User:Stsfranklin/Black Planet (rapper)

Black Planet is an American alternative band formed in Detroit, MI in 1989, which plays a mixed genre of funk, rock, hip-hop, rap, which the band calls UrbanMetalGhettoGrunge. Black Planet was formed by Sean "PapaSean" Franklin (drums) and James Allen (guitar) (deceased) with original members Tony Drake (bass) and Santo Ludy (lead vocalist).

Sean and James experienced line-up changes with different bassists and vocalists since before the passing of James Allen on Christmas Eve 1994 in a drive-by shooting.

Froggadelic

About 6 months after losing his best friend and music partner, Sean was contacted by local Detroit rapper/P-Funk All Star Derrick "Frogg" Rosson to collaborate on with him on his album project. A new Black Planet line up was formed by Sean with BP Alumnist Kerry Clark (bass, guitar and vocals), Vinson Jordan (guitar) and Elliott Rosado (guitar). After working on new material with the new line up and additional rapper Alleylife, the Froggadelic project came to life on Westbound Records in 1996 Produced by FBTThe Funky Bass Team, Mark Bass and Jeff Bass, who were responsible for launching the career of Eminem. After a short tour of Michigan and Ohio opening up for Kid Rock, the relationship with the label dissolved and the band gained a release from Westbound.

Black Planet featuring Alley Life

In late 1999, Alley Life stepped up as lead rapper and while new material was being recorded, Frogg was subsequently shot in a robbery and had to sit out to recover.

In 2000, the band made the trek to L.A. to showcase the new songs to various industry people and out of it the song "Out With The Old" was chosen for Tony Hawk Proskater 2 soundtrack.

After returning from California, guitarist Elliott Rosado quit and was replaced by former Brothers From Another Planet guitarist/luthier Ken Tyler. Black Planet returns to their roots and records "The Funk Stuff" at BPMusic throughout the summer of 2000.

After a hiatus period to live, regroup and recharge musically, a new 2011 PapaSean-BlackPlanetMusic release, "A Compilation of Thangs" which is available on iTunesand Amazon MP3 has been put together as sort of a "best of" which features the song "Out With The Old" along with music from the "Black Planet featuring Alleylife" period and some music from "The Funk Stuff" recordings. More new PS-BPM music is expected to be released this year.

BlackPlanetMusic website

BlackPlanetMusic MySpace

BlackPlanetMusic YouTube