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At 20 years old, Kob (born Ben Schimke) may seem like a young buck inthe music world, but listening to his music, his abilities are clearlyahead of his time.Born May 1987 in Minneapolis, MN, Kob spent his entire childhoodimmersed in music. While his father, a former model and actor, worked to feed his family as a postal worker, he also instilled in Kob a passionfor performance. Kob began playing the drums at 4 years old afterreceiving a set for Christmas.

Growing up he was into old rock & rolland blues music, ironically the same roots that founded hip-hop in the1970s.While struggling to fit in at school and avoid the temptations of theinner city streets, he made a strong connection with a neighbor namedTyrell "L" Edwards. Tyrell introduced Ben to rap music, which at thetime wasn't heavily exposed on Minneapolis radio. As their friendshipwent on, L and Kob began writing rhymes and performing around theneighborhood. Eventually L lost interest in performing music, but forKob, the fire had just begun to burn.Though he had been writing and performing for a few years, it wasn'tuntil 2002 that Kob stepped into the booth and recorded his first song.After that, it wasn't long before his talent was noticed and he waspicked up by local label Ill Concept Records in 2003. Though finallyrecording steadily, he lacked an important piece to his music: beats.

His uncle, world-renowned jazz pianist Peter Schimke donated an old Roland XP-50 keyboard and Kob immediately began producing his own tracks.In 2005, 4 months before he graduated from Washburn High School inMinneapolis, Kob released his first, self-produced cd entitled"Ethinomicks". For the next year, Kob, along with singer Marcus Allen, independently promoted Ethinomicks, performing locally and nationally, vigorously demanding attention as one of the city's better artists.During this time, Kob also met an important piece to his future, producers Tommy Real and Don Diego