Soul Khan

Noah Weston, better known as Soul Khan (born April 18, 1985) is an American songwriter, rapper, and retired battle rapper. Born in West Hollywood and raised in Woodland Hills, California, he currently resides in Brooklyn, New York City.[1] After a short career in battle rap that started in late 2008, in which he appeared in American circuits such as Grindtime and Smack/URL, as well as outside the United States, notably in Canada (KOTD) and United Kingdom (Don't Flop), he retired from the scene to focus his attention on his musical career in early 2010. He is a member of the Brown Bag AllStars, a collective of emcees and producers from the Brooklyn area.[2]

Soul Khan
Soul Khan performing live
Background information
Birth nameNoah Weston
Born (1985-04-18) April 18, 1985
West Hollywood, California, U.S.
OriginWoodland Hills, Los Angeles, U.S.
GenresHip hop
Occupation(s)songwriter Rapper
Years active2010–present
LabelsIndependent
Associated actsHomeboy Sandman, Brown Bag AllStars, Akie Bermiss, Koncept, Sene, True Vintage
Websitehttp://soulkhan.com

Music career

Soul Khan started his rap career after he met his current group, The Brown Bag Allstars while working at Fat Beats[3] in Manhattan, NY. In late 2010, Soul Khan released his free album Soul Like Khan.[4] The following year, he started releasing his Love Supreme series, four EPs in dedication to John Coltrane's legendary album by the same name, A Love Supreme.[5] The first EP, Acknowledgement was produced by DeeJay Element with an upbeat approach to help listeners feel "renewed."[6] The second EP, Resolution, was produced by Marink.[7] Pursuance EP,[8] produced by Audible Doctor is the third and Psalm, produced by Abnormal completed the series.[9] Soul Khan's song "Speeding Bullets" was also on the 2012 compilation album College Radio Day.[10]

Soul Khan performed at 2013 Bonnaroo with Black Violin, Jeni Suk, & Knower as the collective "Sooper Groop.".[11] Soul Khan lists Pharoahe Monch, Posdnous, Paul Robeson, & David Ruffin as musical influences.

Soul Khan was listed in Allhiphop's Top 50 Underground Hip Hop Artists of 2012.[12]

Battle career

Soul Khan burst onto the battle scene with a decisive victory over Yellow Rat Bassterd in a 2008 GrindTimeNow battle. From here Khan continued to battle in the GrindTimeNow circuit against many other GrindTimeNow heavyweights such as Cortez and Syd Vicious. Soul Khan's popularity grew within battle rap as more and more fans were being introduced to the subculture.

In early 2010 a fresh-shaven Soul Khan made his first appearance on the Ultimate Rap League(URL) stage against an Ohio rapper named Deacon Frost. Although this battle was highly debated, it is an example of why Soul Khan is so highly respected amongst many different battle rap leagues, and has such a diverse following of fans. Also in 2010 Soul Khan had two international battle rap performance in Canada's main battle league King of the Dot (KOTD) where he defeated Aspire, and top ranked Canadian battler Porich in a controversial decision.

Soul Khan continued to battle throughout 2010 in GrindTimeNow against other big names such as QP (SONS), Madness, and Fresco until he eventually got invited for another international appearance. This time Khan appeared in the United Kingdom on the prominent Don't Flop stage where he battled Don't Flop veteran Sensa in a classic three round clash.

Soul Khan went on to perform one more battle on the URL main stage in December 2010 against SONS rapper Fox, in what is widely considered one of the most one-sided battles in URL history. Soul Khan announced his retirement from battle rap for the sake of wanting to focus on his more lucrative music career, and getting out while he was still on top.[13] Occasionally, Khan attends big name battle rap events as either a guest judge, or even just as a fan of the battle rap culture, but has stated that he has no intention of ever coming back to battling. In a recent interview with buzzntheburgh.com, Soul Khan reiterated that he will never battle rap again unless his music career took off dramatically.

After retiring from battle rap, Soul Khan became outspoken about his regret over using language that many consider offensive to marginalized groups like the LGBT community and women. Since as early as 2012, he has expressed his remorse on social media,[14] and explained his stance at greater length in interviews.[15] This sentiment led to backlash from some fans, to whom Soul Khan has often responded directly, maintaining his criticism of his past actions.[16]

Soul Khan returned to the battle scene on November 24th 2019, competing against Dizaster via an exclusive PPV event hosted by KOTD.

