Erik Vincent Stephens (born June 20, 1980), better known professionally as Apollo Brown, is an American

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

from

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, United States. He is a member of the hip hop group Ugly Heroes (alongside Red Pill and

Verbal Kent Dan Weiss (born July 22, 1978), better known by his stage name Verbal Kent, is an alternative hip hop artist from Chicago. Early life Weiss was born and raised in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood.Moira McCormick“Organic Mind Unit is all ...

) and has released numerous collaborations with the likes of

Guilty Simpson Byron Dwayne “Guilty” Simpson is an American rapper and songwriter from Detroit, Michigan whose recording career spans more than 20 years. He is signed to Stones Throw Records, and is known for being one of the late producer J Dilla’s favo ...

, O.C.,

Ras Kass John R. Austin II (born September 26, 1973), better known by his stage name Ras Kass, is an American rapper. He is a member of the hip hop Supergroup (music), supergroup The HRSMN, along with Canibus, Killah Priest, and Kurupt in 2014. He is als ...

Skyzoo Gregory Skyler Taylor (born December 24, 1982), known professionally as Skyzoo, is an American Songwriter and rapper. He has released a number of notable solo and collaborative albums, including '' Cloud 9: The 3 Day High'' with 9th Wonder in ...

and

Planet Asia Jason Cullen Green (born October 24, 1976), better known as Planet Asia, is a rapper from Fresno, California. He is prominent for being one half of the now reunited hip-hop duo the Cali Agents and is currently a member of the groups Gold Chain ...

Early life

Brown grew up in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

. He later moved to

in 2003, after graduating from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

Musical career

Brown's career in music stretches back to the mid-1990s, but it wasn't until 2007's ''Skilled Trade'' beat collection that things started to become serious. November 3, 2009 saw Brown win the Red Bull Big Tune Championship and he was subsequently contacted by Mello Music Group's Michael Tolle to become a part of MMG independent hip hop movement. In any collaborations, Brown insists on making albums in the same room as the other artists.

Style and influences

Brown is noted for his use of dated technology – a DJBooth interview reveals his preferred setup is a desktop PC running

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and ...

and

Cool Edit Adobe Audition is a digital audio workstation developed by Adobe Inc. featuring both a multitrack, non-destructive mix/edit environment and a destructive-approach waveform editing view. Origins Syntrillium Software was founded in the early 1 ...

2000.

Discography

* ''Skilled Trade'' (2007) * ''Make Do'' (2009) * ''The Reset'' (2010) * ''Gas Mask'' (with DJ Soko & Journalist 103 as The Left) (2010) * ''Brown Study'' (with Boog Brown) (2010) * ''Clouds'' (2011) * ''Daily Bread'' (with Hassaan Mackey) (2011) * ''Trophies'' (with O.C.) (2012) * ''Dice Game'' (with

) (2012) * ''The Brown Tape'' (with

Ghostface Killah Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 C ...

) (2013)* * ''Ugly Heroes'' (with Red Pill &

as Ugly Heroes) (2013) * ''Cigarette Burns EP'' (2014) * ''Thirty Eight'' (2014) * ''Abrasions: Stitched Up'' (with

) (2014)* * ''Ugly Heroes EP'' (with Red Pill &

as Ugly Heroes) (2014) * ''Blasphemy'' (with

) (2014) * ''Words Paint Pictures'' (with

Rapper Big Pooh Thomas Louis Jones III (born February 12, 1980), better known by his stage name Big Pooh (or Rapper Big Pooh), is an American rapper, who, along with fellow rap artist Phonte, is a member of the acclaimed North Carolina hip hop group Little Brothe ...

) (2015) * ''Grandeur'' (2015) * ''Everything in Between'' (with Red Pill &

as Ugly Heroes) (2016) * ''The Easy Truth'' (with

) (2016) * ''

Anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

'' (with

) (2017) * ''No Question'' (with Locksmith) (2018) * ''Mona Lisa'' (with

Joell Ortiz Joell Christopher Ortiz (born July 6, 1980) is an American rapper and a former member of the group Slaughterhouse. Ortiz grew up in the Cooper Park Houses in the East Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, formerly signed to Dr. Dre's Afte ...

) (2018) * ''Sincerely, Detroit'' (2019) * ''As God Intended'' (with Che Noir) (2020) * ''Lovesick'' (with Raheem DeVaughn) (2021) * ''Stitched Up & Shaken'' (with

, Gensu Dean &

) (2021) * ''Blacklight'' (with

Stalley Kyle Alfonso Myricks (born October 30, 1982), better known by his stage name Stalley, is an American rapper from Massillon, Ohio. Music career In 2008, Stalley made his mixtape debut, titled ''Goin Ape'', with fellow Ohio-native rapper Terry U ...

) (2021) * ''Bushido Code'' (with

Prop Dylan A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...

) (2022) * ''This Must Be The Place'' (2022) * ''Cost of Living'' (with Philmore Greene) (2022)

References

External links

Apollo Brown
at Mello Music Group Living people 1980 births {{Music-producer-stub