Pete Philly & Perquisite

Summary

Biography

Successful hiphop act from Amsterdam formed by singer/rapper Pete Philly and cellist/producer Perquisite. 2005 is the duo's breakthrough year with the release of debut album Mindstate and shows at the Lowlands festival and the North Sea Jazz festival. Early 2006 Pete Philly & Perquisite receive a Zilveren Harp music award.
Full biography

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Members

Pieter Perquin   cello, producer
Pieter Monzon   rap

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Former members

Remco Keijzer   saxofoon
Kasper Kalf   basgitaar
Misha van der Winkel   draaitafels
Ruben Hein   achtergrondzang, toetsinstrumenten

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News archive

Ruben Hein tekent bij Blue Note Records (7/19/10) 
Ruben Hein tekent bij Blue Note Records (7/19/10) 
South By Southwest-verslag (3/23/09) 
Musicxport.nl steunt vijf Nederlandse bands op SXSW (2/19/09) 
Pete Philly & Perquisite in voorprogramma Kanye West (11/25/08) 
Pete Philly & Perquisite delen podium met Amerikaanse hiphoplegendes (10/29/08) 
Pete Philly & Perquisite op Koninkrijksconcert Curaçao (10/3/08) 
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Biography

Successful hiphop act from Amsterdam formed by singer/rapper Pete Philly and cellist/producer Perquisite. 2005 is the duo's breakthrough year with the release of debut album Mindstate and shows at the Lowlands festival and the North Sea Jazz festival. Early 2006 Pete Philly & Perquisite receive a Zilveren Harp music award.

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1987 - 1995

Aruba-born Pete Philly (real name: Pieter Monzon) comes to the Netherlands at the age of five. He takes up an interest in hiphop after starting to listen to De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest.

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1996 - 2001

Cellist Perquisite (real name: Pieter Perquin) starts making hiphop beats at the age of 14. He then travels to the US. Back in the Netherlands he starts his own label: Unexpected Records. He produces tracks for The Proov and works with jazz musicians like Benjamin Herman and David Kweksilber from the New Cool Collective. Herman improvises on the Outta Nowhere EP, which is released in October 2001. Kweksilber clarinet can be heard on the Double Vision EP (October 2002). After only one year Pete Philly drops out of Art College in Rotterdam to be able to devote all his time to his music. He can be heard on albums by Nicotine (Bonobo Politics), Gotcha (5.259551/2200) and Jagga Bite Sound System (Insert Credit).

Gotcha! New Cool Collective Nicotine Perquisite

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2002 - 2004

Philly contributes to the compilation CD Homegrown released by the Dutch Rock And Pop Institute in order to promote new Dutch hiphop talent. In 2002 the rapper makes it to the finale of the Grand Prix of the Netherlands Talent Show, category hiphop/R&B. In 2004 he is invited to do a show in Glasgow during the Scottish music seminar MusicWorks Convention. Pete Philly and Perquisite start working together and record the jazzy hiphop EP Mindstate.

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2005

On the album Mindstate the duo combines hiphop with psychedelics, classical music and broken beats. Mindstate is a concept album on which different moods like insomnia, being relieved, amazement and paranoia are depicted per track. Guest contributions on the album include those of singer Senna, Cee Major (The Proov), US Talib Kweli and jazz musicians Jesse van Ruller and Benjamin Herman. The album is also released in Japan. The press is unanimously enthusiastic. In March Pete Philly & Perquisite perform at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival in South Africa. In June they receive an Essent Award music award. One month later the can be seen at the 5 Days Off festival in Amsterdam and the North Sea Jazz festival in The Hague. In August they play the Lowlands festival. Pete Philly & Perquisite area nominated for the Dutch Mobo Awards (= Music of Black Origin). The 12" Grateful/Amazed includes remixes by Nicolay (The Foreign Exchange) and Seji (Bugz In The Attic). In the autumn Pieter & Pieter and their band kick off a tour of Germany and Scandinavia. Together with producer OhNo from Stonesthrow Pete Philly records a 12" in front of a live audience. Pete Philly & Perquisite contribute the song Hope to a free compilation album for a Make Trade Fair campaign. The duo contributes two tracks for French compilation record Mega R'n'B. The song Insomnia is nominated 'Song of the year'. Pete Philly & Perquisite cover the song Dazzled Kids by Dutch band Voicst during the awards show. It is the B-side to their single Mellow.

