Making waves in the Indie world and now garnering some interest from industry movers & shakers, Block Scholars are taking no prisoners in this game.
Block Scholars is the indie Hip Hop musical collaboration between NOBULL (Bennett Baskerville; Bronx, NY) and Slimdog of Slimdog Productions (David Bell Jr.; Akron, OH), with the pair rapping their way through some of the freshest Hip Hop beats around. Originally a three-piece featuring 2mental (Nathan Andreas; Philadelphia, PA), the group first met each other through Myspace and mutual friends in 2005. Home now in Colorado Springs, CO, the rap act is heavily influenced by an eclectic mix of music ranging from Biggie Smalls, 2Pac, Madlib, Dr. Dre, Pharrell and Prince to even Jazz, Opera, Rock and Classical music. They are also considered a “triple threat” because collectively they can write high quality lyrics, produce and perform their own music.
Block Scholars received the 2011 "Excellence In Songwriting" Award from The 18th Annual Billboard/Starmaker 360 Worldwide Songwriting Contest for placing in 3rd out of 1000s of entries in the Rap/Hip Hop genre, plus getting an "Honorable Mention" for (R&B/Hip Hop) and semi-finalists in the (Unsigned Only) categories in the 2010 International Songwriting Competition for the song "Time Machine", both of these contests known for being the two of the best songwriting competitions in the world. They are one of three grand prize winners in Patron XO Cafe's 2011 Music Project, where they won sponsorship from Patron XO Cafe to help further their career with judges from SPIN Magazine & RCRD LBL (a free mp3 download music blog featuring emerging artists), nominated for Best Hip Hop Artist/Song from Hollywood Music In Media in September 2012 for "Time Machine", July 2010 & January 2011 for the songs, "Flossin'" & "This Is For My People (The Rhythm Of A Scholar)" respectively, Slimdog Productions was also nominated in the 2012 Contemporary/Orchestral Instrumental Song Of The Year by HMMA, selected as one of the “Next 1000” artists to watch for in 2009 by URB Magazine, and were named the 2009 KIAC Open Songs Competition Winner in Hip Hop for their track, "Livin’ In Tha’ Jungle ft. 2mental". They also have received the “Collective Works Honor” from SongOfTheYear.com in 2009 for high scores on multiple works in that contest.