Radio de Lyrics Born

Lyrics Born (formerly known as Asia Born, born Tom Shimura in Tokyo in 1972), is a half-Japanese American, half-Italian American hip hop rapper. He is one half of the group Latyrx with Lateef the Truthspeaker. Through his childhood, he lived in Tokyo and Salt Lake City, Utah, and has lived most of his life in the San Francisco Bay Area, although he moved to Tampa Florida for four years to attend Henry B. Plant High School. He began his hip hop career while at college at University of California, Davis, where he was a DJ at the college station KDVS. He is a founding member of the seminal independent record label Quannum Projects. Born came up with fellow Bay Area and UC Davis companions Lateef, Gift of Gab, and Chief Xcel of Blackalicious, DJ Shadow, and Jeff Chang (formerly known as DJ Zen).