Planet Asia Bio

Planet Asia is well known throughout the hip hop community. As a solo artist and one half of the duo Cali Agents (with Rasco), he has been tearing up airwaves and stages around the globe. Numerous banging 12-inch single releases including "Definition of ILL" (Stonesthrow 1998), "Place of Birth" (ABB 1999), "Pure Coke" (Interscope 2002), and "The Golden Age" (Threshold 2003) have ensured his place in hip hop history. In 2001, The Source Magazine named him First Round Draft Pick and gave him Independent Album of the Year credit for Cali Agents "How The West Was One".

That year, Planet Asia's fire and drive landed him a record deal with Interscope Records. Not many people out of Fresno, California, make it to a huge record label -- especially one that is home to some of the biggest artists in the world including 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, and Eminem. But being signed to such a large label definitely had its drawbacks. Interscope, with many artists on its roster and a huge bureaucracy to deal with could not focus properly on the release of Asia's CD. Even though, Planet Asia was arguably the hottest name in the underground. Despite the fact that Asia was nominated for a 2002 Grammy Award for his collaboration with hip-hop diva Mystic on "W" and even though he was called upon by multi-platinum selling rock super group Linkin Park for his vocal skills on their song "Ppr:Kut"on the highly successful "Re-Animation" LP, Interscope still could not find the time to release Asia's record. Asia also had collaborations with everyone from Black Thought of The Roots, BT, the Dub Pistols, Talib Kweli, & Ghostface Killah of Wu-Tang Clan. After waiting three years for his debut CD to be released, Planet Asia decided to take his future into his own hands. He walked away from the hottest record label in the business. It took confidence. It took determination. But most of all, it took courage.

Within days, Asia had a brand new contract. Early 2004 saw the release of Planet Asia's much anticipated and highly acclaimed debut LP, "The Grand Opening," securing yet another Independent Album of the Year credit in The Source. In November 2004, he founded Gold Chain Music with Walt Liquor and took his show on the road with the sold out 26-day Gold Chain Music Tour in Europe. Currently, Planet Asia is in the studio with successful producers, Evidence and The Alchemist, working on his sophomore effort titled, "The Medicine," slated for release in the summer of 2006.

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