Born in 1989, Obvrse Barwin is a hip-hop artist, who grew up between Washington D.C. and Paris. His father spent years working as a war reporter and a journalist, which gave the family an opportunity to call a couple different places “home” and to travel. Even though his mother was a French teacher at the time, she is the one who pushed for a bilingual education after moving back to France from the Unites States in 1996.

 

Listening to a lot of classic and alternative rock in junior high, it wasn’t long before tracks off Stankonia and The Marshall Mathers LP albums started climbing up his playlists, sparking an interest for song writing, rhymes, and metaphors. During the two last years of high school, writing battle raps against friends in the back of the class became competitive and music became a focal point fast! By that time, classic hip hop albums were on heavy rotation and musical expedition was in full throttle: Rhymesayers Entertainemnt, Strange Music, Disiz la Peste, MC Solaar, NTM, ATCQ, the Soulquarians, Cunninlynguists (“I taught myself to rhyme over their beats”)…

 

“Heartbreak is when music became a passion, becoming the only fun thing that was non-threatening. Music became my way of knowing myself and of diving into the true fabric of who I really was as a person. Nowadays, sensitivity, emotion, or even kindness, are often perceived as weaknesses, which is fundamentally untrue and sad. Exploring emotions is fun to me. That is what I do in my music, explore and make myself laugh or cry according to the direction I’m going. If one of those two doesn’t happen, my job isn’t done, that rhyme or that song isn’t where it needs to be.” Obvrse Barwin

 

In 2009, Obvrse Barwin was rapping as Mr. Kurtz and released two projects: HipHopAlypse Now 1 and 2 (2010). A couple music videos were shot and posted online as Mr. Kurtz but none of it was original music: mostly remixe. That is what led to Obvrse Barwin and Bad Mr. Bassman meeting again in 2011 after last seeing each other in sixth grade.

 

“We met in 2000, in the sixth grade, but at the end of that year Bad Mr. Bassman changed schools and we didn’t see each other for the next decade. 11 years passed and then we bumped into each other at the local pub when everybody was back for Christmas break. We got to reminiscing about awkward times in junior high school and ended up talking about music and it just so happened one of us had been rapping and writing rhymes religiously for the past six or seven years, had released two projects under another stage name and the other had just graduated with a degree in sound engineering from Full Sail University. Oh and he was also really good at playing the bass! What came next was only natural: “Dude I think we should try making a full album. I’ve been trying to find people to help me make my own music. If you’re up for it I’m not doing anything all summer. Let’s start making it.” I wasn’t really expecting anything but he just said: “Okay let’s go!” We started writing and now we have this album: Dark Screens. 13 tracks we love and can’t wait to weave into a live set we can go out and play!”