User:Ladychelle239/Grindmode

Grindmode The grind. The word is used so much in Hip-Hop circles that it’s almost cliché but now and again there comes an act that epitomizes the word. Hailing from various parts of the Hip-Hop haven that is Miami, Grind Mode is poised to be the next superstar rap group. With the upcoming release of their debut album, I Will Grind, rappers Andre “McKlezie” Wallace, Yvan “Hunger” Benony and Jeremy “Chaos” Hannah are out to maintain their city’s rap dominance with an indelible brand of genre bending, club ready Hip-Hop music.

Grind Mode’s de facto leader is McKlezie, who astute rap fans may recognize as Stage McCloud, part of the short lived Miami “group” Iconz, who enjoyed the hit, “Get F&^&ed Up,” in 20TK. Iconz eventually disbanded and for a couple of years, McKlezie even considered himself retired from the music game. “The music was still good but as a man you’ve got to be able to provide for your family,” says McKlezie.

Having lived everywhere in Miami from Overtown to Carol City, McKlezie took it back to the street game to build his money for an eventual return to music. Hunger and McKlezie knew each other for years and while on his “hiatus” the latter was impressed by Hunger’s persistence and lyricism. Meanwhile, Chaos was the hypeman of rapper Bishop (who had a regional hit with “U Know U Ghetto”) and the pair became acquainted performing around Miami together and via local open mic performances. Organically, the foundation for the new group had been set.

“When it comes to Grind Mode we got three different styles, when we on stage we three different dudes,” explains Chaos. “When we record, when we write, we three different dudes but we work out perfectly. It’s a triangle between us there. We brothers. I ain’t been down with these guys for 100 thousand years but I know real people from a hundred miles away. We pray together, we fight together, we grind together.”

Initially acting as a guiding hand in recording sessions, McKlezie showed no signs of rust on the mic and his plans to stay behind the scenes were quickly scrapped. The trio decided to form Grind Mode and have been building up a sizeable buzz ever since, fine tuning their undeniable chemistry. “You have Stage McKlezie, he’s very flamboyant, rambunctious, almost like a Busta Rhymes of the South. You have Chaos, very aggressive, gutter and street,” explains Hunger. “I’m the middle man. I’m flashy but at the same time I’m street. I’m the glue that holds the rambunctious and wild party animal side to the street gutter side.”

The product of this musically gifted threesome has been described as Black Eyed Peas meets OutKast but it is still difficult to pin down to one category. They like it that way. “Our sound can’t be described because once you start getting defined, then you’re living in a box,” says McKlezie. “When you hear one song, you’re like, ‘Yeah I like that.’ Then you hear another and it makes you feel another way were you still enjoy yourself but it ain’t the same song. The reason we’re doing this music is to separate from the norm.”

Says Chaos, “We got some sh*t for our people in the struggle and in the hustle. We cover all ground,” while Hunger adds, “We’re trying to put the fun, and the party back into music. We’re all from Miami and Miami is known for the hustling, that’s no secret. But at the end of the day, after you grind all day on the block, everybody needs an outlet. You want to party, you don’t want to carry that to the club.”

That musical vision can be heard on the smash hit “She’s So Fly (I’m So High).” The sultry, mesmerizing groove and its slick drum programming is fast climbing the charts and filtering through Miami clubs along with the smooth but spastic Jook dancing it incites. Meanwhile, the synth loaded “Crush” is another dance floor delight made for nighttime flirting and “Get This Money” combines elastic vocal stylings with adept lyricism.

While Miami is enjoying a renaissance of late, the city is far from a late-comer to the musical table. A number of these past and current artists, and their legacy, are some of cornerstones of what Grind Mode plans on bringing back to the game. “We’re trying to bring it back to the early Poison Clan, 2 Live Crew, Luke days, the early Trick Daddy days, where it was fun,” says Hunger. “We want it to be known that you don’t necessarily have to rap about drugs and what’s going out in the streets.”

Three men, three styles, one group; Grind Mode. “Everybody, rich or poor, has been in a situation where you gotta put your weight down and get it together,” says McKlezie. “Whether it be grinding to get money, grinding to get your kid off of a drug [or] grinding to get your family in a better situation; whether you’re a dope boy or working a 9 to 5, eighty hours a week, you can understand the concept of, ‘I WILL GRIND.’ No matter what you’re doing, you will grind at doing it, otherwise then why do it?”

"Works" The 4th quarter R U N Grindmode Endless grind Grind 101 Contender Mixtape vol 3

"Magazine Spreads" ROllingstones- Cover Ozone Magazine The Hood Magazine The Grind Magazine Ford Ent Magazine- Cover

"Awards" Best Rap Group (Indie) Diamond Awards 2008

"Special Ford Salute" Ford Ent Awards 2011

"Hits" Im So High Ecstacy