Casey Birch grew up 1700 miles from the birthplace of hip-hop. Borger, TX is “the gateway to the Texas Plains”, and is best known for hosting the world’s largest fish fry each June. While many kids in the Texas pan handle were picking up guitars and dreaming of becoming country rock stars, in 1986 Casey heard the Fat Boys for the first time and fell in love. In the late 90’s Mr. Birch began DJing and producing beats on his MPC. Armed with a giant collection of dusty breaks and rare grooves, Casey created his own brand of boom-bap, and Beat Rabbi was born.

Beat Rabbi earned his first major production credit in 2000, when he provided the beat for “Divine Lines” on Dirt’s sophomore LP A War to Restore. That same year Beat Rabbi was contacted by Manchild of Mars Ill, and invited to meet with members of the then fledgling Deepspace 5 crew. The meeting would lead to Beat Rabbi joining DS5 just in time to produce the lead single from the crew’s debut album The Night We Called It a Day. Rabbi brought the thump with “Stick This In Your Ear” which continues to be a fan favorite among DS5’s ever-growing fan base.

While Rabbi was making a name for himself with guest-spot production, he was also working on a full-length album with his group Circumcised Mind. Together with emcee Apologetic they released the album “The Real Battle” in 2001, which showcased Beat Rabbi’s rough and raw beats. The selfreleased project has been compared favorably to early releases from the Quannum Projects releases, and likewise is considered to have been unmistakably ahead of its time.

For years now Beat Rabbi has continued to provide bangers for an all-star list of emcees including Braille, Playdough, Sivion, Listener, Fred B, Sintax.the Terrific, and others. In 2005, Deepspace5 released their sophomore LP Unique, Just Like Everyone Else, and again Beat Rabbi delivered some highlight singles with “People Are People” and “Your Biggest Fan.” It seemed like only a matter of time before fans would get to hear an entire DS5 album produced by the funky rabbi. Little did they know that the process had already been set into motion!

In the summer of 2003 Casey decided to create an album that would pay respect to the classic 90’s hip-hop sound. He began crafting beats fusing soul, jazz, funk, and breaks inspired by and honoring the production from the ‘Golden Era’. Nearly five years later, the result is the jaw-dropping long-player Deepspace5oul. This twenty-two track hip-hop magnus opus features all of the Deepspace5 emcees, offering tracks from each of the established groups within the crew (which was something noticeably absent on other DS5 projects). Illect Recordings is proud to present “Deepspace5oul,” a remarkable debut of Beat Rabbi’s blockrocking beats, which are sure to please heads from the plains of Texas to the subway trains of New York. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.