Spank Rock

Biography

Juwan grew up in West Baltimore in a row home alongside five sisters and two brothers. As a teenager, Juwan frequented clubs such as Paradox, where DJs played Baltimore club music. In high school, his older sister introduced him to Brooklyn-based producer J. Period, known for producing records by underground rappers Mos Def and Artifacts. J. Period mentored Juwan and helped him improve his skills as a rapper for some time. After moving to Philadelphia and dropping out of college, Juwan met fellow Baltimore native Alex Epton, who had studied composition at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and learned studio production as an intern at the DFA Records studio in New York.

Juwan and Epton started performing under the name Spank Rock together in Philadelphia and Phoenixville, where their reputation quickly increased. They later toured with Hollertronix and M.I.A.. They also toured with Beck in 2006. Spank Rock's debut album YoYoYoYoYo was released in 2006 on the Big Dada record label. Their single, "Bump", was named Single of the Year by Xfm London breakfast DJ Lauren Laverne in 2006.

In late 2007, Alex Epton aka XXXchange, left Spank Rock to pursue his own production while Naeem Juwan signed a deal with Downtown Records. Spank Rock's first Downtown Records release came in the form of fall 2007's Benny Blanco & Spank Rock Present: Bangers & Cash EP, a 2 Live Crew inspired 5 song EP. Spank Rock also contributed a rap on the "Benny Blanco" remix of the track Heart Beat Rock; taken from Australian singer Kylie Minogue's 2007/8 Grammy nominated album "X".

In 2010, MC Spank Rock was featured along with The View's Kyle Falconer on "The Bike Song" by Mark Ronson, which featured on Ronson's 2010 album Record Collection. He was also the touring rapper on the album's 2010 UK tour.

In September 2011, Spank Rock released his second full length album, Everything Is Boring and Everyone Is a Fucking Liar on his own label, Bad Blood Records. Pitchfork.com premiered the first single from the album, titled "Energy," produced by Boys Noize, and later selected the single "Nasty" as Best New Track. Rolling Stone premiered the album in September 2011 on their website. The album featured production from Boys Noize, XXXChange, Sam Spiegel, and Le1f, as well as appearances by Santigold and Big Freedia. After the release of his album, Spank Rock was one of the faces of Alexander Wang's 2011 T collection, along with Santigold.

In 2012, Spank Rock released a second EP, "E. I. B. A. E. I. A. F. L. Remixes", a collection of various producers' remixes of tracks from his sophomore LP. In 2012 Naeem Juwan co-wrote the Boys Noize-produced track "Look at These Hoes" from Santigold's LP Master of My Make-Believe.

In 2014, Spank Rock released his third EP, "The Upside," on his own Bad Blood Records and Boysnoize Records, with production contributions from Miami-based bounce producer Kid Kamillion, German electronic dance producer Boys Noize, Don Loemax and Damian Taylor. The EP premiered on December 9, 2014 following a premiere stream of the entire EP on Dazed & Confused. Lead single "Gully" was remixed by Brodinski and Switch, and has received extensive play on BBC Radio 1.

Albums

Singles

EPs

Other releases

Appearances

Soundtracks