Royal-Treatment

Royal-Treatment is a rapper who got his start on Vancouver Island, BC and Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Born Travis Fleming and raised in St John's, Newfoundland he's gone by Royal-T since 1997 and has put music out under various acronymic twists on the moniker such as Royal-Treatment and Royal-T-Bag. He's performed at hundreds of shows all over Canada and the US, has won numerous MC battles and co-hosted CILU's top rated radio show, "Tha Realness", for two years. In December 2003, Royal-Treatment released his debut hip hop album, "Weirdo Music for Elitist Aliens". The album was recorded at Revolution Music Canada's studio and was distributed internationally, receiving critical acclaim in magazines and websites all over the world. "Exclaim!" stated that "Royal-T’s first legit release, "Weirdo Music for Elitist Aliens", reveals the most potential of this newest generation of Canadian rappers."

Along with building a fan base throughout Canada and the United States through touring, word of mouth, radio play and collaborations with some of both country's top beat producers, Royal-Treatment has even reached the frigid shores of Sweden with an extending fan base thanks to being a featured artist on the country's #1 hip hop website.

Royal-T's artist profile as taken from his and Deepcave Records' official press kits:

After selling out of his first two independent releases with minimal distribution and promotion, Royal-T's looking to seriously expand his product to the extensive fan base it's deserved since he emerged with his rapid fire flow and technical rhyme structure on his 2003 debut LP: Weirdo Music For ELitist Aliens. With a full plate of releases and touring for the upcoming year and, now, with two solid critically acclaimed independent releases under his belt 2008 looks to be a promising year for one of Canada's most skilled lyricists.

As an MC first and foremost Royal-T, who according to exclaim magazine "reveals the most potential of this newest generation of Canadian rappers", currently resides in the frozen prairie capital of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada where he holds it down with his Deepcave Records family which has proven to be the most active independent label/production company in what's been dubbed as one of Canada's most dangerous city's.

Raised on Canada's far east coast in St John's, Newfoundland he picked up freestyling in ciphers at school and began writing songs to his favorite beats of the day namely Wu-Tang, Organized Konfusion, Boot Camp Clik, Juice Crew and Souls Of Mischief. At the Age of 16 he relocated to Vancouver Island BC where he stayed for three years, entered and won a few mc battles and hooked up with local producers and mc's which led to recording his first mixtapes and performing his first couple of sets. No real moves were made, however, until 2000 when Royal-T relocated to Thunder Bay, Ontario where he became an integral part of their close knit budding hip hop scene. In a three year period he held it down performing at hundreds of shows, co-hosting and programming the local University's top rated radio show, he dropped Thunder Bay's only officially pressed and distributed hip hop album to date (2003's Weirdo Music For Elitist Aliens) and won numerous mc battles in Thunder Bay and several other Western Canadian cities.

With a barrage of positive feedback by way of magazine and website reviews and college radio play in Canada, and a handful of American and European cities, Royal-T finally got the opportunity to perform across the country and network with fellow mc's, producers and general hip hop heads who shared the same vision. By 2004 it was time to move on to greener pastures, which in this case was only 8 hours west in Winnipeg, Manitoba which also happened to be, not only home to one of Canadas highest producing rap scenes but also to fellow ambitious mc and colleague Big Bear who'd been busy putting out his debut LP and putting on Winnipeg's most successful rap shows.

Shortly after moving to Winnipeg Royal-T and Big Bear expanded on Big Bear's Deepcave productions and made Deepcave Records adding their favorite Canadian mc's to the roster. Within their three years of existence, Deepcave Records, has managed to remain the only consistently active crew in the Winnipeg rap community. They've put on practically every successful hip hop show the city of Winnipeg saw since 2003 and members of Deepcave have been blessed with the chance to tour with legendary New York rappers the Boot Camp Clik and with Los Angeles rapper Awol One (of the Shapeshifters). 2006 saw the first official releases on Deepcave Records, Big Bear- Bear Back (featuring former lyricist lounge host Wordsworth from New York and Awol One from the Shapeshifters crew in Los Angeles) and Royal-T-Bag- The Void Filler Collection which sold out of its initial print in less than 2 months.

