Stan Ipcus is the voice of the suburbs with the sound of the streets. He is the first white rapper to represent the Westchester suburban New York hip hop experience with lyrical wit, skill, soul, passion, street credibility, and songwriting ability, without compromising his various musical and cultural influences. Take a look, you might not expect it. A white guy so fly that talks reckless.
The story of the rapper Stan Ipcus begins in Oakland, California, where he was born in 1978. His mom was a piano teacher, his dad a Music Camp Director. He spent the first three months of his life living in a three-sided cabin at the camp, surrounded by hippies, music, and weed.
At five years old his family headed east for White Plains, New York. He grew up there; playing sports, taking piano lessons, and listening to hip hop music. In high school, he began writing his first raps, and hopping in and out of the Bronx and Manhattan to cop mixtapes and attend live hip hop shows, one where he was actually pulled on stage by The Roots to rap with the band at the end of their Knitting Factory performance, marking Stan's first hip hop highlight in 1996. It was during this time period that he was given the name Stan Ipcus by one of his neighborhood friends.
At The University of Maryland, he began to record songs and link up with other students interested in hip hop. After gaining a campus wide buzz, he started performing locally at major on campus events, as well as in the Washington D.C. metro area clubs, parties, and on college radio shows.
After graduating from with B.A. in American Studies, Stan returned to White Plains. He was the winner of the sonicbids.com contest to be the opening act for Slick Rick in NYC, and also opened up for Boot Camp veterans Smif n Wessun. He performed solo sets live all over the Tri State area, most notably at Joe's Pub, CBGB's, and ironically back at The Knitting Factory. His first official street single "Pay U No Mind", recorded at Sony Studios in Manhattan, received airplay on WNYU 89.1FM's Halftime Show with DJ Eclipse in 2005. He became very well known in Westchester County for his frequent local appearances and performances at the hottest night clubs, and his buzzworthy street cd's featuring a mix of classic New York hip hop production with soul and indie rock influences and samples.
Stan's buzz grew nationwide when he was featured rapping on the Matisyahu studio album Youth (Epic Records, track 8), which debuted at 4 on the Billboard charts and 1 on iTunes, and was certified platinum by the RIAA and nominated for a Best Reggae Album Grammy award. On the song "WP", which Rolling Stone magazine called in their review of Youth the album's "most lyrically attractive track", the two childhood friends who grew up blocks from each other reminisce on their days coming up in White Plains. He has made dozens of appearances live with Matisyahu in NYC at Madison Square Garden, Hammerstein Ballroom, Webster Hall, Roseland Ballroom, at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, the Greek Theatre in LA, and also on the Summer Unity Tour with 311.
In 2008, his creative new single "My Ferris Buellers", an ode to his Nike SB Ferris Bueller Dunk sneakers, was heard on Hot 97 and Shade 45 numerous times, and he made live appearances on both stations, most notably on the Cipha Sounds and Rosenberg Hot 97 Morning Show, where Stan's pre-recorded intro with Matisyahu beatboxing can also be heard regularly, as well as his newer solo one which debuted on the show at the top of 2009. And his self produced video for "My Ferris Buellers" was featured all over the internet on many of the biggest hip hop and sneaker related sites after its debut on the internet's most respected hip hop blog, nahright.com. And since then, nahright.com has featured many of his other records, such as his political zinger "George Mush (Move Over Dubya)" and his vicious Asher Roth diss "The Great White Hope", among other exclusive videos and songs.
Most recently at the top of 2009, nahright.com featured his self produced BACHELOR PARTY mixtape album, calling Ipcus "one of the most talented free agents out there". They post his new songs, videos, and mixtapes on a regular basis. And his latest street single "Wifey Material" is in regular rotation on Peter Rosenberg's highly acclaimed Hot 97 Real Late Hip Hop mixshow. All this was done on his own, with no representation to support him.
As an added edge, Stan is an accomplished piano player, and maintains his work with youth, Directing a Cultural Arts Center in Mount Kisco, NY, overseeing digital and visual arts workshops and programming, with an in-house recording studio for kids and video editing lab. He is also a published writer and blogger, most known for his GROOM GUY column on Westchester Magazine's website, his personal blog WESTCHEDDAR (www.westcheddar.com), and his prior work with XXL magazine covering live concerts all along the east coast. He is also currently finishing up his first memoir titled "Flirting with Fame", the story of his life as an unsigned rapper that has tasted the life without ever having a record deal.
FOR BOOKING AND ALL OTHER INQUIRIES:
daniel.isenberg.ip@gmail.com
914 837 2743
Stan whats good like the Asher Roth diss, and wifey material been one of my favorite tracks from you for a minute, but I wanna do some work with you, holla @me on dis on thru JJ-ONE
Gettin Kinky w/ Chia is back on your airwaves Feb 11 LIVE Tonight 8pm est"The Other Woman" let me know your thoughts email gettinkinky@gmail.com/917-210-1065 anytime to leave a comment
WIN A PRIZE PACKAGE FOR EACH NIGHT OF CHANUKAH! 8 WINNERS!
At each Festival of Light show, Matisyahu will randomly select a winner from his list of contest submissions to win a prize package. The prize package includes a Festival of Light poster signed by the whole band, a Matisyahu t-shirt and a live recording of the show where Matisyahu announces your name on stage.
In addition, Matisyahu will personally call you to congratulate you and exchange holiday greetings!
Prize Packages Include:....A Personal Phone Call from Matisyahu!!....Your name announced at the Festival of Lights....Recording of the show where your name is drawn....Festival of Light Poster signed by the whole band....Matisyahu T-Shirt....
