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There are cycles in everything.
Seasons come and go. Trends pop and deflate. Careers rise and fall. Genres of music live and die. Once in awhile, an artist steps up who doesn't quite follow the cycle. He doesn't pay heed to "What's cool." He doesn't give a shit about "Who's hot." He doesn't follow the zeitgeist but, rather, the zeitgeist follows him. Hyro Da Hero is about to flip rap upside down, inside out and all around.
Hyro Da Hero spins his own cycle of hip hop on his debut album Birth, School, Work, Death. Hyro loads rock 'n' roll attitude into explosive, engaging and enthralling rap music. With the crunch of a power chord and the snap of a rhyme, the Houston-bred Los Angeles-based MC spits pure fire. Produced by Ross Robinson—the man behind Korn, Slipknot and At the Drive-in's legendary debuts—Birth, School, Work, Death sounds like Nas fronting Rage Against the Machine.
Hyro's band—Daniel Anderson [guitar, Idiot Pilot], Paul Hinojos [bass, At The Drive-In/Sparta/The Mars Volta] and Blood Brothers' Cody Votolato [guitar] and Mark Gajadhar [drums]—certainly have the pedigree to pummel as well. Guttural riffs feed into razor-sharp rhymes, building a sound that's as introspective as it is infectious. Hyro da Hero fires off one aural grenade after another whether it's violent punk-funk vibrancy of "Sleeping Giants" or the sugary bitch-slap of "We Still Popular." Across the album, Hyro experiments with a myriad of styles from the psyched-out pop of "Man in My City" to his call-to-arms, "Grudge," where he proudly declares, "I ain't Lil Wayne." This is hip hop like you've never heard.
About his enigmatic sound, Hyro comments, "I always look to the underground. That's where the honesty comes from. Genuine rap and rock go hand-in-hand, but no one has done it like this. It's raw, and it's real."
That raw and real soul hypercharges "Section 8," which breaks into a cathartic freakout that's beautifully unsettling. In the same breath, Hyro can spit out witty and righteously brilliant observations of popular culture on "We Still Popular," featuring Tony Royster Jr. [Jay-Z] behind the drum kit. After a "Sweet Child O' Mine"-style guitar lead, Hyro examines everything wrong with Hollywood. He delves into the song revealing, "That's about how easy it is to get fame these days, but it's all bullshit. The Kim Kardashian's and Lindsay Lohan's all fall down eventually, but it's sad that this is our pop culture. I'm happy to be regular, but I'm going to speak my mind."
However, Hyro is far from regular. He's been dazzling the hip hop and rock fans alike with his independently released mixtapes Gangsta Rock [2007], Rock N' Roll Gangsta [2008] and Belo Horizonte [2009]. Those mixtapes have been downloaded in excess of 100,000 times, and Hyro received glowing acclaim from tastemakers such as Alternative Press, My Old Kentucky Blog, ARTISTdirect.com, Blabbermouth.net, AbsolutePunk.net and many more. However, there's nothing quite like seeing Hyro live. He's rocked stages worldwide with 50 Cent, Cypress Hill, Deftones, Staind, Halestorm, Hatebreed and countless other rock and rap acts. He adds, "It all really goes down on stage. You need to hear and see this live."
Hyro's proper debut, Birth, School, Work, Death taps into something that's been missing in rock and rap. "Ross Robinson pulled a lot out me. He pushed me to the edge, and I was able to realize everything I'd always dreamed my music would sound like with his help. It got intense, but it was all worth it, and I've got a record that's going to knock the world on its ass."
In the end, Hyro screams for revolution on "Beam Me Up," and it's a fitting declaration.
This is time to break the cycle. This is time for Hyro Da Hero.
– Rick Florino
