Nebulent
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File:Nebulous image.PNG Nebulent in his igloo in 2006. His fashion stays the same presently as in this image. | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Marlon Anderson |
| Born |
November 7, 1984 (age 29) PreTerra |
| Origin | Satellite City |
| Genres | Terrain grime, hip hop |
| Occupations | Rapper, musician, producer, songwriter, co-singer |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Labels | Music Industry, Impact Entertainment |
| Associated acts | Nyninyne, Joe-Q, DJ Crow, Dr. Ray |
| Website | thenebulent.com |
Marlon Anderson, better known by his stage name Nebulent, is a Terrain rapper, record producer and songwriter. Nebulent gained underground recognition in his teenage years, which eventually led him into releasing his debut; The Nebulent Mixtape (2001) - resulting into his signing to Music Industry. Around this time Nebulent had befriended fellow rapper Nyninyne, who went on to release a collaboration album, The Shadow Album: Introducing Nebulent (2002). The album sold over 1 million copies in it's first week - giving Nebulent his mainstream success. The album was succeeded by Nebulent's first solo album, Mighty Nebulent (2003), which also sold over 1 million copies in it's first week. Both of these albums are considered very influential and legendary albums. In Mighty Nebulent he pioneered a new music genre that is now known as Terrain grime. Two years later Dark, Dim and Dreary (2005) was released. Although it didn't manage to sell over a million copies in it's first run, it contributed to making Nebulent the third best-selling rapper worldwide (after Nyninyne and Dr. Ray), and gaining the title King of Terrain Rap.
In late 2005, Nebulent announced that he would tour and then take a break from the music. This caused record sales of his albums to increase. All three albums propelled into the Top 5 of charts. From 2006 to 2010 Nebulent didn't release any solo material whatsoever. Nebulent stayed at home most of the time, wrote songs and lived a casual life. Despite not releasing anything, Nebulent was still working privately in the music area. He returned by collaborating with Tim and Tom for their debut single "The Unstoppable" in November 2010 from their debut album Adulation of the Monster (2011). The song was commercially successful, and marked Nebulent's comeback. Nebulent released his comeback solo single in January 2011 and later released The Return of Nebulent (2011) in July. The album sold over 2 million copies in it's first week. Nebulent plans to release his next album in late 2013 or early 2014. In the meantime he plans to make guest appearances and set up his own label.
Early life
Marlon Anderson was born on November 7, 1984 in PreTerra where Satellite City is now. Just like Satellite City today, the place where Marlon lived was a very middle and low-classed area - poor housing, a lot of informal settlements, etc. His mother's name is Julianne Baker Anderson who was born in 1963 when she was 21 and his father's name was James Anderson who was born in 1960. He was raised by his mother and father for two years, but then his father left him and his mother for unknown reasons. Then Julianne raised Marlon herself. They were a very poor family - Julianne worked as a waitress at a small restaurant and only got 50 dauroes per month. He then started going to school by the age of five, and made friends quickly. His class had 26 penguins in it - and he was the most worst behaved student in the school - his mother would meet up with his teachers and would pretend to care when she didn't care at all. For atleast 10 hours of the day, Julianne wouldn't be at home, so while she wasn't at home, Marlon would go to the back of the school with his friends. He then picked up music as a hobby, with no influences.
There was a very small music shop on the other side of his area, and he would go there and look at the instruments - there would be guitars, drums, keyboards and other instruments, but he couldn't afford even the cheapest - so instead of learning an instrument he started using his vocals. He noticed that he didn't really have a singing voice. Then when he was six he heard that something called "rap music" was spreading around the country. One day opposite his igloo there was a flier than said that a rap battle was taking place downtown every Friday, so every Friday after school he would go and listen to the penguins there (usually about a dozen penguins). He mimicked them and then started to rap himself. The youngest penguin that would be there was 14 years old, and at the time Marlon was six. After months of rapping, he decided to go join one of the rap battles. He introduced himself as M-Sun, and told them he was six years old. Co-incidentally, everybody believed that he wouldn't be any good. He took out two A4-sized papers which he had found through the bins. Both sides of each paper had lyrics written on them. He started and started rapping which incredible speed - the rap went on for three minutes. He was applauded and was invited to every rap battle. After two years of constant rap battles (without his mother knowing) and as he got more confident, he took over rap battles and soon became in charge. He would start rapping less and would teach others how to rap, only being nine years old in 1993. As his behavior got worse, he was suspended from school atleast seven times each year. He started rapping in school too and became a rapping idol at school too.
