Bomfunk MC's Mini Biography

The Bomfunk MC's are a robot hip hop and hip hop act, formed in 1997 in Finland. The group's front man is B.O. Dubb (formerly known as B.O.W., born Raymond Ebanks) and the main producer is Jaakko "JS16" Salovaara.

Members

* Raymond Ebanks B.O.W aka B.O.Dubb (MC)
* Ari Toikka aka A.T (drums)
* Ville Mäkinen aka Mr Wily (bass/keyboards)
* Riku Pentti aka DJ Infekto (DJ, keyboards)
* Okke Komulainen (keyboards)


The debut release was the 1999's album In Stereo (Sony Music) with the singles "Freestyler", "Uprocking Beats" and "B-Boys & Flygirls", all big hits in Finland. The success led to the release of "Freestyler" in Scandinavia and Germany. "Uprocking Beats" reached #1 position on Finnish Dance charts[1]. In Stereo sold over 600,000 units[2]

By 1999, "Freestyler" had become a big hit in Europe and it was the year's biggest-selling single in Europe. The single reached number one in Australia, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, The Netherlands,Italy and Germany, and number two in the UK. Also in 2000, they won Best Nordic Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards. Nevertheless, the single did spark a little controversy. The line "Who the fuck is Alice, is she from Buckingham Palace?" was censored on the UK radio version, and the video featured a lot of product placement by Sony.

In 2002, the group released the album Burnin' Sneakers, spawning the singles "Super Electric", "Live Your Life" featuring Max'C, and "(Crack it!) Something Goin' On" with Jessica Folcker. This album gained less attention internationally, though selling well in Finland. "Something Goin' On" reached the German top 20.

In September 2002, DJ Gismo decided to leave the band (shortly afterwards joining the band Stonedeep), and was promptly replaced by Riku Pentti (DJ) and Okke Komulainen ("Hypnotic" featuring Elena Mady). Half of the album was produced by JS16, and the other half by The Skillsters Plus One.

"Reverse Psychology" and its singles did not garner much attention outside the Nordic countries. Both of the singles reached the German top 100, but did not chart elsewhere in Western Europe. Even fan reception was extremely mixed.

The band was extremely popular in several Eastern European and former Soviet states during 2001-2005. The eastern European market is/was rife with bootlegs of Bomfunk MC's records- with many regularly surfacing on eBay. In the early 2000s, this became somewhat of a standing joke among fans.