Nite Owl - Bio & Press

Nite Owl performs live more than any other Hip Hop artist or group in the St. Louis area, and in 2007 created quite a buzz after winning the Best Independently Released Album in the Riverfront Times Music Awards for his album "Now You Can Boo Me". Despite the title suggestion, ultimately you will want to cheer for the St. Louis talent extraordinaire, as he's created a sweet blend of musical styles--everything from reggae to blues to hip hop. Nite Owl uniquely performs hip-hop music along-side a live band, which makes his shows something exciting and new. His recent performances are innumerable, but include a show at the Pageant, in which he was headlining, as well as opening for The Roots in March, 2007, for Talib Kweli and Little Brother in 2008, and performing in the first ever HOT 104.1 Super Jam Concert at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in June, 2008. In March, 2008, Nite Owl took home 1st place in the HOT 104.1 Koch Madness Competition, after competing with 208 other St. Louis Hip Hop artists. Nite Owl and T.E.A.M. NiTRO have been astounding audiences and giving music critics something to rave about. Nite Owl's Hip Hop resume is impressive, but more importantly, his music speaks for itself. "My live show is exciting, and when people see it, it's not often they forget who I am", says Nite Owl.
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"He is not your typical St. Louis rapper." - St. Louis American "It's to Academy Hill's credit that such lyrics come off as sincere instead of trite and tired. In fact, that love for the b-boy lifestyle comes through on Jewelry: It's the kind of record that is comfortable referencing Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks" on one track and Wu-Tang Clan on the next." - Christian Schaeffer, Riverfront Times "Homespun" (Jul 07, 2010) "Underground-meets-commercial...often compared to Lupe Fiasco and Kanye West." - St. Louis Post Dispatch "In the studio, his flow is certainly reminiscent of the laid-back insightfulness of Jay-Z or Common, but on the stage he stakes out a territory that is all his own." - Washington University Cadenza "The versatile wordsmith's live performances are, for lack of a better term, legendary." - St. Louis Whirl "In what I saw of his shows...despite the gender, age and racial make-up of the crowd, he moved all over the stage, jumping around in such an animated way that the crowd felt compelled to join him. I was sold." - Eleven Magazine "Nite Owl hit a confident stride with Now You Can Boo Me, an old-school, heavily soul-influenced (and sometimes minimalist) hip hop record that matched spare, languid beats with cutting and satirical wordplay." - Riverfront Times "The Missouri underground hip-hop scene gets its own supergroup in Academy Hill, which is comprised of locals Nite Owl and DJ Sno alongside the Kansas City-based emcee James Christos." - Christian Schaeffer , Riverfront Times "Homespun" (Jul 07, 2010) "Working again with producer, Kenautis Smith, Owl has crafted an album full of laid back flow and sophisticated samples, a true hybrid of hip-hop and soul that's sometimes reminiscent of Lupe Fiasco, Tony! Toni! Tone! and other times Anthony Hamilton." - Riverfront Times "Since relocating back to St. Louis a few years back, one would be hard pressed to find a harder working MC than Nite Owl." - Vintagevinyl.com "Witnessing his thoughtful rhymes and expert showmanship on stage only proves that any party would do well to have some Nite Owl on the back burner incase things slow down." - Washington University Cadenza