Colorado grew to know him as MC Dino, the infamous 7 -year resident of Breakdown Thursdays at the Snake Pit, the nation’s 1 Drum and Bass club night. This rockstar emcee most notorious for his poetic genius with a microphone, has allowed him to command crowds at such infamous events as Cyberfest, Bassrush, Electric Daisy Carnival, World of drum and bass, VIRAM WMC, and countless other raves and shows across the US.
Born in a small farming community in Northern Colorado, Dino spent time growing up in Mexico and various parts of California before returning to Colorado a decade ago and then ending up in Los Angeles. Both parents contributed to his predisposition to music. His father sang and played a variety of instruments, while his mother was in the profession of promoting and producing large-scale stars. Dino was exposed to the intimate circles of bands such as Phish, Los Lobos and Santana; Carlos is his godfather. Both mom and dad indulged his affection for sound and he learned to play the piano while still in grade school, later taking up the guitar, bass, drums and the sax. In high school Dino spent more time writing lyrics, songs, and practicing with bands in backyards than on his schoolwork.
He began going to raves when he was 13, a time when raves were new and entirely underground. This exposure had great influence on him; electronic music provided a new medium and mode of tampering with instrumental sound. In this scene he also discovered jungle music and emceeing. Those unfamiliar with jungle might liken it to an advanced electronic evolution of reggae and emerging techno, using the same threads and bass but quickened to 180 beats per minute. In 1997 he set out as an emcee, needing outlet for the poetry streaming through his head and inspired by the aggressive new sound jungle provided. By this time he had already taught himself to dj and moved between rhyming and spinning, while continuing to write his own music.
1998 proved a year of reckoning and direction. He started performing regularly at the Snake Pit on a night then called ‘Plastic Thursdays’ that offered techno one half of the night and jungle the other. During this period Dino gathered his musically-inclined cohorts and formed a solid group called Urban Aboriginee.
Besides the obvious electronic movement that so dramatically shaped his personal musical efforts, Dino’s other prominent influences include Prince, Roni Size and Santana. Exposure to these along with an upbringing encouraging all music is especially evident in his individual work, emceeing, and collaborations with Urban Aboriginee. Given such opportunity to hone his skills, MC Dino has emceed for the greatest names in Drum and Bass, including Andy C, Shimon, Rinse, Flux, Diesel Boy, AK1200, Dara, Bad Company, Danny the Wild Child, Tech Itch, and Craze just to name a few.
Dino has been featured on tracks produced by DJ Icee, Swamp, Reid Speed, Gridlok, Bullerproof and has co-created other works with WishFM, among others. His own music as well as recordings of sets performed with DJ Fury can be found at urbanaboriginee.com
Recognized for his high-energy lyrical prowess on the microphone, MC Dino is a crowd favorite on the mic and is an asset to any DJ he rhymes alongside.
