March 2006

The Bobby Hatfield Story

By Kable Reid

Born July 9, 1979 in St. Paul, MN, Hatfield was brought up in N.E. Minneapolis for the majority of his life, with five years in South Florida, and a few months in both Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Hatfield's first release came while he was still in high school (1996) at the tender age of fifteen. A second compilation and a solo project soon followed. On September 3, 1998 Hatfield embarked on his first tour. The "Pimps Up - Hoes Down: Hustla's Convention Tour" began (at least for Bobby) at First Avenue in downtown Minneapolis, then proceeded to Chicago's House of Blues, Atlanta's Tabernacle, Missouri's Blue Note, and L.A.'s Martini Lounge.

      In 2000, Hatfield's "Hollywood Hillbilly" sold a few thousand copies locally in a matter of months and featured Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas.  Riding on this album's relative success, he helped form N.E. Time Entertainment, consisting of Unknown Prophets, Gamble, and himself. They took the summer of 2002 to put together thirty-five tracks, sixteen of them featuring Hatfield, and released "Welcome to Northeast."   The double-disc sold 5000 copies of its original order inside of 9 months.   Shortly afterward, the group became unglued due to mild personal differences pertaining to local hip-hop label Rhymesayers. The break-up proved even more painful when the hometown collaboration got spins on forty-eight independent radio stations nationwide, and charted on eight of them in cities such as Detroit and Brooklyn.

      Organizing release parties at nearly every major venue in Minneapolis and St. Paul has made B. Hat a local promoting force in his own right. He has helped promote individual acts as well as consulting for others on their independently financed events including being an integral part of Liquid Ice Energy Drink's spread in Minnesota.  All the while, Hatfield started, owns, and operates a retail clothing store called 'The Connect Apparel and Accessories' in the heart of Northeast Minneapolis where he sells everything from his own music and clothing line called Herben Influence to lines such as 555 Soul and Drunk n Munky.

      Bobby Hatfield has since teamed up with Minnesota promoting powerhouse SP Styles. A South Florida and Mazatlan Spring Break Tour is planned and 2006 looks to be good year for this patient 26 year old. Promoting his long awaited second solo album, "The Renaissance", Hatfield plans to attract some industry attention with a unique line-up of unusual suspects from all major markets. The album will feature Alchemist, Evidence of Dilated Peoples, Tash of Tha Liks, Phil Da Agony, Krondon, Planet Asia, Will Blast, Mitchy Slick, and possibly Talib Kweli and/or Sin Dog of Cypress Hill.  Most have already been recorded and Hatfield is currently trying to get Ice-T and Flava Flav to say a little something on his behalf.

"The Renaissance" is due out in April and is expected to have reputable distribution and a multitude of success with radio airplay nationally.

...Now That's Theskini!::permalink


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