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Biography
Infobox musical artist|name = Pigeon John|image =|caption =|background = solo_singer|birth_name = John Kenneth Dunkin|origin = Los Angeles , California , United States|USA |genre = hip hop , Christian Hip Hop |occupation = rapper |label = Syntax Records|Syntax , Basement Records|Basement , Quannum Projects |years_active = Early 1990s& ndash;present|associated_acts = Brainwash Projects L.A. Symphony Rootbeer Pigeon John is an United States|American hip hop rapper raised in Hawthorne, California and based in Los Angeles, California .
Biography
Pigeon John is a Los Angeles area rapper who has recorded four studio albums as a solo artist, as well as several others as a member of the groups like L.A. Symphony and Brainwash Projects. Pigeon John has been featured as a Collaboration|collaborator on numerous other recordings with various artists. He is currently signed to Quannum Projects and has performed on several U.S. tours including Cali Comm Tour and has been featured in publications including Entertainment Weekly, VIBE, SPIN Magazine and LA Weekly. In 2006, Pigeon John was featured in an interview on National Public Radio .
In 2007, Pigeon John made his way to http://www.itshiphop.tv/shows/thebreakdown/3/35 The Breakdown, an internet show on http://www.itshiphop.tv ItsHipHop.Tv where he conducted part of the interview on the toilet.
He was http://iamatreasure.com/2010/12/important-announcement/ http://www.thechristianrock20.com/album-review-dragon-slayer-by-pigeon-john/ http://filtermagazine.com/index.php/news/entry/qa_pigeon_john married to author Harmony Dust and has one daughter, Johnny Ella.
Early life
John Kenneth Dunkin (later changed to Dust) was born in Omaha, Nebraska , USA and moved to the Los Angeles County city of Inglewood, California at the age of five years old. Being a mixed-race child (half black and half white), John felt out of place in predominantly white Omaha and predominantly black Inglewood. John's mother eventually moved her family from Inglewood to the nearby city of Hawthorne, California , where John attended Hawthorne High School (Hawthorne, California)|Hawthorne High School . He currently resides with his wife Harmony in the Los Angeles suburb of Northridge, California .
Pigeon John was an avid skateboarder and would often listen to a variety of music on the radio while skateboarding, especially on the legendary Los Angeles hip-hop radio station KDAY . Early on, John was influenced by an eclectic range of artists including Beastie Boys , De La Soul , Phil Collins , and Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna . It was when he was only twelve years old he wrote his first rap titled "Inglewood Skater's Dream."
As a teenager, Pigeon John began performing his raps on open mic nights at the famous Project Blowed|Good Life Cafe . The Good Life Cafe is a health food restaurant that provided a place for many underground hip-hop artists to display their talent, including Jurassic 5 , The Black Eyed Peas , and Freestyle Fellowship . Pigeon John's first recorded performance (credited as MC Pigeon) was a collaboration titled "Judge Not" with the artist LPG (hip hop group)|LPG , from their 1995 album, The Earthworm (album)|The Earthworm .
He claimed that his nickname was provided by Jesus who was driving around Inglewood, California : "He hopped out and handed me a dead pigeon. He whispered 'Please have a good time, you're really bumming me out.' I watched him sink back into the cushioned seats and drive, quickly away. And that's when it happened, the pigeon started shaking violently and became awake, picked up and flew away. I don't think I had a choice....its was 'pigeon' or die."cite news | url= http://www.laist.com/2007/01/11/laist_interview_pigeon_john.php | accessdate=2007-12-01 | date=11 January 2007 | publisher= Gothamist|LAist | title=LAist Interview: Pigeon John | name=Anti
He later explained that he was discussing his need for a "rap name" with a friend when the friend suggested "Chicken John," taken from the character Chicken George in Roots (TV miniseries)|Roots . The friend's mom then interjected that John didn't look like a chicken; he looked like a pigeon and should be called Pigeon John.cite web | url= http://www.maximumfun.org/blog/2008/01/podcast-jordan-jesse-go-ep-49.html | date=21 January 2008 | title=Jordan, Jesse, Go!: Conventions | name=Anti
Music career
;Brainwash Projects In the early 1990s, Pigeon John and his childhood friend B-Twice formed the hip-hop duo Brainwash Projects .cite book |last=Powell |first=Mark Allan |title=Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music |year=2002 |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |location= Peabody, Massachusetts|Peabody , Massachusetts |isbn=1-56563-679-1 |edition=First printing |chapter=Brainwash Projects |page=105 Brainwash Projects contributed the single "Muchas Muchachas" to the Christian rap compilation "Sanktifunctafyd" released by N-Soul Records in 1995. Brainwash Projects eventually released a record titled The Rise And Fall Of Brainwash Projects on the independent label Jackson Rubio." http://web.archive.org/web/19991103064409/www.jacksonrubio.com/bpstats.html the rise and fall of the BRAINWASH PROJECTS". Published by Jackson Rubio. Available through the Internet Archive . One reviewer characterized The Rise and Fall as "pure, uncut, holy hip-hop" but gave mixed reviews of its beats and lyrics.cite web |last=Jones |first=Justin W. |url= http://www.tollbooth.org/review99/brainwash.html |title=Brainwash Projects : The Rise and Fall of |date=1999-03-01 |publisher=The Phantom Tollbooth