From 1993 onwards his mother started getting more aggressive to him. She would order him to go outside and get a job, when most of the time he would be outside rapping (although she didn't know that) or would lock himself in his room (and write down raps). At some points, his mum would go crazy and would wreck the house without any reason, and would throw things at him - it went on like this for 3 more years, until he was 12 in 1996. He knew what he wanted to do; pursue a rap career. Over most of the years he started listening to Nyninyne and Dr. Ray songs on the radio, which started to inspire him even more into pursuing a rap career. He done his last rap battle and announced that he was leaving. Everyone wished him good luck, and would hope that they would hear from him again. At night, he packed most of his things and set off, leaving a note for his mum, telling her what he was up to and how he didn't really like her. Before he went, he looked through his mum's address book and noted down his grandfather's number and address - who lived on Penguin Island - so he decided to go there. He had also stole some of mum's money to afford some food and a ferry to the island. He found his grandfather, called Marion Anderson - his grandfather happily welcomed him. He stayed with him for three years until 1999. His grandfather was very kind to him, which changed his attitude - he would call him "nebulous" because he always liked to stay shut in his room in the dark with only a small lamp on and write down raps. Then Marlon decided to use his nickname as his stage name, but changed it to "nebulent" instead to be more creative. At times he would also get quite confused around his grandfather, because he wasn't used to being treated that kindly (which soon became his stage name).
Musical career
2000-01: Early career
The next year in 2000 he went on to wanting to rap. At the time, Club Penguin was known as Penguin Island and wasn't going to be for another 5 years, and music hadn't really started on the island. So after moving out of his grandfather's igloo, he rented an igloo - he still visited his grandfather every once or twice a week, who gave him money. He started to rap at the secret Mine Shack by himself - then he made fliers and put them around the island, telling everyone to come and learn something new to do with music. About a dozen penguins came, and he told them a bit about music, and rap. He did an example of rap and they were all amazed. He gave them tips - such as creative lyrics, quick-thinking and other skills. He then opened a rap group again just like in PreTerra, naming it "The Nebulent Rap Battles". He went on to teach a private class at the Mine Shack every day, and more and more penguins started to come - then thirty seven penguins started to come every day. He then decided to close more penguins coming and took down the fliers. His class was going great.
In August 2000, the founder of "M.I. Records", Luther Mario Blakewood, came to Penguin Island to search for new talent. He looked around the whole island but couldn't find anything. Then he saw one of the fliers that Marlon forgot to take off and went to the Mine Shack. He watched secretly as Marlon performed a four-minute rap with incredible speed but still understandable. At the end of the class, Luther went up to him and introduced himself - and asked him if he could come to audition at his igloo next week Saturday. So the next week on Friday he announced that there wouldn't be a class on Saturday because he had to go to a rap audition. He came and there were two other penguins with Luther - introducing themselves as executives of "M.I. Records", and was asked to perform his best rap. He performed his three-minute rap and all of them really thought that Marlon had talent. Luther told his executives to go get a mentor for him but Marlon stopped them and told them that he didn't want a mentor - they obeyed him (he was just 16 years old) and he told his grandfather that they wanted to sign him a record deal - as a guardian of Marlon he allowed he to sign the record deal. On Sunday he announced that it would be his last rap session because he had got a record deal. He then, along with the "M.I. Records" founder and executives, went over to Luther's igloo, where he had a small recording studio. He had all his lyrics with him and handed them over. They liked what they saw. They asked him if he could produce music - when he said he couldn't, he learned how to use all the equipment and how to produce - he was skilled at producing music in just two months (being a quick learner). They recorded six tracks in 2000, which were entirely Marlon's work. Luther also told him that he would need a stage name (a fake name to credit him instead of his real name) and immediately thought of "Nebulent" - he then used that for his entire career.
