In less than two years ThorTakeOver has made a name for themselves on the east coast. Primarily known in Philly for their signature cipher/ MC showcase events, and having some of the hottest artists with original sound associated with them; ThorTakeOver will soon be known as one of the nations premiere underground hip hop record labels like Rawkus Records, Duck Down Records or Babygrande.
The founders, Godhead The General (CEO), Sabina Diaz (President), Mekz One (Vice President), and Ahd Child (Vice President) created the label unintentionally when Godhead The General took interest in exceptional talent he heard ciphering at the Thirsty Thursdays ciphers that were held every Thursdays exclusively by invitation only. Acting as “A & R”, Godhead The General took on his first artist, Akua Naru; who was interested in recording an album before she went overseas. Mekz One was brought in to produce almost entirely Akua’s album The Verdict. Ahd Child recorded and engineered the album, while Sabina Diaz took on the role of Publicist. Being artists themselves, Godhead The General, Mekz One and Ahd Child began working on their own projects as well, while still attending the Thursday ciphers.
The cipher was created by a collective of emcees, poets, vocalists, and producers who played their beats for the cipher. (Prosper Jones, Godhead The General, Ahd Child, Mecah Rose, Free Spirit, Gypsy, Karma, Empress, Dr. Oo, Dusky Diana, Distort, Lexicon, Mekz One, Killa Face and grew to as many as 40 plus emcees of diverse geographical, socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds-literally from medical students to ex-convicts and from Black, Latino, White to Indian ) Bronx native, Godhead The General took initiative and brought his vision of having the cipher element in a club setting to fruition. ThorTakeOver was born.
On March 7, 2006 ThorTakeOver nervously debuted their cipher, producer showcase, and live performance event at a small, yet intriguing underground dive bar in Philadelphia called Medusa Lounge. To their surprise, the event was a hit, and was run as a Tuesday weekly for a year, before ThorTakeOver took on three monthly events (Mic Check THORsday at Liquid Charm, Verbal Revolution at The Underground and Unsigned Hype Consert Series co-promoted with Center Stage Promotions). The founders created these events to showcase the talent of local underrepresented emcees and producers during a time that in Philly, had been dominated by live band events, DJ nights, and hip hop shows catering to well known artists.
The name THOR paid homage to the Thursday ciphers, being that the original name for Thursday is Thor- the god of thunder. For this reason ThorTakeOver implemented “the thunder call” at all their events using the call “MC’s what’s your occupation?!” and the response “Aaaa Oo Aaaa Oo Aaaa Oo” taken from the sparten batttle cry in the movie “The 300”. While many thought the “takeover” in ThorTakeOver was an attempt to take over the Philly scene, it was just the opposite. The “takeover” represents an ongoing campaign to implement the changing of the sound of the music industry, back to originality.
The founders turned THOR into the acronym T.H.O.R to represent Truth, Honor, Originality and Realism. Under the umbrella of ThorTakeOver started four music oriented companies: Godhead The General-CD Nutz Duplication, Sabina Diaz-Sabikulture Media (Publicity, booking and photography), Ahd Child-828 Recording, and Mekz One-The Weapons Locker (Production). The two remaining founders include godHead The General and Sabina Diaz as some of the original artists and founders are now pursuing seperate career ventures.
The cipher events at Medusa Lounge brought more talent to the attention of ThorTakeOver founders. Among these artists are: Magnum O, Divine Wise Eternal of The Knomadz, Synsay and Blaque Atom of Villains United. The squad grew larger and formed the Rebel Coalition, which now consists as the entire roster of ThorTakeOver artists (Godhead The General, Mekz One, Ahd Child, Killa Face, Magnum O, Synsay, Blaque Atom, Resist, Zakaariyah, and Akua Naru, the first ThorTakeOver artist and only female MC in the crew.)
While keeping the events moving strong, Sabina Diaz took on booking and publicity for the artists and management of her husband and business partner Godhead The General’s career. Booking local shows for Godhead, Grease Monkeys, Ahd Child, Magnum O, Synsay and Blaque Atom turned into booking east coast tours, and promoting the artists to the masses.
During the summer of 2006, ThorTakeOver became a sponsor for The IIour Show. The IIour Show is a weekly classic hip hop and unsigned artists radio show providing artists with free on air promotions. This radio show with one million world wide listeners is hosted by T.H.E (Tru Hip Hop Entity) and Godhead The General with music by DJ Soul Buck. The IIour Show hosts have interviewed icons from DJ Red Alert, DMC of Run DMC, Kurtis Blow, Killa Priest, Jeru The Damaja, to emerging unsigned artists within the same show.The show can be heard live on WNJC 1360 AM (Jersey) and online at www.wnjc1360.com on Monday nights from 9PM-10PM and on 88.1 FM in Philly on Tuesday nights from 6PM-9PM.
In 2007 ThorTakeOver has also sponsored events featuring Camp Lo, Cee Knowledge, Hezekiah, Wise Intillegent, Killa Priest (Wu Tang), Jeru The Damaja, and smaller showcase events like Unsigned Hype and more. Although, still in it’s beginning stages, ThorTakeOver has experienced a great deal of accomplishment since its existence and is now known nationally and internationally. The Rebel Coalition artists are a coalition of rebels coming together revolutionizing new sound. The first Rebel Coalition members were known to start ciphers at events they frequent around the city and are well respected for resurrecting emceeing in Philly. The artists have been featured in press and on radio, tours, and more. In 2008, THORTakeOver officially launched as an independent record label and also launched their website-making the movement accessible to the world.
In 2009, the fans nominated THORTakeoOver celebrates a nomination for Best Record Label in Philly with CEO godHead The General receiving a nomination for Mover and Shaker for the annual Philly Hip Hop Awards. The label continues to build on next movements to help revolutionize industry sound.
