Gnawledge is proud to officially welcome a new artist to the family: the1shanti. Based in Brooklyn, the1shanti connected with Gnawledge during our 2010 Spring Tour and hosted our NYC label showcase. His new album Beautiful features collaborations with Grammy Award winning British vocalist Imogen Heap, beatboxer Chesney Snow, and Gnawledge bredren Gnotes.

Download the1shanti’s new EP Beautiful: FREE @ Bandcamp

• 1.      Beautiful (Summer Sunshine Remix)
• 2.      It’s Alright feat. Imogen Heap + Gnotes
• 3.      She Don’t Know feat. Chesney Snow
• 4.      Beautiful (Shanti in Africa Remix) 04:39

Connect with the1shanti @ Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

the1shanti has been rocking mics since he was 12 years-old rhyming on-stage with Doug E Fresh.  He has collaborated with A.R. Rahman, Foreign Beggars, and Billy Martin (Medeski, Martin and Wood) and toured all over the world, with extended stays in Mumbai, Bangkok, London, and New York.

In 2006, Afrika Bambaataa welcomed the1shanti into the Universal Zulu Nation.  Shanti was ordained as “Indian Bambaataa” by the godfather of hip-hop because his efforts to spread a positive message through hip-hop in South Asia.

In 2007, the1shanti signed to legendary underground hip-hop label Rawkus Records and released his self-titled sophomore solo album.  Always with his fingers in a few different pies, Shanti also formed Bonita Applebum, a collaboration with former Miss India North America, Shefali Kumar.

Shanti is also 1/3 of the Dum Dum Project , a legendary crew in South Asian hip-hop signed to Sony Asia.  Their song “Punjabi 5-0″ feat the1shanti became an international club hit (video below) after the Dum Dum project was featured as MTV Asia’s “Artist of the Month.”

In the digital space, Shanti launched www.opensourcehiphop.org as a resource for budding musicians to learn how to use free software tools to make professional recordings and access information about publishing, distribution, and basic legal needs.

Shanti is currently based in Brooklyn, where he regularly collaborates with Cumba Mela, an NYC party crew that brings together cumbia, dubstep, hip-hop and tropical bass.   Much more coming from Gnawledge and the1shanti in the future!