The Proov Voicst

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2006

Pete Philly & Perquisite receive a Zilveren Harp music award. The album Mindstate is nominated for an Edison music award and is also released in Canada and the US by the Anti label, which also includes acts like Tom Waits, The Black Keys, Solomon Burke and Blackalicious. In February Pete Philly & Perquisite win a Kink FM NightLiveXS Award in the category 'best Newcomer stage and festivals'. In February and March they tour extensively through Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. The duo also plays several gigs supporting French hiphop crew Saian Supa Crew. The video with the song Grateful ends up on the Australian compilation DVD Preserving Efforts Vol. I.

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2007

On 22 January, Pete Philly & Perquisite release a new version of their 2005 debut album Mindstate under the name Remindstate. On Remindstate all tracks have been remixed by DJs and musicians from the hiphop and jazz scene. Some people that worked on the album include: Seiji (Bugz in the Attic, UK), Mitsu the Beats (Japan), Morgan Spacek (UK) and Laidback Luke, C-Mon & Kypski and the New Generation Big Band from the Netherlands. The duo's 16-track album Mystery Repeats (September) features a sound that is even more influenced by various world music sounds than debut album Mindstate. We can hear flamenco, samba, reggae and Afro beat. Guest musicians on the album include the Dutch/Spanish flamenco singer Erminia Fernández Córdoba and the Spanish flamenco guitarist Ricardo Riviera. A Dutch club tour is kicked off on 8 September in the Melkweg in Amsterdam. The first single off the album A Tale Of Two Devils by Voicst includes a remix by Perquisite. Pete Philly is guest vocalist during several C-Mon & Kypski shows.

C-Mon & Kypski Laidback Luke

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2008

In January plays both the Eurosonic and Noorderslag festival. On 24 January Pete Philly & Perquisite and Typhoon play Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. Mid February, Mystery Repeats gets its European release and one month later the album is released in Japan. The video with the single Empire is shot in Tokyo. Late February, Pete Philly & Perquisite and Leeroy from French hiphop group Saïan Supa Crew go on tour in Germany. DJ PCM produces most of rapper Manu's debut album De Vloek Op De Overvloed (The Curse Of Plenty) which is released on the Blaxtar label. On 18 July Mystery Repeats, the third single off the album with the same name, is released. The single also includes a remix of the track and four tracks that were recorded during a theatre tour with the Red Limo String Quartet, drummer Joost Kroon and a complete horn section. In the summer the duo plays the Splash festival in Germany, the Exit festival in Serbia, the 33rd edition of the North Sea Jazz festival, the Lowlands, Sziget in Hungary, the Nuke Festival Austria and MTV Hip Hop Open in Germany. In August, Pete Philly & Perquisite receives the Amsterdam Art Award from the mayor of Amsterdam. This award goes to artists or art institutions from various that have contributed in a special way to art and culture in the city. It is the first time the award is given to rock musicians. By the end of the year a live edition of Mystery Repeats is released. On 6 December the duo plays in a sold out Paradiso in Amsterdam. Following this, both musicians start working on other projects: Pete Philly is recording a solo album and Perquisite composes the music for the Dutch film Carmen Van Het Noorden (Carmen Of The North).

Blaxtar

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2009

Pete Philly & Perquisite are invited to come and plays at the South By Southwest, late March in Austin, Texas. Perquisite wins a Devil music award in the category Best Producer/DJ. This award is an initiative of the department Popmusic of Music Center the Netherlands (formerly the Dutch Pop & Rock Institute). The winners have been selected by fellow musicians. Perquisite remixes tracks for Dutch acts De Staat, Voicst and Kim Hoorweg. Pete Philly produces Jiggy Djé's remix Ik Heb Je (I've Got You) and makes his debut as an actor in the play Man From Nowhere by theatre company MC (a fusion of Made In Da Shade and Cosmic Theater). After shows at several European summer festivals like Flow in Sicily, Rheinkultur in Germany and Frauenfeld Open Air in Switzerland, the duo performs at the Uitmarkt in Amsterdam on 29 August. Following this, Pete Philly & Perquisite kick off their final tour together under the appropriate title Final Celebrations Tour. During this theatre tour the six-piece live band is extended to thirteen musicians, including a horn section and a string quartet. The tour ends on 29 October in the Melkweg in Amsterdam after which the two musicians can fully concentrate on their solo careers.

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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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