;LA Symphony & Rootbeer Pigeon John and B-Twice, and now KarateE& #33; Mouse, eventually met other like-minded young rappers and formed the hip-hop musical collective known as L.A. Symphony . Members of the L.A. Symphony have at one time or another also included members of The Halieyoos Fishermen (Sharlok Poems, Trendi M.C., and J-Beits aka Great Jason), The Eternals ( LA Symphony|Cookbook & Uno Mas ), Coy ( Paul "Coy" Allen ), and rapper/producer Flynn Adam Atkins . Pigeon John, B-Twice, and Great Jason have since left L.A. Symphony to pursue solo careers and other projects, but are still considered part of the L.A. Symphony crew. Pigeon John and Flynn formed a side project called Rootbeer. Rootbeer has released one e.p. in early 2009 called "Pink Limousine." The e.p. consists of five tracks including "Chimpanzee", "Girlies", "Pink Limousine", "Under Control", and "So Good." Years before, in 1999, Flynn and Pigeon's first song as the group, Root Beer, was "The Inevitable Return of the Pretty Boy Virgins".cite web|url= http://web.archive.org/web/19991007163946/ http://www.mired.com/mp3/|date=Oct 7, 1999|title=Mired mp3 Download page
;Solo career Between 1997 and 2000, Pigeon John recorded the songs that became his first solo album, Is Clueless (2001)|Pigeon John Is Clueless . The album was released in 2001 by The Telephone Company and then re-released in 2002 by The Telephone Company/ Syntax Records with 3 new tracks and new artwork. He was also responsible for the compilation project, Coalition: the Hip-Hop Alliance , in which he was the executive producer. It featured some of the most diverse artists from all over the U.S., including his alma mater group, LA Symphony , CampQuest, Relentless, Royal Ruckus, New Breed, MG& #33; the Visionary , 4th Avenue Jones , John Reuben , Sackcloth Fashion, Decimal and Count Bass D . Pigeon John then signed to Basement Records and released Is Dating Your Sister|Pigeon John Is Dating Your Sister (2003) and Sings the Blues|Pigeon John Sings the Blues (2005). In 2005, Lyrics Born saw Pigeon John on the Cali Comm Tour and brought him into Quannum Projects . That same year, Pigeon John's single "Deception" was featured on a series of Nestle Crunch commercials.cite web|url= http://www.sweetdisaster.com/archives/2005_05.html|date=May 12, 2005|title=Sweetdisaster Newsblog Archives|publisher=Sweetdisaster In 2006, after signing to Quannum, Pigeon John released his fourth solo album, And the Summertime Pool Party . The album has received positive reviews from many sources, including LA Weekly , Entertainment Weekly and VIBE .cite web|title=L.A. Music '06: Welcome to Indie Land: Retro-Futuristic Postmodern House Party|author=Sullivan, Kate|date=December 6, 2006|publisher=LA Weekly|url= http://www.laweekly.com/general/features/la-music-06-welcome-to-indie-land/15139/(June 8, 2006) LA Weekly .cite journal|journal=Entertainment Weekly|date=September 2006|title=(October 2006). VIBE Magazine . In 2007 he did a Take-Away Show video session shot by Vincent Moon . A sample of "Weight of the World" is used in the Current TV show infoMania . He also had his song "Higher" featured on the NBA Live 2007 soundtrack. "Calculator Watch" is featured on the Hip Hope Hits 2009 compilation.
A new album, entitled Dragon Slayer, hit physical and digital retail October 12, 2010. http://www.the9elements.com/2010/08/pigeon-john-will-slay-some-dragons-this.html With the aid of General Elektriks' Herve Salters, he produced the whole record, including, for the first time, sampling original instrumentation rather than flipping samples from records. "It's a whole new venture. It becomes bigger than being a writer, and you have to be an editor, in book-form. Working with Herve Salters makes my music feel new to me. It's been a great process, I love it." http://pgamusic.com/Artist.aspx? ArtistID=88 His first single from the album, "The Bomb", was featured in a Volkswagen television commercial in early October (in which the computer-manipulated likenesses of Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor perform a seated dance in the backseat of a Volkswagen Jetta|Jetta to illustrate the large amount of leg room available). http://www.theboombox.com/2010/10/06/pigeon-john-music-showcased-in-volkswagen-ad/
Discography
Studio albums
Album information
Clueless (2001)
Released: 2001
Label: The Telephone Company
Is Clueless (2002)
Released: 2002
Label: The Telephone Company/ Syntax Records|Syntax
http://www.rapzilla.com/rz/content/blogcategory/16/46/ Pigeon John Videos
http://www.vlaze.com/pigeonjohn Pigeon John's Vlaze.com profile page with videos
http://artofrhyme.com/interviews/artist/Pigeon-John/8/ Pigeon John Interview with Art of Rhyme
Quannum ProjectsLA Symphony Persondata | NAME =John, Pigeon | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:John, Pigeon Category:Living people Category:Quannum Projects artists Category:American Christians Category:Performers of Christian hip hop music Category:People from Omaha, Nebraska Category:Rappers from Nebraska
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