  1. "Official Bio". Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  2. "Soul Khan bio". Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  3. "Village Voice interview". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  4. "Daily Tar Heel interview". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  5. "Village Voice interview". Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  6. "MTV News interview". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  7. "The Madd Bloggers". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  8. "Birthplace Magazine". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  9. "Kevin Nottingham". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  10. College Radio Day. Amazon.com. Amazon Digital Services LLC. October 12, 2012.
  11. "Fuse TV interview". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  12. "Allhiphop.com". Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  13. BuzzNtheBurgh (November 8, 2013). "Soul Khan Interview". Pittsburgh Buzz. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  14. Noah Weston (December 19, 2012). "If I could change one thing about my battle past, it'd be to have never said anything homophobic or sexist. Makes me feel stupid to hear it". Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  15. Flip Da Script (June 4, 2017). "F.D.S. #35 - Soul Khan - His Requirements to Return to Battle Rap - Murda Mook & Jae Millz Comments". Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  16. Reddit (November 7, 2015). "My Name is Soul Khan. Ask Me Anything". Retrieved August 7, 2018.

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Discography

Studio Albums
  • Soul Like Khan (2010)

EPs
  • Acknowledgement (2011)
  • Resolution (2011)
  • Pursuance (2011)
  • Wellstone (2012)
  • Psalm (2012)[1]
  • Hugo and Rufus (2016)

Collaboration Albums
  • Brown Bag Season Volume 1 (2011)
  • Once Again - Hard Luck Banjoes (Soul Khan & DJ Brace) (2016)

Singles
  • Offshore Drilling - January 2002, Single
  • Crush it to Diamonds - November 2008, Single
  • Soulstice, April 2010 - Single
  • Thunder in Paradise (with Marv Won) - July 2010, Single
  • Brown Bag Flava in Ya Ear (with Big Chief) - January 2002, Single
  • Soulstice II - December 2010, Single
  • Soulstice III - April 2011, Single
  • When The Plague Starts - November 2011, Single
  • Soulstice IV - October 2012, Single
  • Praying for a River - December 2013, Single
  • Supreme Righteous - January 2014, Single
  • Shine - February 2016, Single
  • Stop Hitting Yourself (featuring, Illingsworth, Dom O Briggs, and F Virtue) - September 2016,

Selected Guest Appearances
  • Aabaraki - "Karate f/ Soul Khan" "Aabaraki" (2011)
  • PremRock & Willie Green - "Had To Be Me (f/ C-Rayz Walz, Soul Khan & DJ Addict) PremRock & Willie Green (2011)
  • El Da Sensei... - "Nu World (Part II) (f/ Nutso and Soul Khan)" The Nu World Remix EP (2011)[2]
  • Koncept - "Aspirations (f/ Soul Khan)" Awaken (2012)
  • Koncept - "The Only Thing (f/ Soul Khan)" Awaken (2012)
  • The Audible Doctor - "Stayin Busy Remix (f/ Silent Knight, Kon, Rasheed Chappell, YC the Cynic and Soul Khan) I Think That... (2012)
  • YC The Cynic - "More and More (f/ Soul Khan, Van Pea and Sene)" Fall FWD (2012)
  • Sene - "We Are Couleurs" (f/ Soul Khan)" Brooklyknight (2012)
  • Nitty Scott MC - "Beautiful Struggle" (f/ Soul Khan & Akie Bermiss) "The Boombox Diaries, Vol.1" (2012)[3]
  • Danimal Lector - "Look Out Now" (f/ Soul Khan) "Bars Attack" (2013)
  • Esoligh - "Being" (f/Koncept, Soul Khan and Cee belle) The Way I See The World (2014)
  • Kirswords - "Tri-State Mindstate" (f/ Soul Khan and Joe Swisher) "ABM Records Presents The Vault" (2015)
  • Sparx - "Just Begun" (f/ Kirswords, Koncept, Aayu, Soul Khan, Joe Swisher, and Enrichment) "ABM Records Presents The Vault" (2016)

Battle Rap History
  • Yellow Rat Bassterd, Grind Time Now, circa December 2008
  • Rhapsodist, Grind Time Now, 26 January 2009
  • J Ka$h, Grind Time Now, 3 March 2009
  • Unorthodox Phrases, Grind Time Now, 31 March 2009
  • Amazin Crack, Grind Time Now, 24 April 2009
  • Dirtbag Dan, Grind Time Now, 6 June 2009
  • Cortez, Grind Time Now, 12 July 2009
  • Z.M., Grind Time Now, 8 November 2009
  • Syd Vicious, Grind Time Now, 16 December 2009
  • Deacon Frost, Smack/URL, 25 February 2010
  • Aspire, King of the Dot, 7 April 2010
  • QP, Grind Time Now, 24 May 2010
  • poRICH, King of the Dot, 18 July 2010
  • Leathle, Grind Time Now, 9 September 2010
  • Fresco, Grind Time Now, 15 November 2010
  • Madness, Grind Time Now, 28 November 2010
  • Sensa, Don't Flop, 11 December 2010
  • J Fox, Smack/URL, 14 February 2011[4]

References
  1. "Allhiphop.com interview". Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  2. "2Dopeboyz". Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  3. "Complex review". Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  4. "Soul Khan battle profile". Retrieved 31 January 2013.
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