats along to Houston-rapper, Chamillionaire. The Houston-rapper recorded to two of the tracks for his second album, Ultimate Victory . Unfortunately, Chamillionaire decided to go a different direction with the project after the songs were recorded and, ultimately, not to use the tracks for the final album. Instead of taking this as a disappointment, Blade used this as motivation to work even harder.

By chance, the work that he did with a local male R&B group made its way to the ears of Atlanta heavyweight producer Don Vito. Impressed with what he heard, Don Vito signed Blade to his production company Don Vito Productions. This new business venture led to Blade producing the lead single “Killa ” for Atlanta R&B/Pop girl group Cherish on their sophomore album entitled, The Truth. The song featured rapper Young Joc. The song was included on the movie soundtrack to “Step Up 2: The Streets” as well as the actual movie itself. Also the song was included on the platinum-selling compilation, Now That’s What I Call Music Vol.28, earning Blade his first platinum credit.

Most recently Blade produced the song “Ciara to the Stage” for multi-platinum artist Ciara’s highly-anticipated third album, Fantasy Ride, which is set to release on May 5th, 2009. He also has done upcoming tracks for major artists such as Nelly, Pleasure P, Hurricane Chris, Interscope-Geffen-A&M’s new girl group Krave, Lil’ Scrappy, and Mack 10.

Production credits

• "Killa" - Cherish feat. Young Joc
• "Ciara to the Stage" - Ciara
• "Thousand Stacks" - Nelly feat. Diddy
• "Tender Roni (Handcuffin')" - Pleasure P. (co-production)
• "Dope Boy" - Mack 10
• "Warrior" - Hurricane Chris feat. Beenie Man
• "Denial" - Krave
• "Baby Come to Me" - Lil' Scrappy