The next year in 2001 he was announced to the rest of "M.I. Records" by Luther. Everybody else called him Mr. Blakewood but Luther told Marlon to call him by his first name. They recorded a bit more and by late 2001, Luther announced "Nebulent" to the rest of the country. Luther then set up a website and asked him to write some history about him. He did just that and soon a lot of penguins started visiting the website and learning about "Nebulent" - the website also had two pictures of him. By then he had invested in an original and permanent style - a beanie hat, a gold watch, medallion and blue sneakers (sometimes wearing orange shorts). Then from March 2001, he started performing in small venues around the USA - by then a lot of penguins knew him and was getting quite popular. Nebulent was quite surprised with the success already - such as moving from PreTerra to a place like Penguin Island and the USA.
2001-02: Collaborating with Nyninyne
While in the M.I. Records studio, he noticed that Nyninyne was on the same record label as him. He asked Luther about him and he said that they could even collaborate on an album together, but a week later Luther forgot about the idea. So then he went up to Nyninyne himself and introduced himself - it turned out that he knew about him already, and asked him if he wanted to do an album together. Marlon said that he was about to ask the same thing. Then they went up to Luther and they got into the studio immediately. First they noticed the similarities between both of them - they both represented dark. The Nebulent thought of the name The Shadow Album, and Nyninyne decided to add "Introducing Nebulent" to the end of the name, making The Shadow Album: Introducing Nebulent - they recorded for the rest of 2001 and until April 2002. They announced the album in December 2001 - and once everyone heard that Nyninyne was doing another album, especially with Nebulent, they were all up for it.
The album cover was uploaded to their official websites in February 2002, and the tracklist. It revealed 19 tracks would be on the album - which were all produced by Nyninyne and Nebulent. The album released on May 13, 2002 and it charted number 1 in all charts - it was certified 8x Platinum by June in the USA, and Platinum and above elsewhere - with very less promotion. Only a few billboards were put up around the USA and UnitedTerra. Both artists then went on to promote the album a bit more. Then Nyninyne started to work on his next album and Nebulent started working on his debut album, with the help of Nyninyne - both of them kept in touch and are now very close friends.
2002-03: Mighty Nebulent
After the success of The Shadow Album, the record label started spending more money on Nebulent. In early June 2002 (the month after the release of the collaboration album) Nebulent worked on his album name, calling it "Mighty Nebulent". Marlon had decided that he wanted the album to be more Terrain grime than hip-hop. Music Industry insisted that he stuck to hip-hop, but he persisted to have it his own way - which is how controversy stirred between Nebulent and Music Industry and was almost kicked off the label. The feud went on for four months, ending in late October. Nebulent was ready to release the album independently half way through the feud, but after it was settled to have both hip-hop and Terrain grime in the album. A limited amount of producers worked on the album from November to February. Promotion increased from the beginning of 2003. Nebulent decided to have 16 songs on the album, releasing three as singles, "Mighty Nebulent", "Comparison (Past & Present)" and "The Name's Nebulent".
Mighty Nebulent released on March 10, 2003, charting at number 1 in five charts and number 2 in three. It was the best selling album of 2003 and had equal success to The Shadow Album. It had mostly positive reviews and was number 2 in "The Top 10 Hip-Hop/Grime Albums" in 2009.
2004-05: Dark, Dim and Dreary
2006-10: Musical hiatus
2009-13: The Return of Nebulent
Nebulent thought of returning in 2009, but decided not to announce it yet. Instead he worked on his next album privately. He did this throughout 2009 and 2010, then in late 2010 he announced that he was ready to return, and was working on his next album. In March 2011 the name was revealed to be "The Return of Nebulent". On his website he wrote an article called "My Comeback", saying: "The next album is called... The Return of Nebulent. It will include many collaborations, with possibly over 5 singles released throughout 2011. Two have already been released, and I hope you enjoyed them. I'm in the stages of finishing off the album - the cover art is being made and I will reveal that soon - maybe next month, along with the tracklist. Get ready for The Return of Nebulent." News reporters started blogging and broadcasting the news about Nebulent returning, but nobody managed to interview him. At the beginning of April, he announced that he is "re-getting his grime on" with another blog post, revealing that the next single; "Eliminated", featuring Craze, Matchless, Fatal, DJ Crow, Blazing, GGD & Beetle. "We wrote it ourselves (everyone writing their own verse) in February and is produced by GGD. It's one of those really grimey songs, as everyone in the song is a grime artist. It will be released on May 2."
