On this day in 1978, Regan Farquhar, AKA Busdriver, was born! Born in Los Angeles, Busdriver began rapping at the tender age of nine, being introduced to hip-hop from an even earlier age, given that his father Ralph Farquhar was the writer of the 1985 film Krush Groove, a film about the beginnings of Def Jam Recordings. By the time he was fourteen he had joined the group 4/29, and then at sixteen had become a member of the Project Blowed scene, an LA-based open-mic workshop and record label started in 1994 that is tethered to numerous underground hip-hop artists, MCs and dancers from the Californian area.
In 1999 he released his debut album as Busdriver on his own label, entitled Memoirs of the Elephant Man, and although it didn't receive fantastic acclaim, his 2002 release of Temporary Forever very much did so, with Temporary Forever incidentally also being the name of his label. Tracks such as Imaginary Places cemented Busdriver as one of the best underground hip-hop acts going, with its impressive lyrics spat at an equally impressive speed, leading to it to become one of his most famous tracks and even saw it feature on the soundtrack to Tony Hawk's Underground. At the time of writing Busdriver has released ten studio albums under the Busdriver moniker, each receiving equal acclaim or thereabouts to that of Temporary Forever. He's even released some of his later albums on labels alternative to his own, including Epitaph Records, Anti-, Fake Four Inc., and Big Dada.
During his three decade long work on the music scene, Busdriver has also worked with a number of other underground artists, many of which have featured on his records. He has also acted as producer for some of these artists, specifically on the 2011 album Watergate by the trio Thirsty Fish. As well as this, he also formed and sings in the band Physical Forms under his real name, and formed the hip hop duo act Flash Bang Grenada. Hell, the dude has even appeared in a film, that being Flying Lotus' 2017 film Kuso.
Busdriver, have yeself a great birthday, man.
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