Bubba Sparxxx

小简介
一个大块头的白人说唱歌手，Bubba Sparxxx并不是成长于城市的街头中。原名Warren Anderson Mathis的Bubba Sparxxx出生于1977年3月6日，从小成长于美国佐治亚州和亚拉巴马州交界处城市LaGrange偏北的一座乡村小镇中。Bubba Sparxxx从小的生活就没有受到太多的干扰，在他的家附近并没有太多的邻居，因此一个黑人邻居就对Bubba Sparxxx产生了很大的影响，正是这个邻居家的一个曾经在纽约参与录制磁带工作的年轻人把他带进了说唱音乐圈中。
Bubba Sparxxx最初喜欢上说唱音乐是受到说唱乐团2 Live Crew的影响，但是后来，Bubba Sparxxx开始接受更多的说唱音乐，渐渐的他喜欢上了90年代早期的诸如Too Short这样的西海岸帮匪说唱。不久，他接触到了亚特兰大说唱歌手OutKast的作品，这时Bubba Sparxxx认识到，这才是他所需要的音乐，马上他就开始学着写歌，这是他才只有15岁，并且用这些东西和学校其他一些喜欢说唱音乐的孩子比试。但是说唱音乐只是Bubba Sparxxx众多业余爱好中的一项，并没有迹象表明他成为职业歌手比成为职业橄榄球运动员的可能性更大。当时他在高中的橄榄球队中是一名出色的后卫队员，几乎赢得了那个年龄段所有的荣誉。但是在大学时的一次受伤，使Bubba Sparxxx不得不离开了心爱的橄榄球，他重新回到了说唱的道路上来。
Bubba Sparxxx说唱历程第一次重要的突破，是他认识了位于亚特兰大的Jermaine Dupri的唱片公司So So Def的一名制作人Shannon Houchins，1996年晚些时候，在这名制作人的撮合下，Bubba Sparxxx和So So Def公司旗下的另一名说唱歌手Lil' Devil组成了一个名叫One Card Shi的组合。虽然这个组合在一起也录制了几首单曲，但最终还是没什么发展前途，各自开始单飞生涯。Bubba Sparxxx和Houchins在1999年又在一起工作并录制了几首单曲。最后利用Bubba Sparxxx个人拥有的Nocents Records公司把这些单曲录制成一张独立专辑《Dark Days, Bright Nights》并发行，结果这张专辑在佐治亚州附近取得了相当了不起的销售成绩。Bubba Sparxxx把他的Nocents Records公司改名为11th Hour Entertainment。这张专辑还引起了Interscope Records唱片公司的注意。最终，在几经周折之后，Interscope Records的老板Jimmy Iovine把Bubba Sparxxx签到了自己的公司麾下。
随后，Bubba Sparxxx开始和Timbaland一起工作，并和其他的几名制作人一起录制单曲，单曲《Ugly》最早问世，这首歌的音乐录影带在MTV台播出之后引起了强大反响，使人们了解了这个来自乡下的白人小子。之后这些在Interscope公司录制的单曲被制作成了专辑《Dark Days, Bright Nights》，并正式发行，为了有别于以前推出的同名专辑，这张专辑被称为《Dark Days, Bright Nights(Interscope)》。并且这张专辑在Billboard排行榜上冲进了三甲之列，使Bubba Sparxxx成为了一名白人说唱的超级明星。
by Jason BirchmeierNo doubt the first of his kind, Bubba Sparxxx dumbfounded the hip-hop community -- and soon after, the mass market -- when he emerged out of nowhere with Timbaland in late 2001. When his debut single, "Ugly," hit urban radio, it was unmistakably a Timbaland production -- the "Get Ur Freak On" samples being a sort of trademark stamp. This drew initial attention to Sparxxx, who many initially thought of as yet another Dirty South rapper, albeit one lucky enough to be the flagship for Timbaland's start-up Beat Club label. But when the video for "Ugly" hit MTV and Sparxxx's face subsequently began appearing in the press, the dumbfoundment truly set in: Sparxxx was not only from the South but was very large -- and white. In other words, he seemed the antithesis of what a rapper was suppose to be, and similar to the overnight success previous white rappers experienced -- Beastie Boys, Vanilla Ice, Eminem -- Sparxxx was suddenly more than just an anomaly; he was a bona fide superstar.
While Sparxxx's rhymes initially drew attention to the rapper -- and rightfully so -- you can't help but marvel at his story. Yes, he was white and large. But he was also from the backwoods of the South -- about as far from the streets as you could get. Born Warren Anderson Mathis on March 6, 1977, Sparxxx grew up in the country on a dirt road 15 minutes north of LaGrange, GA, a rural town itself 65 miles southwest of Georgia. As you can imagine, he lived a sheltered youth, with his closest neighbor over a half mile away. Yet it was that neighbor, a black kid, who turned him onto rap via mix mailed tapes from New York.
Sparxxx's introduction to rap music was through 2 Live Crew -- a far stretch from Rakim or Grandmaster Flash. It caught his attention, though, and soon Sparxxx began broadening his taste for rap music, taking a particular liking for early-'90s West Coast gangsta rap: N.W.A., Too Short, and Eazy-E. Later, when he discovered Altanta rappers OutKast, Sparxxx knew his interests were moving into the forefront of his mind. He began writing rhymes at age 15 and would battle with fellow rap-minded students at school. His rapping was more of a hobby than a possible profession for Sparxxx at the time, though. Throughout high school, football took precedence over everything else for the young Sparxxx; he played tight end and linebacker, earning All-Region honors as a senior.
When a football career never happened for Sparxxx and a brief stab at college didn't hold his interest, he turned to rap. His break came when he met Shannon Houchins, a staff producer for Jermaine Dupri's So So Def label in Atlanta. In late 1996, Houchins paired Sparxxx with then-So So Def rapper Lil' Devil for a group called One Card Shi. Though the duo did record some material together, it never saw the light of day and Sparxxx began pursuing a solo career, working with Houchins again in 1999 on some songs. These recordings resulted in the 12-song Dark Days, Bright Nights indie release on Sparxxx's own Nocents Records. After moving a surprising number of units after getting radio play in the surrounding Georgia area, Nocents became 11th Hour Entertainment, and the album fell into the lap of Interscope Records head honcho Jimmy Iovine.
Iovine liked what he heard and flew Sparxxx out to California to discuss a label deal. Offers soon came in from a number of labels, and suddenly Sparxxx's breakthrough seemed just on the horizon. He decided to stick with Iovine's Interscope empire and soon found himself working with Timbaland. Over the course of two weeks, the two recorded six songs and Sparxxx also worked with other producers like Organized Noize and Houchins. "Ugly" became the lead single; an all-important video communicating Sparxxx's rural, white, country-boy background hit MTV; the evidence of his breakthrough came when the Interscope version of Dark Days, Bright Nights debuted at number three on the Billboard chart, making him the next in a short list of overnight-superstar white rappers. The follow-up, 2003's Deliverance, was an introspective album that found favor with critics but failed to sway the public. OutKast member Big Boi was a big fan of the album and felt it should have been a hit, and that it was just handled improperly by the label. He came to the rescue by signing Sparxxx to his new Purple Ribbon imprint and releasing the rapper's third album, The Charm, in 2006.