MC Messiah

MC Messiah

MC Messiah is the rap name of Žygimantas Kudirka, a Lithuanian hip-hop artist born in 1987. His work is associated with hip-hop, rap, jazz, funk and Lithuanian urban music, and he presents himself as an artist focused on individuality and originality.

Career

He begins as a rapper after experimenting with home recordings, then moves into live performance with a band setup that includes beatbox, guitar, female vocals and emceeing. He later develops solo projects and works across several collaborations in Lithuania’s urban music scene.

MC Messiah belongs to IAL, a co-operation of urban music artists, and performs in the intelligent rap project Sfera. He is also part of Metro Promo, described as one of the largest Lithuanian drum’n’bass promotion crews. In addition, he records and performs as an MC with DJ Red 1 and appears on tracks by the live drum’n’bass group SheeZzanova.

Live work and releases

He forms a live band called liVe goes on!, with a line-up that includes two electric guitars, bass guitar, trombone, saxophone, trumpet, drums, two DJs, two beat makers, a personal sound engineer, two backing vocalists, a female singer and MC Messiah himself. He has already played more than 70 concerts across Lithuania.

His solo album Antimaterija presents a range of hip-hop styles, rapping approaches, and musical genres. It also explores a wide variety of themes, with the aim of creating a complete world model that listeners can compare with the present environment.

Guest appearances and media work

MC Messiah appears on four LPs that include guest contributions from him. He has a solo track and a feature on the Lithuanian hip-hop compilation Ultimatumas 3, and he contributes to the Metro Promo drum’n’bass LP. He also appears on Lithuanian hip-hop radio programmes such as Gatves Lyga and Bjaurus Bytai, and takes part in a music-video project with CAC TV, the Contemporary Arts Center Television.

Awards

His honours include Artist of the Year at the Lithuanian Hip-hop Awards 2005, a Best Hip-hop Artist nomination at the Lithuanian Alternative Awards 2005, and the Discovery of the Battle award in the First Lithuanian MC Battle Online.

Style

His music is described in terms of future jazz, abstract hip-hop and related experimental approaches, with an emphasis on perspective, detail and unconventional themes.