MySpace a place for friends

KotiX, born Joel DiGiorgio, took an interest in music at a young age. Born the third son to his mother and father in St. Charles, Illinois, his family moved to Greensboro, North Carolina at the age of three. By the fourth grade he began playing guitar and eventually took on a variety of instruments and including piano, trumpet and drums. A skilled musician, KotiX also has a passion for writing. It wasn't until around the age of 12 when KotiX was truly introduced to hip-hop music, but it didn't take long for him to be immersed in the culture. By the age of 14 he began keeping notebooks that he wrote his lyrics in and over time, notebooks and notebooks later, he began to develop his prowess as a lyricist. He was drawn to rap at first by the beats but later realized that what kept him listening were the lyrics. To him the use of figurative language is what keeps hip-hop fresh. His lyrics are heavily saturated in figurative language and range in subject. He is known to display scenes through writing and inspire listeners with a well-developed writing style. His versatility allows him to shine on any type of track ranging from club music, street music, music for the ladies, music for the bitches, music for the fellas, heavily lyrical MC type-shit (you know that real hip-hop), reflective music, inspirational music, smokin' music, ridin' music and flat-out FEEL GOOD MUSIC. He is not afraid to get personal yet at times is not to be taken too seriously as he is known to say things just to gauge people's reaction. He's just having fun with this. He has no particular style or flow and with inspiration coming from a variety of genres his subject matter is not your run-of-the-mill rap. In high school, KotiX began recording with a group called Sky-Zu formed by a group of brothers, Jersey Boy (J-Spade), Yung Thrillz & Minko Brakks. Although Joel knew Reno through middle school, Yung Thrillz was the first one to introduce (then) NarKotiX to Raw English as fellow lyricist. The group later went on to record a couple mixtapes that were duplicated and passed out among peers at school. Raw English introduced KotiX to a variety of other artists such as Diablo aka K.O. Kid, Skleez, Traumma Llamma, C-Black & many more whom which they've done songs with over the years. When KotiX went off to college at UNC-Wilmington, the bond between he and Raw English grew tighter. As the group Sky-Zu faded away Raw & KotiX came together forming Hard Comers. The name actually came from one of Raw's bars in the song "Danger Zone" off the Stovetop Summer mixtape in which he said, "Hardcomers, young gunners, just statin' the facts/ Take cats that be spittin' that crack, put 'em on wax." Although technically not a word, HardComers stuck in KotiX's mind and they decided to stick with it. Also his freshman year, (Nar)KotiX met another young lyricist who went by the name of Addictive Nature. They recorded a few songs together, rocked a few parties and open mics and stayed connected throughout the years. The two would eventually go on to form "Natural High," deriving its name from a combination of addictive NATURE and the HIGH that comes from (Nar)KotiX's music. He lived down the street and got tight with another rapper, who would eventually go on to turn tables and become DJ Complete. In the summer after his sophomore year of college, 2006, (Nar)KotiX released "NarKotiX presents... Stovetop Summer." The mixtape featured songs from (Nar)KotiX, Raw English, Skleez, J-Spade, Diablo and others and was meant to create a name for the team down in Wilmington. The cover featured, (Left to Right), J-Spade, Skleez, NarKotiX & Raw English. Although the buzz was slow to grow at first due to lack of hustle and resources, Stovetop Summer made an impact on people in the Port City. The only problem was, poor marketing led people to believe that NarKotiX was a group and not just one artist. Louis T, a local hip-hop promoter began to invite (Nar)KotiX to his Wednesday Night Workshops at local venues such as Charlie Browns and Soapbox. He introduced (Nar)KotiX to people involved in the local hip-hop scene like DJ Battle, X-ile, Bigg B (Coast 97.3). Through Louis T's shows, KotiX met lots of local artists such as The Last Ones Left, Ed E. Ruger, Big Hop, Endless Mic, Fuzz Jaxx, etc. Louis also started a T-shirt company, County Lines Clothing and went on to create "THE NORTH CACK" & "CACKILLAC" shirts that KotiX has been seen wearing on CD covers and at shows. By the summer of 2008 Raw English moved to Wilmington with (Nar)KotiX to focus more on their music. They bought a microphone and started recording at home on their PC. Many legendary bars were written at the house off Gordon Rd. (Exit 420), however, due to a variety of issues, Raw moved back to Greensboro. Once again, the bond between the two grew tighter. In February of 2008, (Nar)KotiX released "Port City Prince," his first full-length solo mixtape which included the songs "Do Da Damn Thang," "Get Bodied" & "Mirroracle." He had DJ Battle (Coast 97.3, any hot spot in Wilmington on it's best night) host it and began to earn some respect from hip-hop heads in the area. Although some people