USG was originally known as Suspect Gang – a splinter group of an infamous street crew known as Usual Suspects, which was formed on the streets of the group’s hometown and neighbouring areas in London. A legacy of criminal activity meant that many of the older crew members ended up serving time at Her Majesty’s Pleasure, leaving the younger members of the group the chance to step up and shape their own destiny. Not wanting history to repeat itself and looking for a way out of the streets, they turned their focus to music as an outlet and a source of making a legal income.
The group capitalised on the recent surge of the internet phenomenon to connect with a wealth of potential fans. Through the likes of social networking sites such as Myspace, Facebook and YouTube, fans from all walks of life were able to connect with the autobiographical lyrics of the group through MP3 uploads, blogs, photos and videos. USG had managed to take a vast audience from diverse backgrounds on a tour of their minds and life experiences, both positive and negative.
Feeling fed up with the lack of support for up and coming artists in the community, the members of USG decided to take the music to the next level by forming their own company, USG Entertainment; an independent recording label and all-round entertainment company. The vision behind the concept was for the founders, (who are also recording artists on the label) to form a business that would outlast their careers as recording artists.
To date, the label has distributed solo and group projects of their artists in the form of mixtapes, CDs, digital downloads and audiovisual material for transmission on the internet and satellite television channels.
The artists have taken part in community based initiatives, and aim to continue to participate in and develop youth projects. This compliments the future plans to scout for new talent to add to the label’s roster of artists, which will in turn bring in revenue to invest in and expand the company.
The team are developing and in the process of launching their own clothing line, Unique Street Garments, which is just one of the many projects and ideas they have in the pipeline. Watch this space and be part of the movement as we make history…. the USG takeover has begun!
K Koke
London born rapper K. Koke has been causing a stir in the underground scene with his flurry of mixtapes, freestyles and videos accumulating in excess of 10 million views on Youtube. Hailing from London’s notoriously tough Stonebridge Estate, Koke’s “Fire In The Booth” freestyle for Charlie Sloth’s BBC 1Xtra show has alone had over 1.2 million views, while his debut solo mixtape, ‘Pure Koke: Volume 1’ sold over 10,000 copies as a completely independent release and collected the award for Best Mixtape at the Official Mixtape Awards (where Koke also won Best Male this year).
K Koke Social Sites
TWITTER : http://twitter.com/kokeusg
FACEBOOK : http://www.facebook.com/kokeusg
Squingy
Music was a natural part of life in the Wright household, where Squingy was raised. Before he had uttered his first words, Squingy had been exposed to a plethora of sounds by his father Wrighty, who owned a sound system which played and ran a popular weekly local event as well as private functions.
Squingy continued on his path to music through DJing and rapping at school, this led him to buy a two deck CD mixer and microphone to practice with at home. His younger brother of 13 also rapped and was in the same class and rap group with a younger K-Koke and Exo
As time went on Squingy grew frustrated at the lack of opportunities for young artists such as himself and others around him so he founded Suspect Entertainment in 2004. To this day, he multi tasks by making music and managing the business side of the label.
In early 2005 Suspect Entertainment released their first collective mixtape entitled ‘Under Surveillance Volume 1’. The mixtape was an instant hit with the streets and everybody wanted a copy. A video was filmed for the lead single ‘North West Reppin’ which featured Squingy and comrades from the label. This video was available to watch on the internet, and accrued millions of hits at a time when the internet was not as widely used for entertainment purposes as it is in the present day.
The label’s buzz was growing at a fast pace around the community and neighbouring areas. After releasing the follow up collective mixtape ‘Under Surveillance Volume 2’ Squingy saw the niche and started planning his solo effort ‘Wrighty’s First Son’ CD/DVD. This sold over 5000 copies as an independent release.
‘Wrighty’s First Son’ contained mini videos for each song on the CD; an innovation that hadn’t been used in the urban market at that time.
At the present moment in time, a YouTube page is running to showcase USG visuals, which continues to receive hundreds of thousands of hits. Squingy is currently working on a follow up mixtape and official album as well as the USG collective album, all due for completion in the near future.
