Philadelphia has produced some of music's most prolific talents in history. It's responsible for an era of music comparible to that of Motown, Stax, and Chess Records while molding artist who continue to push the envelope like Jill Scott, Bilal, and The Roots. Philadelphia is a traditional city, some times to a fault in a time when most are willing to conform to whatever the "It" thing of the moment is, they are known to stick to their own merits. Some feel that it is due this stick to your guns attitude that Philadelphia hasn't been able to get a foothold on the current state of music like New York, Atlanta, Miami and LA, while others believe that it is the force that drives some of the most innovative music to ever be created.

It is this history, merit and innovation that inspires the next group talented artist and musicians to bring proper light to the city of brotherly love. Standing out among this pack is emcee/singer/song writer Lawrence Arnell. Though you may be just hearing about him, most fans of independant hip-hop should familiar with some of his past work. At 19 years old, Lawrence caught the eye of Tommy Boy Records as a member of the hip-hop collective The Deadly Snakes. With dates on the Lyricist Lounge Tour, placements on the soundtrack to Jet Li's Black Mask movie and a co-sign from Prince Paul, The Snakes seemed to be on the right track. But soon after The Deadly Snakes disbanded following the release from their deal with Tommy Boy. While most would've thrown in the towel completely, L. Arnell fell back and sharpened his skills as an emcee as well as a vocalist and song writer.

Since then he has collaborated with a number of underground heavyweights such as Jedi Mind Tricks, Outerspace, Dave Ghetto and more.

More recently Lawrence has partnered with Dave Ghetto and Philadelphia based producer Dame Anthony to create Ghetto Rock Star, a venture that will not only allow Lawrence Arnell to shine as an artist but to develop more a song writer as well. "L. Arnell has the type of talent that is able to span all genres of music, which allows him to bring something unexpected to a record, be it vocals, lyrics or track selection", cites Dave Ghetto. Whether in the forefront or behind the scenes L's talent will definately shine through.

Current single, "Nothin Less" featuring Reef The Lost Cauze is now out on SoFlo Entertainment. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.