Philadelphia MC and rapper Adam Viola, best known as Adlib is a wordsmith who grew up in the early ’90s as part of Philadelphia's graffiti art and hardcore punk scene.
“ I love punk music. The Ramones are my favourite band,” said Adlib, who plays Studio 54, Sept. 19 with local rapper Pyke, as well as Pimpton and Animal Nation. He even mentions Ramones bassist Dee Dee Ramone in “Rolling Stoned” one of the songs off his most recent full length CD “The Highway.”
“The first time I was on stage was with local hardcore bands. They asked me to do sets at their shows. It was great to see those guys standing around and nodding their heads,” he said, adding his connection to the graffiti scene drew him to hip hop.
“ I was into graffiti and I love hip hop. And when I began to freestyle, I found I was pretty good at it,” he said.
“ I’ve always had a deep passion for MCing. I’ve always been a wordsmith,” he said.
He has shared stages with hip hop luminaries like La Coka Nostra, Mobb Deep, Joell Ortiz, Jedi Mind Tricks, ILL Bill, NORE, RA the Rugged Man, Tech N9Ne, Krizz kalico, Edog, LL Cool J, Neyo, Ja Rule, Jim Jones, Fat Joe, Dirigible Planets Sugar Hill Gang, Rob Base/ Ez Rock, Madball, Skarhead, Sick of it All and many more.
He will be doing an extensive Canadian tour with Madchild including the Lethbridge show.
He was just in Canada to record a brand new EP with Swollen Members’ Rob the Viking.
Adlib goes back many years with Madchild, since collaborating on their first song together. Madchild has since asked him to be one of the faces of his Battleaxe Warriors movement. He will be joining Madchild on stage to perform one of the tracks they did together.
“It is really a world wide community of people who love hip hop, tattoos, BMX, motocross, mixed martial arts and graphic design. I’m honoured to be one of the faces of it,” Adlib said adding he identifies with several aspects of the Battle Axe Warriors.
“ It’s a very positive movement. I’m an MC and a hip hop artist, and I’m covered in tattoos and I started as a graffiti artist, so I identify with that. Not so much the extreme martial arts, though my son is in jiujitsu,” he said.
He is excited about the new EP called “Teenagers From Mars.”
“Rob the Viking produced it. We recorded it in Vancouver. We’ve pressed 500 vinyl copies of it and it will be released Sept. 18, he said adding he hopes to have some on hand for the Lethbridge show.
“ Rob the Viking came up with beats. He wanted to create art. There is some science fiction and he experimented with space echoes. Some of it is darker,” he described.
“The lyrics are pretty much the same as what I usually do- counter-culture topics,” he said.
The show begins at 9 p.m.. featuring Demrick from the Serial Killers (who also performs with Xhibit and B-Real), Madchild, Pyke, as well as Pimpton and Animal Nation. Advance tickets cost $20.