Squingy Social Sites
TWITTER : http://twitter.com/Squingyusg
FACEBOOK : http://www.facebook.com/squingy
Exo
Exo started on a path to music quite early beginning with a short stint playing the piano and violin in junior school, reaching grade three standard by the age of 11.
He first started writing lyrics with K-Koke in the early days at school, battling and freestyling with his classmates. After leaving school, Exo took part in a few talent shows and travelled the country on the Urban Voice talent quest where a producer called Synth spotted him. After growing increasingly frustrated with the music industry as urban music had no place in the charts then Exo took a sabbatical on his music career.
A few years later, Squingy asked Exo to feature on “Wrighty’s First Son” and being in the booth after so long proved to be what he needed to get motivated again. Since that time Squingy has employed Exo to help him with the day-to-day running of the label and development of artists and future projects.
At the end of 2009 Exo released ‘The X-Files Folder 1’ which sold just over 7000 copies and released follow up mixtape entitled ‘Power of the Pound’ which was the first mixtape to be sold for £1. This mixtape was critically acclaimed by several music journalists, and spawned the hit tune ‘Mountain Bike’ and its popular promotional video.
June 2011 saw the release of Exo’s third solo project, ‘The Appointment – Prelude To Waiting Room’ a title which makes reference to his debut album which is nearing completion.
Surpassing all expectations, ‘The Appointment’ mixtape totalled over 10,000 downloads in its first four weeks of release, and is currently at number four in the UK Rap music download charts.
Exo is stirring up a storm of interest within the music industry and has been tipped as the next to blow – so keep watching this space!
Exo Social Site
TWITTER : http://twitter.com/exousg
FACEBOOK : http://www.facebook.com/exoUSG
Don Jaga
Born in Portugal to Angolan parents, raised in numerous ’hoods in the UK, Don Jaga is a multi-lingual versatile artist with worldwide appeal. A strong minded individual, he has stayed true to his roots, and can be heard rapping and singing in Portuguese as well as English.
He started his own Portuguese label, Bravo Boyz ENT with his Bravo Boyz family, a collective of artists of Portuguese descent. 2010 saw Jaga collaborate with USG on various tracks, and the musical chemistry was undeniable. After spending hours in the studio together and producing several smashers, the next natural step was for Jaga to officially become part of the USG Entertainment camp.
His official introduction as part of the USG Entertainment label came on the release of K Koke’s PURE KOKE VOL 2 mixtape, where he displayed his talents on hit tracks like the classic “Lord Knows”, “Mama” and “Tell You How My Life Is
There’s definitely a creative versatility to his music as you will hear on his forthcoming mixtape “GHETTO BLUES” due for release later this year, reflecting his upbringing in different ’hoods in and around the UK to Portugal.
With so much life experience, all listeners can relate to his music in some way. Proudly flying the USG flag, Jaga’s aim is to bring awareness of UK street music over to Portuguese speaking nations, and in turn introduce the UK to the rising Portuguese hip hop scene, with the help of his Bravo Boyz Entertainment compadres.
Don Jaga Social Site
TWITTER : http://twitter.com/donjagausg
Geko
Geko is a 14 Year Old young artist from Manchester. Very Talented And Musical Minded, He Is The latest and Youngest artist to join the USG Entertainment roster.
He has a huge fan base around the U.K and also in Libya, where his ethnic origins lie.
Brimming with youthful energy and intelligence, Geko is a firm believer of hard work, which shows in his work rate. He has been working on a mixtape which is now out and available for free download entitled ‘The Moment.’ He is currently working on his debut album, which will be available digitally and in stores nationwide.
In the meanwhile, check out Geko’s videos and freestyles on YouTube and various other blog sites, updates can be found on his projects directly from his social networking sites and also right here at usgent.com
Geko Social Sites
TWITTER : http://twitter.com/gekoartist
FACEBOOK : http://www.facebook.com/GekoMusic
YOUTUBE : http://www.youtube.com/GekoArtist
