Nicolay

Created and raised in holland, classically trained multi-instrumentalist and maker Nicolay played in several hip-hop and R&B rings around his homeland, nonetheless it wasn’t until 2000 that he made a decision to begin producing his personal beats. In 2002 Small Sibling MC Phonte Coleman found one of these on Okayplayer’s forum and asked if he could place his rhymes over it, and quickly a a friendly relationship and a musical romantic relationship were blessed. This transatlantic cooperation, which they known as the FOREX, resulted in an album, Linked, in 2004, and Nicolay continued making tracks for Small Sibling and Cesar Comanche, launching City Lighting, Vol. 1.5 first only online and through BBE Reports in 2005. The Dutch Experts, Vol. 1, which highlighted Nicolay DJing, arrived that same calendar year, followed by Within 2006. In 2008 the manufacturer teamed up with Houston rapper Kay (whom he previously also fulfilled through community forums and had placed on a monitor on Right here) and released the album Period:Line. The next Foreign Exchange record, Leave EVERYTHING Behind, came afterwards in the entire year for the FOREX label. Among its features, “Daykeeper,” was nominated to get a Grammy, however, not prior to the 2009 discharge of Nicolay’s very own City Lighting, Vol. 2: Shibuya. The FOREX label expanded through the early 2010s with extra albums from FE and Phonte, aswell as produces from collaborators YahZarah, Zo!, and Median. In 2015, Nicolay released another mostly instrumental solo record, City Lighting, Vol. 3: Soweto. Its materials, improved with vocal efforts from Phonte, Carmen Rodgers, and Tamisha Waden, was motivated by South Africa schedules for the International Exchange’s globe tour the prior year.