The single was highly-successful in UnitedTerra and Club Penguin. In other countries it was still successful, which Nebulent was very surprised about because of it being a grime song. On the release date of "Eliminated", Nebulent revealed the track listing of the album on his site, stating who wrote/produced each song too. The list spread all across the Internet, as it was claimed 'the most highly-anticipated albums of 2011'. The track list showed 18 songs altogether. In July, the fourth single, "So Cold", featuring Nyninyne, released. Then "Crowded" featuring G Hood Crew in August and the final single, "The Way I Finish" featuring Ravage in November. The album sold over 11,000,000 on it's release date, and by the month after release it sold another 3,000,000 copies. By the end of the year it sold approx. 15,600,000 copies. It is the third best-selling album worldwide.
Musical style
Rapping technique
Musical themes and genres
Influences
Legacy and influence
Even just after Nebulent's first studio album (and collaboration album) The Shadow Album: Introducing Nebulent, he had started to become quite known in mainstream rap - especially amongst Nyninyne fans. After the release of the album and singles in 2002, Nebulent started gaining quite a fan base. After the launch of his website, many fans started to follow the latest news regarding Nebulent via the official website. The rapper regularly published blog posts to keep his brand new fan base up to date. The real success started when Nebulent released his first non-collaboration album, Mighty Nebulent.
The album sold almost as much as The Shadow Album, being certified Platinum very quickly - almost setting a record. However, sceptical fans (not thinking the album would be to The Shadow Album's standards) decided to listen to the album online via the Nebulent official website. Many changed their mind and bought the album. This album alone proved to music critics that Nebulent was truly a very successful and skilled rapper. The record label were limited of producers at the time, but luckily Nebulent was skilled as a producer as well, so produced a couple of songs on the album that are known as legendary instrumentals to date. Three singles released from the album, which all released before the album - showing many fans that Nebulent really was progressing. The success continued as the album hit 5x Platinum and higher over the year - soon becoming the best-selling album of 2003. Even before the success with The Shadow Album, Nebulent was working on a very original music genre that is now known as Terrain grime, who is now known officially as the King and Creator of Grime. His lyrics boosted his legacy immensely, starting the side-name for rapping, known as spitting bars which especially link to Terrain grime. He populated the abbreviation of Master of Ceremonies (MC) to link with rap music closely. He succeeded in all those tasks, leading to recent grime artists looking up to Nebulent, who notices this.
As Nebulent dates back to 2001, he has influenced many recent grime artists, such as DJ Crow, who first started producing grime music in 2005. Ravage also took note of the technique that Nebulent used and regenerated it. Though Nebulent is known to be the King of Grime, he doesn't like taking the name officially as grime collective G Hood Crew started a series of grime music too. Many debate who is the best rapper - which many have thought to be Nyninyne or Nebulent. After each fan base of the artists debated (including music critics), Nebulent has been claimed by the public to be the best rapper of UnitedTerra - in success, legacy, lyrics and mentally.
Personal life
Discography
- Main article: Nebulent discography
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Trivia
- He got his stage name "Nebulent" from his grandfather, who always used to say he was nebulous.
- Nebulent returned from his musical hiatus in early 2011 by collaborating with Telephonian disc-jockeys, Tim and Tom, on a single called "The Unstoppable" off their album Adulation of the Monster. This brought back Nebulent and Tim and Tom gained even more fame.
- Marlon got his first breakthrough by collaborating with Nyninyne on an album called The Shadow Album: Introducing Nebulent. The album charted number 1 worldwide and won many awards for Best Rap Album. The album is also known for being one of the most longest albums.
- Now both Nebulent and Nyninyne are both very close friends.
- Nebulent and Dr. Ray are very good friends.