Hailing from Landover, MD,
Kevin Brown, aka
Kev Brown, got his first exposure to hip-hop when he heard his brother's copy of the 1986
Run-D.M.C. album
Raising Hell, though he didn't begin to heavily immerse himself in the genre until he was in high school in the early '90s. Soon he began writing his own rhymes, but quickly found that his true talents lay in production. In 2001 famed beat-maker
Pete Rock played a track
Brown did with rapper
Grap Luva, "What Ruling Means," for
Marley Marl, who was so impressed with what he heard that he included the song on his album
Re-Entry, which came out that same year. That led to work with
De La Soul and
DJ Jazzy Jeff, but it wasn't until 2004, when The Brown Album, his remixed version of
Jay-Z's
The Black Album (which came before
Danger Mouse's The Grey Album), hit the streets that
Brown started to receive real attention. After a succession of collaborations and singles,
Kev released his solo debut, I Do What I Do, in 2005. The album, which was released on Up Above Records, had the producer rapping at least one verse on each of the 13 songs, as well as featuring guest MCs from his crew, the D.C.-area-based Low Budget, and
Phonte Coleman from
Little Brother. ~ Marisa Brown