Zawles was born in Toronto as Matthew Gonzales, his last name coming from his Cuban grandparents. He left Toronto at the early age of 4years old to be was raised in St. James Jamaica and then Brooklyn New York where he started taking music seriously and learned to do his first recordings. “Music has always been number one in my heart; I’ve been rhyming since the 5th grade” he says. Zawles, entered the rap scene officially in the year of 2003 by releasing his first mixtape under his former stage name, now alter-ego ‘Ipitomi’. The mixtape was entitled ‘Hustler’s Redemption’ and was released on CD in New York City. One single off the mixtape entitled ‘Heard’ featured his Brother, Dj Gunzales and Dancehall Reggae Artiste ‘Bounty Killer’ and was a popular Duplate for ‘Dj Gunzales’ back in Jamaica. Unfortunately, in 2005 two of Zawles’s brothers were killed, but despite the tragedy Zawles kept his momentum and continued recording. He released his first commercial CD ‘Back Alive-The I’m holding EP’ in 2008. From that EP the song ‘Sinful LIFE’ which was dedicated to his deceased brothers, was successfully picked up by ‘Peach Arch Entertainment’ and is the theme song for the movie “Animal 2”, starring Ving Rhames. His first Video,’ I’m Holding’ was also released in 2008 and featured a cameo appearance by the Drama King Dj Kay Slay in New York City. Since then, Zawles has released a number of singles on itunes and done collaborations with the likes of ‘Royce Da 59’ and ‘Crooked I’ after they joined ‘Eminem’s’ Shady Records label. Currently based in Toronto working on his debut independent Album, Zawles says, “I am eager to quench everyone’s curiosity and give them more than what they might expect.” Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.