Miha Blažič-N’toko was born 1980 in Novo mesto, Slovenia, but spent a large part of his youth in Los Angeles. His first contacts with music came through travelling around Europe, colaborating with musicians in Paris. Inspired by the French jungle, hiphop and reggae scene, he joined forces with guitarist Uroš Weinberger and bass-player/rapper Goran Balog to form Moveknowledgement, a group which explored the heritige of acid-jazz while flirting with dub, drum’n’bass and of course hiphop. They soon became an 8-piece band with N’toko’s rapid-fire rapping perfectly balancing the slow, dreamy singing of Sandra Tomovič. They released their debut album Sun Sun in 2003, won the Boomerang award for best Slovene live band and headlined most of the major festivals in the country, performing with the likes of Asian Dub Foundation and winning over crowds at the Exit festival in Serbia.
At the same time N’toko began establishing himself as a solo artist, Mc-ing for drum’n’bass DJs and backing reggae selectors, attending jazz jam sessions as well as competing in freestyle competitions. His outrageous improvisational skills and flow made him a force to be recond with on the hiphop scene and word of his talent spread quickly through numerous concerts, jam sessions and also a legendary radio freestyle with Sage Francis. Winning the national freestyle championship two times in a row brought him a record deal with Nika Records, which released his solo debut “Cesarjeva nova podoba!. The album revealed an angrier side of N’toko, it’s heavy beats and psycho-analytical lyrics hinting at the direction he would take later. It remains a very influential underground record, needless to say it didn’t sell.
