Emerging from the underground hip-hop scene with the solitary force of a complex soldier is one of Toronto’s best freestyle emcees. Louwop: The Dirty General’s soulful hip hop has militant overtones of prophecy, honesty and introspection. With a strong independent vibe, his music hearkens a lost era of hip hop, evoking comparisons to Common, Black Thought (of The Roots), Rakim and Nas.

Bringing his life’s writing to the light in 1994, Louwop first sharpened his emcee skills at open mic nights at Planet Mars, an event similar to New York’s Lyricist Lounge. There he met and joined forces with emcee Phatt Al to lead a live impromptu hip hop band called The Quartertones. After an amicable disbanding, he took a hiatus to return to the field in 2002 with the Dirty General moniker. Louwop met then-unknown producer Catalist and together they recorded the EP Mind Grenade, which was hailed as a classic and quickly scooped by underground devotees.

In 2004, Louwop released the EP Warning Shot, an introduction to the Dirty General and his imminent revolution. He made appearances on Urbnet’s Underground Hip Hop Vol. 2 and was one of eight finalists at the first Rip the Mic freestyle competition in Toronto. Carrying his militant momentum into the next year, Louwop opened for various artists including Kool Keith, The Alcoholics, Jeru the Damaja and Grand Master Melle Mel.

Louwop fielded kudos for his radio single, My Revolution, featuring Juno-nominated soul singer Divine Brown off his acclaimed “The Spic Who Sat by the Door” Unexpected commercial radio spins and attention made Louwop rethink his passion as something more than a personal outlet. Now as he releases his first full-length album, The Great Escape. Which he says gives insight to the everyday man’s innermost thoughts. “We can’t change anything without changing ourselves first, so my revolution is my change from who I am to who I want to be. Ultimately, to be a better man.” The Great Escape features some of Canada’s rising stars such as, Shad k, Zaki Ibrahim, Theo 3, Divine Brown and more. Displaying clever wordplay and insight into how music has been this Salvadorian immigrant’s outlet and confidant explains his great escape.

“I only hope my music inspires others to find their true self and perhaps serve as a soundtrack on that journey” states Louwop. From his lead singles Journey, One2Check and Get up it’s safe to say the path is clear now let’s see how far this great escape will take us. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.