Gaining comparisons to Chicago rapper Twista due to his double and sometimes triple time flows, Royal-T, as described by Exclaim Magazine, "lyrically covers a lot of ground, speaking candidly about politics, society and himself, as well as taking time to drop some battle raps and abstract rhymes. Most impressive is his rare ability to make it all work on one album." That's something he intends on re-achieving as a far more polished rhymeslinger in 2008 with a new solo LP and side projects with Deepcave labelmates as well as projects with likeminded Canadian Indy labels Foultone and Sideroad records and the NWO album which is a supergroup effort consisting of himself, several Deepcave labelmates and their Winnipeg counterparts "The Dead Indians". Also dropping in late 2008 or early 2009 is "T-Bay Classics", a double album featuring the best of the many collaboritve efforts between himself, Nevamind, Lev, and Arc during his time in Thunder Bay, Ontario, it also features 15 new tracks from the 4 former rhyme partners.

Collaborations being nothing new to Royal-T in 2006 he was featured on three tracks on Big Bear's Bear Back as well as occupying the only guest spot on Grubbs' debut LP Plague City released on Foultone Records. All the while, dropping his second LP featuring guest MC spots by Cee!!!!!!!!(Vancouver), Prof and Rahzwell(Minneapolis), and Professor D of The Dope Poet Society(Toronto) and with production from some of the country's finest including DJ Moves(Vancouver), DJ Kutdown (Winnipeg, Foultone Records), P Nut (Winnipeg, Dead Indians), and DJ Zach (Vancouver, DDR). With 2008 just underway, Royal-T's already got a guest mc credit on the newest album from LA's Awol One- Only Death Can Kill You, on Saskatoon hip hopers Know Talent's album- Yesterday's Lessons Tomorrow and he's had solo tracks on two Canadian hip hop compilations out of Calgary: Dirty Sample- The Belvedere Sessions and Metwon's compilation. A seasoned veteran when it comes to performing, Royal-T continues to wow crowds with his raw energy and razor sharp tongue that commands attention consistently gains positive reactions everywhere he ventures. He's toured Canada to welcoming receptions and even ventured to the States to rock shows on a couple of occasions. All the while never passing up opportunity, opening for the likes of Method Man, Boot Camp Clik, Masta Ace, Smiff N Wessun, Naughty By Nature, Black Moon, Necro, Wordsworth, Souls Of Mischief, Sean P, Brother Ali, Awol One, Aceyalone, Grouch (Living Legends), Zion I, DJ Craze, Blueprint, Busdriver (Project Blowed), Swollen Members, Classified, DL Incognito, Josh Martinez and numerous Canadian Hip Hop veterans.

Royal-T's the complete package, a rappers rapper without ever falling into a cliché style. T is technically sound with a style that's forever expanding making it impossible to label. With an arsenal of material and ambition and a fan base expanding on a constant basis, success seems inevitable for this polished lyricist despite the cons of being an independent hip hop artist in Canada.

Discography:Royal-T- The Void Filler Collection- 2006Royal-T and Nevamind are....The Yes Men- 2004Royal-T- Weirdo Music For Elitist Aliens- 2003 Features:Awol One and Factor- Only Death Can Kill You- 2007- Sideroad Records(1track)Big Bear- Bear Back- 2006 (3 tracks)Grubbs- Plague City- 2006- Foultone Records (1 track)Know Talent- Yesterday's Lessons Tomorrow (1 track)Dirty Sample Compilation- The Belvedere Sessions- 2007 (1 track)Metawon- Choplifter Compilation- 2008 (1 track)Hand Solo Records Mixtape- 2008 (1 track) Production:Royal-T and Nevamind are....The Yes Men- 2004 ( 2 tracks)Royal-T- Weirdo Music For Elitist Aliens- 2003 (1 track) Coming up:Deepcave and Factor- 2008The NWO- Cowboys and Indians- 2008Nevamind, Royal-T, Arc and Lev present...."T-Bay Classics"- 2008Indy Wars- Foultone Records- 2008Royal-T and DJ Kutdown- LP- 2008Webster Death- Shine- 2008 (1 track)RDS- Compilation CD- 2008 (1 track)

References

* [http://revolutionmusic.net/node/158 Revolution Music Canada website]
* [http://exclaim.ca/index.asp?layid=23&csid1=9679 Exclaim Magazine article]