Prago Union
Prago Union are a hip-hop duo from Prague, Czech Republic established in 2002. Largely a product of Kato's unique lyrical wordplay and storytelling as well as skillful beatmaking, Prago are considered by many fans and critics to be one of the best and most consistent hip-hop artists of the Czech hip-hop scene.
The group consists of two members:
Kato (Adam Svatoš, born 1979)
DJ Maro
Former:
DJ Skupla
Dědek (live performances only)
Both Kato (calling himself Deph back then) and Skupla were former members of Chaozz, a well-known hip-hop formation that helped pioneer the genre in Czech Republic in the mid-90's and brought it into mainstream. With their youthful, sometimes naive, lyrics and a big record company behind them, they got some disrespect from other artists and many people only saw the band and its members as "one-hit wonders". Towards the end of Chaozz, Kato realized that he didn't even know how to use a sampler and that without the big record company supporting him, he would be a nobody. That's why he decided to "start over" and learn everything from scrap if he wanted to continue making music. After Chaozz disbanded in 2002, Kato and Skupla went on to become Prago Union.
In 2005, Prago released their debut album named HDP (Hrubý Domácí Produkt - Gross Domestic Product). With Kato spending his days at work and nights in the studio while barely sleeping at all, it makes sense that the album took more than three years to complete. It featured guest appearances from Masta Ace, Planet Asia, Kutmasta Kurt and Dendemann (from Germany's "Eins Zwo") as well as fellow Czech rappers Phat and De Zrechts. The album was well received by critics and fans alike and is already widely considered one of Czech hip-hop classics.
Expectations were extremely high for the follow-up, but Kato took his time. His lyrics are very personal and as he says, he first needs to live through something to have something to write about. That, combined with Kato's thyroid problems, meant that the follow-up to HDP took five long years to make.
In early 2010, the title and release date of the new album were finally confirmed by Kato himself. Dezorient Express was released on April 30th 2010. It consisted of 22 tracks, clocking in at over 79 minutes and featuring no guest performances from other rappers, leaving Kato to deal with all the vocals and lyrics as well as most of the beats. Like its predecessor, Dezorient Express was very well received by both fans and critics, earning praise for its true-school sound and clever, thoughtful, personal lyrics. The overall feel of the album is a bit darker than HDP, both in beats and lyrics. The album became a success in commercial terms as well, selling more than a thousand copies in its first week.
DJ Maro replaced Skupla for the new album, becoming his permanent replacement.
DISCOGRAPHY:
Gold Chain Mew-Zick II ft. Planet Asia / Verbální atentát / Uprchlík ft. Dědek (8th July 2005, BBRekordy)
HDP (Hrubej domácí produkt) (10th October 2005, Strojovna Rec. / BBRekordy / Universal Music )
Dezorient Express (4th May 2010, Strojovna / EMI), recenze
Metronom (16th November 2010, Strojovna), Free CD
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Official website:
http://www.pragounion.cz/
Brno Onion #1
Brno Onion #2: report z koncertu Prago s bandem na Flédě Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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