thought it wrong to title his mixtape Port City Prince, he did it to claim something that hadn't been claimed and has yet to be tested for his position. He respected area artists and was humble enough not to claim the King of the area. Once again, due to marketing people began to confuse the name. Now, people began to think of (Nar)KotiX as Port City Prince of the group NarKotiX. Also, due to the negative connotations of narcotics, he decided to drop the N-A-R and just go by KotiX. Through myspace and mutual friends, KotiX met a closet producer that went by the name of DJ Pedo. Turns out, while KotiX was spending longs nights in the booth writing on industry beats, Pedo was up all night just a few miles away banging out hits with nobody to spit on them. KotiX, excited to finally have original beats wrote and recorded "Fallin' Apart," within an hour from the time that Pedo sent him the first beat. Pedo, excited to finally have an experienced lyricist on his beat after years and years of developing his craft sent more beats and the evolution began. KotiX drove to Pedo's house and gave him a copy of his latest mixtape and they decided that they would begin work on a collaborative album. Just a few months later, (Nar)KotiX, now official KotiX dropped his second solo mixtape in May of 2008, "You Can Call Me the Don Part One." The title basically answered the question of, "What's his name?" Is it NarkotiX, is it Port City Prince? "How 'bout this? You can call me the don," was pretty much the reasoning behind that one. This mixtape is what really started to create a buzz for KotiX. With the smash hits, "Cruise Ship," "Fallin' Apart," "My Greatest Song," "Talk With Him," and the DJ Pedo produced "Roll the Haze" You Can Call Me the Don Part One became certified around North Carolina. Around the same time, KotiX began working with Blaze on a mixtape that would be released under the HardComers imprint entitled "The Recruit." He featured on seven of the songs and the buzz around his label grew. With Raw English still going strong, an in-house producer/DJ and the new addition of Blaze, the future for HardComers was bright. However, due to a variety of circumstances Blaze and KotiX had a falling out just months after "The Recruit" was released. Whi-G, another local rapper joined HardComers for a while and did a number of tracks with KotiX as well. But, before his mixtape was released, KotiX and Whi-G had a falling out due to creative differences. With two solo mixtapes out, KotiX began doing shows around Wilmington at venues such as Wild Wing Cafe, 16 Taps, Soapbox, Club Rhino, Charlie Brownz, French Quarters, The Palm Room, Kefi, etc. Ed E. Ruger, who KotiX had grown tighter with started booking shows with KotiX back in Greensboro at venues like Greene Street Club, Somewhere Else Tavern (SWET) & The Clubhouse. KotiX received his BFA from UNC-Wilmington in December of 2008 with a degree in Creative Writing with a focus in Non-fiction & Poetry and a minor in Psychology. He says, "I got through college turning in verses I wrote in high school." While the degree doesn't do much for a career, throughout the years he was able to use what he learned in his writing workshops to develop his skill as a lyricist. While putting the finishing touches up on his first complete solo album, "Feel Good Music," produced in it's entirety by DJ Pedo, KotiX released "You Can Call Me the Don Part 2" in April of 2009. With mixtape sales well into four digits, KotiX began to gain resources to work on developing his label, HardComers Entertainment. The mixtape kept the buzz growing and has let it be known that KotiX is here to stay and he is no hurry to slow his grind. He then released "Broken Ties: The Untold Story" in July of 2009 which included songs that had been previously recorded with Blaze and Whi-G. KotiX, knowing the songs were hot, decided not to let them go to waste over a falling out and put them out for the fans to hear. The future is bright for KotiX and HardComers Entertainment. The bond between KotiX and Raw English is brotherly and together they will create classics until the grave stones are placed over their heads. KotiX loves to create music and does it simply for the sake of doing it. He loves for people to hear his music and gain something from his lyrics, whatever it may be. He is now at the point where music is life and everything else is survival. KotiX has done songs with a variety of artists and enjoys collaborating on music. "Everyone I do a song with teaches me something I didn't know about myself," he says. He has worked with Raw English, Diablo, Skleez, Addictive Nature (Mic Myers), C-Black, Fuzz Jaxxson, Killa, Big Hop, Ed E. Ruger, Celinski, Poe Mack (VA), Eulogy & Scar (NeverRES), Shelly B, Lo Cal, Saundrea Lee, The Great 1, Ty Bru & Dana Lucci to name a few. He has graced the production of DJ Pedo (obviously), Fantom of the Beat, D1, J-Dub Productions, JJ the Jenious, Cinematic & L'Orange as well as all of your favorite industry producers on the mixtapes. Look for KotiX's debut album, "Feel Good Music" to be dropping in the third quarter of 2009 under HardComers Entertainment. WE JUST GETTIN' STARTED!!! HC '09