Brainpower

Agents After All

Postbus 2686
1000 CR AMSTERDAM
T  020-5210010
E  info@agentsafterall.nl
W  www.agentsafterall.nl

PIAS (Play It Again Sam)

Van Diemenstraat 158
1013 CN AMSTERDAM
T  020-3031300
E  playit@pias.nl
W  www.pias.nl

Summary

Biography

Popular Dutch-language rapper whose career rocketed after winning the Grand Prix of the Netherlands Talent Show in 1998. In 2001 he releases his long-awaited debut album Door Merg & Brain ('Through Bone & Brain'). Currently he is one of the mainstays of Dutch hiphop.
Full biography

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Members

Gertjan Mulder   rap

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Former members

Uncas Huges   draaitafels
Jonas Filtenborg   drums
Anne Dirkzwager   drums
Alvin Lewis   gitaar
Pablo Penton   basgitaar
Ricardo Cairo   rap
Patrick Mijnals   toetsinstrumenten
Full list... Summarized list

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News archive

Brainpower voor zijn gevoel net begonnen (video) (10/8/09) 
10 jaar HiphopInJeSmoel in WATT met meer dan 20 acts en DJ's (7/8/09) 
Hind met Lefties Soul Connection op stap (2/19/09) 

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Biography

Popular Dutch-language rapper whose career rocketed after winning the Grand Prix of the Netherlands Talent Show in 1998. In 2001 he releases his long-awaited debut album Door Merg & Brain ('Through Bone & Brain'). Currently he is one of the mainstays of Dutch hiphop.

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1975

Gertjan Mulder is born in Antwerp (Belgium).

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1986

Gertjan grows up in the Netherlands.

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1989

Mulder starts writing Dutch-language raps.

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1994

The young MC leaves for Amsterdam to study communication studies.

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1996

Gertjan works for dance magazine Update Magazine for which he reviews the underground hiphop scene.

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1997

Brainpower makes guest appearances on the radio programme Dutch Masters. He also performs as an MC at the drum'n'bass parties in club Roxy in Amsterdam and he hosts the popular Bassline club night in Paradiso, Amsterdam.

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1998

Brainpower wins the Grand Prix of the Netherlands Talent Show for best R&B/hiphop act and he also wins the public's award. He is also awarded Best Rapper. Brainpower performs at the Drum Rhythm and North Sea Jazz festivals. When performing live he is joined by backup rapper Too Tall and DJ TLM.

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1999

Brainpower, Murth The Man-O-Script and Yukkie B can be heard on the Zoete Inval ('Open House') by Dutch rapper Extince. The single reaches number thirty in the Dutch Top 40.

Extince Murth Mossel Yuksel Ozince

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2000

The single Door Merg & Brain ('Through Bone & Brain') is released and becomes a modest success. Brainpower is guest vocalist on the single Als Niet Als ('If Not If') by Dutch-language group Doe Maar. He also stars in the accompanying video, which is produced by Eboman.

Doe Maar Eboman

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2001

Brainpower's debut album Door Merg & Brain comes out. The album gets good reviews from the Dutch media and Brainpower is invited to perform at the Pinkpop festival, a highlight in his career so far. He also stars at the single Down 2k1 by Dutch hardcore band Green Lizard. De single Je Moest Waarschijnlijk Gaan ('You Probably Had To Go') deals with the death of one of Brainpower's best friends.

Green Lizard

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2002

Brainpower is awarded with a Zilveren 'Silver' Harp and a TMF Award for Best National Hiphop Act. His new single Dansplaat ('Dance record') achieves a historic first: it's powerplayed by all key radio stations in the country. It reaches the top spot in the Dutch and Belgian charts. Door Merg & Brain is re-released and contains an extra CD with remixes and live tracks. Brainpower's complete catalogue is released on vinyl. On November 14 Brainpower picks up the Best Dutch Act Award at the yearly MTV Europe Music Awards, which are taking place in Barcelona. In the same week One Mic, the single that he cut with US peer NAS, is premiered on Dutch Radio.

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2003

Brainpower can be seen in the video of the track Down Met Jou ('Down With You'). In March Brainpower receives an Edison Music Award in the category Best R&B/hiphop National. In April he receives a TMF Music Award in the category Best Rap National. On June 29 he plays the Parkpop festival in The Hague.

