Top tracks
Other Hip Hop albums
Other Alternative Hip Hop albums
Put your hands on the remote! browse music »Social Studies by Breakdown
view larger image
fave it Hip Hop | Alternative Hip Hop
16 tracks | 53 minutes
Released Jul 2006
on Saving Grace Records
Click
for a 30-second preview. All tracks are 192kbps high fidelity sound quality. Protected WMA $0.77 or unprotected MP3 $0.88.
listen album 30sec. shuffle buy CD review album promote album
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 01:23 One Voice lyrics BUY MP3 01:23 One Voice lyrics "GIFT MP3" 01:23 One Voice
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:49 The Path Set Before Me lyrics BUY MP3 03:49 The Path Set Before Me lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:49 The Path Set Before Me
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:33 Perpetratin' lyrics BUY MP3 03:33 Perpetratin' lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:33 Perpetratin'
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:17 The Spot lyrics BUY MP3 04:17 The Spot lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:17 The Spot
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:22 Backfire lyrics BUY MP3 03:22 Backfire lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:22 Backfire
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:46 Dave & Sheila lyrics FREE 03:46 Dave & Sheila lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:46 Dave & Sheila
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:47 Blazin' lyrics BUY MP3 03:47 Blazin' lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:47 Blazin'
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:40 The Difference lyrics BUY MP3 03:40 The Difference lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:40 The Difference
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 01:50 Recess lyrics BUY MP3 01:50 Recess lyrics "GIFT MP3" 01:50 Recess
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:05 The Turning Point lyrics BUY MP3 03:05 The Turning Point lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:05 The Turning Point
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:40 Ain't It Funny lyrics BUY MP3 03:40 Ain't It Funny lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:40 Ain't It Funny
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 00:43 Crowd Control lyrics BUY MP3 00:43 Crowd Control lyrics "GIFT MP3" 00:43 Crowd Control
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:52 My Man lyrics BUY MP3 02:52 My Man lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:52 My Man
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:26 Good Friday lyrics BUY MP3 03:26 Good Friday lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:26 Good Friday
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:24 One Man lyrics BUY MP3 02:24 One Man lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:24 One Man
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 07:30 . lyrics BUY MP3 07:30 . lyrics "GIFT MP3" 07:30 .
Take Native Tongue style rhyme schemes, soulful Boom Bap beats, and a fine line between humility and conceit and what do you have? Breakdown's Social Studies. A bright album with a broad sound and an even broader range of topics.
Bio / Background
Ryan "Breakdown" McGown was born just outside of St. Louis, Missouri on January 13, 1978. His father was in the military, which led to him spending a large portion of his childhood in Japan. While in Japan, Breakdown became fascinated with hip hop culture, breakdancing in particular, at the age of eight. The next year his family moved to Rapid City, South Dakota, where they lived for a little over a year, after which they then moved to Alexandria, Louisiana. Two years later, in June of 1990, they moved to Tampa, Florida where Breakdown has lived ever since.
During this time, and the next five or six years as well, he spent countless hours trying to imitate the dance moves he would see in hip hop videos (which later led to his moniker). After a friend convinced him to freestyle during a lunch break at work in September of 1995, he realized that he could rap. Breakdown had been writing poems and short stories since he was very young, so writing came very naturally to him.
↓ more ↓From that point on he began writing on a constant basis drawing inspiration from artists ranging from Snoop Dogg to Common to Outkast. After several years of writing and making mix-tapes for friends, he began attending local open-mic nights in late '99. For the next year and a half he made a very small name for himself, then in March of 2001 he formed the group "Verbal Diverzion" with another local emcee. They recorded numerous songs together and performed at many local shows. Then after creating a small buzz locally, the two parted ways in January of 2003. Around the same time, Breakdown sought out the production talents of local emcee/producer Surreal and began working on solo material. With the help of Surreal's production, he took on a very soulful type of sound which blended well with his articulate, and often personal, choice of words.
In May of 2003 Breakdown began performing on his own. Then, in January of 2005, he teamed up with dj/producer Ranmecca and they've been performing regularly in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area, and all accross Florida. In the past year, the two have shared the bill with many, many artists including Guru, Common, Blackalicious, Butta Verses, Hangar 18, and One Be Lo. Breakdown released his debut e.p. in March of 2005 with production done by Surreal and Ranmecca, which he has been selling at the countless live performances he and Ranmecca have done. In June of 2006 he released his debut L.P. "Social Studies" on his own independent label Saving Grace Records. The album features production by Marco Polo, SlopFunkDust, Surreal, Ranmecca, Breakdown, DutchMassive, and Mudd Buddah.
Since it's release, "Social Studies" has been recieving a very positive response from local music and entertainment publications, underground web-sites, and independent radio shows.
↑ less ↑




