Maanumental (black dude, rapper of few peers), Newman (white dude, raps some, beats), Chikaramanga (amazin Asian dude, bilingual emcee, chops samples like karate champ)
Influences
Lots of rappers, lots of producers, lots of DJs. Baseball, coffee, wine, beer, smoothies, rice, traveling, friends, Sir Kado, Superbrush 427, Pomona, Portland, Mulege, Mr. Choi, Donny Hathaway, Jimi Hendrix, Cal Tjader, Sly, Nao Suga, Powerful Baseball, Woes, comic books, rap videos, baseball cards, opening for strange punk bands, and pandas.
Sounds Like
EPMD in the movie "Tron" searching for a good ramen shop or a racist joke produced by Prince Paul or the Pharcyde studying for the GRE or The Bomb Squad producing for the Olympics or Project Pat doing the Heavy D Dance with Rico Wade or E-40 eating Thai food with the Beatnuts.
Giant Panda, still a symbol of remembering traditions without forgetting progression, is composed of childhood friends Newman and Maanumental (hailing from Seattle) and Chikaramanga (a Tokyo native), with their foundation based out of Los Angeles, CA. The trio's name is simply an analogy to their ethnic and cultural make-up: what else do you call a group made up of white, black, and Asian guys? The first single released was "88 Remix" independently in Dec. 2002, with airplay across the globe. The follow up to that was the acclaimed 12-inch single "With It" in September 2004 on Tres Records. "With It" received raves from print critics such as Chairman Mao from XXL
2005 saw the release of Giant Panda's first full length, "Fly School Reunion" (Tres Records). "FSR" received great reviews in URB (4 1/2 stars), XXL, XLR8R, HHC, NME, and a plethora of other international magazines. It was also a hit with college radio (3 on CMJ hip-hop charts). Giant Panda made URB's list of Next 100 in 2005. This buzz allowed Giant Panda to tour the West Coast with fellow Angelino hip-hoppers, People Under The Stairs and Time Machine. In 2006 GP hit the road with Ugly Duckling for a European tour, and then once again that year reached the EU shores with People Under The Stairs.
On May 20th, 2008, we will see the release of Giant Panda's sophomore effort, "Electric Laser". Overall "Electric Laser" is going to be a forward step for Giant Panda, but not so forward to lose fans who appreciated their sound on previous works.
I went to see "Giant Panda" in St. Louis 2 weeks ago at Blueberry Hill. I was uber-stoked to go. To my surprise the first band was a rock band, and the second was a reggae band (which is cool, I dig reggae). I went outside for a smoke they came back in and to my dismay the show was over. The headliner band's name was "Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad." I confronted the organist (she was hot), and advised her that they were false advertising. Just a heads up.
hello and thanks for showing some love. enjoyed both of your albums. hope you stay inspired and keep on bringing us that true hip hop. peace, soulhike.
FINALLY, NEW MUSIC! "The Art Of Broken Glass" (EP), click myspace.com/mrjmedeiros and take a listen! Available on itunes or directly from my site. New Mr.J songs to add to your profile! WORD!
You can also follow on twitter.com/mrjmedeiros for free music.
Bonjour myspaciens et myspaciennes nous allons sortir un Compact Disc intitulé "Brest Undercover" courant mai. Il regroupera divers groupes de la scène Hip Hop brestoise, un concert sera organisé à la Carène ( Brest ) le 15 mai afin d'y promouvoir le lancement et de se faire plaisir par la même occasion. Toutes personnes désirant soutenir ce projet par l'ajout de notre avatar ( ci-dessous ) à son profil ( en tant qu'avatar également ) se verra offrir une réduction de 20% lors de l'achat de la compilation ( hors frais postaux ) ainsi qu'un placement au sein de notre top amis ( ehhh, c'est du lourd ! :) ). Son prix sera de 9e ce qui pour ceux et celles qui apporteront leurs soutient équivaut à 7,20e. Pour les Hip Hopeurs et Hip Hopeuse qui se trouve loin de nous ( par la distance j'entends :) ) le paiement se fera par chèque et à réception puis encaissement nous vous enverrons le skeudis. Voilà, j'pense avoir dit l'essentiel... Paix, amour et unité