ADHD Berget Lewis Candy Dulfer DiceCream Raymzter

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2004

With his new project ADHD Brainpower performs at the Noorderslag Festival. Meanwhile the man is dissed big time by fellow rapper Extince on the track Doorgaan ('Go On') on the latter's new album 2e Jeugd ('2nd Youth'). 'Brain' replies rapidly by the 8-minute 'statement' Ghostbusters, which can be downloaded on his site. Their argument becomes a media hype. At the annual TMF Awards in the Rotterdam Ahoy' Arena, Brain wins the award for Best Urban National. Brainpower remixes Triple Trouble by the Beastie Boys. Their label EMI picks one out the four different versions, and puts it on the Dutch release of their same-named single.

Extince

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2005

His third studio album Even Stil ('Keep Quiet For A Moment') comes out in May, preceded by the single Alles ('Everything'). The album contains contributions by Bløf singer Paskal Jakobsen, NYC rapper Kool Keith on the track Magnetische Velden ('Magnetic Fields') and Ram1 on Volgende Dimensie ('Next Dimension'). Together with De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig ('Youth Of Today') Brainpower supports Snoop Doggy Dog at the Rotterdam Ahoy' arena. At the second edition of the Dutch Mobo Awards Brainpower is awarded Best Live Artist. With Freek de Jonge he cuts a track and video for the first one's TV show. In December he teams up with R&B chanteuse Tasha's World on the Dommelsch lager-sponsored series of free Dommelsch Dubbel Dutch Pop-Up shows across the country, consisting of covers of famous English-languages duets, translated into Dutch, such as Crazy In Love by Beyoncé & Jay-Z and Walk This Way by Run-DMC & Aerosmith.

Bløf De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig Freek de Jonge Tasha's World

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2006

The book Tekst & Uitleg ('The Lyrics Fully Explained') is a compilation of the lyrics to 70 Brainpower songs, including previously unreleased material. Brainpower is featured on the youth film Afblijven ('Hands Off') by Maria Peters. Vlinders ('Butterflies'), the single out of that film, featuring rapper Dicecream, is released in October. The track is also included on Je Weet Nix… ('You Know Nothin…') , the debut album by Dicecream, which is released on his own label Lyric Recordings. In conjunction with Coca Cola Brainpower releases the sampler Rec Release DatvinnikCoke on his own label. The limited edition CD has contributions by ten contestants from the urban music platform Rec Release by Coca Cola. It features a great variety in urban styles and artists including Alianz, Shock 'n Surprise, Sir OJ, Crackbek and Tony Shift.

Food For Funk

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2007

Brainpower guest stars during the reunion shows of the Dolly Dots in the Ahoy' in Rotterdam in May. Brainpower and Intwine write a song for the songtrack of the video game Assassin's Creed. Their single The Chosen (Assassin's Creed) is released mid November through PIAS.

Dolly Dots Intwine

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2008

Brainpower and DJ TLM tour the country. The rapper also releases two albums: Hart (Heart) and Hard (Hard). Hart features more melodic material about themes like anger, fear, hope, pain, happiness and various forms of love. Freek de Jonge, Hind, Candy Dulfer, TLM and All Star Fresh, contribute. Hard features hiphop including battle raps and raw beats. Dicecream, T-Slash, The Partysquad and rapper Sjaak contribute. The album is produced by TLM, Oh Jay, Reverse, QF, Tease, Gaspard De La Nuit, SirOJ, Thomas Bank, Big2 and Brainpower. During the State Awards on 22 December, Brainpower receives a Lifetime Achievement Award.

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2009

The compilation Mijn Manier ('My Way') consists of two CDs and a DVD featuring Brainpower's hit songs. The rapper goes on a tour of the Netherlands and Belgium to support the release. At the kick off of the tour, Brainpower receives a Multi Platinum Combined Sales Award for the sale of more than 200.000 albums.

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Discography

In the discography you will find all recordings that have been released listed chronologically. We restrict ourselves to the title, the type of audio, year of publication or recording, label, list of guest musicians, plus any comments on the issue.

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Photos

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Audio/Video

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Video

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