Breakdown - Lyricist, Producer, Songwriter

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Ryan "Breakdown" McGown first became aquainted with Hip Hop in Tokyo, Japan in the early 1980's where he spent a large portion of his childhood. After moving several times with the military, his family landed in Tampa, Florida in 1990. During much of his formative years, he spent countless hours imitating the dance moves he would see in break dancing movies and Hip Hop videos (which later led to his moniker). Early in 1995 he started rapping when a friend convinced him to freestyle during a lunch break at work. He had been writing short stories since he was young, so writing lyrics came naturally to him. From then on he began writing on a regular basis, drawing inspiration from artists ranging from Snoop Dogg and Outkast to Common and The Roots. A few years later he began attending local open-mic nights where he gained some attention with his witty and charismatic freestyles. In 2001 he formed the group "Verbal Diverzion" with fellow local emcee Soul Purpose. They created a small buzz locally, but parted ways in early 2003 to pursue solo projects. 

      Breakdown sought out the production talents of local emcee/producer Surreal and began finding his own sound, writing songs about deeply personal issues and social topics and infusing them with beats influenced by Funk and Soul music.In mid 2003 Breakdown began performing and immediately attracted attention with his honest lyrics and energetic stage presence. A year later he teamed up with D.J./producer Ranmecca and the two began working on music together and performing regularly across Florida. Shortly after, Breakdown released his first E.P. “Get Learned” with production by Surreal and Ranmecca. 

      He formed his own label, Saving Grace Records, and in June of 2006 released his debut L.P. “Social Studies”. The album, which features production by Marco Polo, SlopFunkDust, Surreal, Ranmecca, Breakdown, and others, garnered much praise from local media critics, underground Hip Hop websites, and music fans alike. Social Studies was followed by “Stay The Course”, a collection of remixes and unreleased material with Breakdown handling most of the production.
      “Social Studies” reached a peak of #14 on the CMJ Hip Hop charts in August of 2007. The following years brought many more performance opportunities and sharing the bill with many artists including Wu-Tang Clan, Common, De La Soul, Guru, Everlast, Pharoahe Monch, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Blackalicious. Breakdown has also appeared on multiple radio shows and received positive mentions from newspapers in several cities. 
He has written and is currently recording his second full-length disc which is titled “So Far Away”. The majority of the music on the album was composed and produced by Breakdown, along with featured production from Funk Ghost, SlopFunkDust, Rude, Mudd Buddah, and Ranmecca, who also lends his scratches on many of the songs. The album is due in late August 2011.

Ryan "Breakdown" McGown first became aquainted with Hip Hop in Tokyo,  Japan in the early 1980's where he spent a large portion of his childhood.  After moving several times with the military, his family landed in Tampa,  Florida in 1990. During much of his formative years, he spent countless hours  imitating the dance moves he would see in break dancing movies and Hip Hop  videos (which later led to his moniker). Early in 1995 he started rapping when  a friend convinced him to freestyle during a lunch break at work. He had been  writing short stories since he was young, so writing lyrics came naturally to  him. From then on he began writing on a regular basis, drawing inspiration  from artists ranging from Snoop Dogg and Outkast to Common and The  Roots. A few years later he began attending local open-mic nights where he  gained some attention with his witty and charismatic freestyles. In 2001 he  formed the group "Verbal Diverzion" with fellow local emcee Soul Purpose. They created a small buzz locally, but parted ways in early 2003 to pursue  solo projects.

  Breakdown sought out the production talents of local  emcee/producer  Surreal and  began finding his own sound, writing songs about  deeply  personal issues and social  topics and infusing them with beats  influenced by  Funk and Soul music. In mid 2003  Breakdown began performing  and immediately attracted attention with his honest lyrics and energetic stage presence. A year later he teamed up with D.J./producer Ranmecca and the two began working on music together and performing regularly across Florida. Shortly after, Breakdown released his first E.P. “Get Learned” with production by Surreal and Ranmecca.

  He formed his own label, Saving Grace Records, and in June of 2006 released his debut L.P. “Social Studies”. The album, which features production by Marco Polo, SlopFunkDust, Surreal, Ranmecca, Breakdown, and others, garnered much praise from local media critics, underground Hip Hop websites, and music fans alike. It reached a peak of #14 on the CMJ Hip Hop charts in August of 2007. That album was followed by “Stay The Course”, a collection of remixes and unreleased material with Breakdown handling most of the production.

The following years brought many more performance opportunities and sharing the bill with many artists including Wu-Tang Clan, Common, De La Soul, Guru, Everlast, Pharoahe Monch, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Blackalicious. Breakdown has also appeared on multiple radio shows and received positive mentions from newspapers in several cities.

He has written and is currently recording his second full-length disc which is titled “So Far Away”. The majority of the music on the album was composed and produced by Breakdown, along with featured production from Funk Ghost, SlopFunkDust, Rudy Rude, Mudd Buddah, and Ranmecca, who also lends his scratches on many of the songs. The album also features guest appearances by The Rukus, Mes, Niki Ferraro, Monica Delgado, Mugabe Tenn, and Breakdown's family members. It is set for release in March of 2012.