slaine Details

 Slaine was born into an Irish American family in the working class Dorchester section of Boston and spent his youth as somewhat of a gypsy bouncing from place to place around Boston. His intensity and penchant for always being the new kid around the block made him quick to make friends and enemies, while at the same time remaining a loner by nature. Always being somewhat of an outsider, hip-hop seemed like a natural fit for him, even if it didn't always for others. "I always was an outsider and a walking contradiction wherever I went anyways, so when I got a sour response from people at times, it kind of just fed my fire."
 
 Indeed it may be the contradictions that make Slaine so intense to listen to. His flow in a matter of seconds can switch from sentimental, to violent and defiant. His lyrics flawlessly paint portraits of the Beantown streets with a wordplay that can make you laugh even if the subject matter is depraved. He seems to be almost joyous in his description of an oxycontin robbery, and haywire with subjects that run in between the lines of race, class, religion, love, lust and drugs. "I have learned to use hip hop as an outlet that allowed me to escape all of the elements that seemed to invade my life, by wrapping myself in them even more. I don't care about anybody else and their perceptions of what I am or what I say because that would be a betrayal of what I am at the core, which is a writer. This is my escape."
 
 And that is exactly what he did when he was 18. He escaped from his life in Boston and his family situation, which had both spiraled out of control, and moved to New York City. For the better part of five years, Slaine developed and rhymed with a crew called Introduction to Insanity and End of the Weak, which is now a staple on the New York underground. He was managed by MC Shan, opened up for Run DMC in their last ever NYC show, and cliqued up with the infamous hardcore crew DMS. "The hardcore scene is brimming with the kind of energy that hip hop used to have, and though my style isn't on any rap metal shit, I do try to bring that emotion and energy from hardcore on stage with me. And if you are going to watch and learn from cats, Freddy Cricien (Madball, and Hazen St,) and Danny Diablo (Skarhead) are definitely not a bad place to start."
 
 Armed with a new family and a new arsenal of skills to bring to his music, Slaine felt it was time to go back home to Boston and come up where he was from. When he got home though things again spiraled out of control quickly. His girlfriend of 10 years kicked him out of the house, many of the friends he'd grown up with were either dead, in jail, or left with nasty drug habits, and he lost the mailroom job that was allowing him to make ends meet due to his late nights in the studio. "I was fucked. I couldn't pay my rent. I was living in an apartment with a TV, and futon for a bed with not much else. I was scamming to get money to eat everyday. It was horrible. But it was just more of the shit that I had gone through. I saw so many others fall into the same traps and I knew that if I didn't get my shit back on track I was going to be in jail or dead, or a junkie myself." Thanks to some relatives in his hometown, the hardnosed neighborhood of Southie, he made it through and picked up a job roofing and bricklaying, and so went his music one brick at a time.
 
 Slaine in the past two years has gone on to become the up and coming rapper in Boston. He is a member of Boston's 2006 M.I.C. Award winning "Group of the Year" Special Teamz which also feature Boston leg