Gabriel Teodros - GT's Ethiopium: A Jitter Generation Mixtape [2009] [usa+ethiopia]

Gabriel Teodros - Cycles

       Gabriel Teodros (born 1981), is a hip hop artist and a member of the groups Abyssinian Creole and CopperWire. He is of Ethiopian, Scottish, Irish and Native American descent,and was raised on Beacon Hill, Seattle, Washington. Teodros' music often features socially conscious themes, and he was a catalyst in the surge of dynamic underground rap acts from the Pacific Northwest during the first decade of the 2000s.

       Born and raised in Seattle, Washington to an Ethiopian mother and a father of Scottish, Irish and Native American descent. His parents met through anti-war organizing in the 1970s, and they split up around the time Gabriel was born. He stayed with his mother, where he met grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins as they first emigrated to the United States and all stayed in the same house.

His relationship with hip hop culture began at a young age within the South Seattle neighborhood of Beacon Hill. “A lot of kids in my neighborhood were affected by gang culture. And I kind of had a death wish. I felt like, at an early age, that I wasn’t going to live to 21” he said in an interview with Sheeko Magazine. He spent his high school years in Las Vegas, Nevada where as one out of approximately 30 students of color in a predominantly white school, something within him changed. “It was the first time I understood that there was a system in place that wanted kids like me to want to die. And understanding that in high school made me want to live.” he says in the same interview. 

The former breakdancer, graffiti writer and closet-emcee finally began to take his career path seriously at age 16, using hip hop to both understand and explain his world.

       In December 2009, Teodros released GT's Ethiopium: A Jitter Generation Mixtape. This release shined a light on the realities of Ethiopia, touched on America’s own imperfections & stressed the importance of exploring one's own intelligence and spirituality. It was made completely using instrumentals from Oh No's Ethiopium, which was made completely using old-school and rare samples of Ethiopian music.

Discography

   Albums   

Sun To A Recycled Soul - Gabriel Teodros (independent, 2001)

Sexy Beast - Abyssinian Creole (Khingz & Gabriel Teodros) (MADK/Pangea, 2005)

Westlake: Class of 1999 - Gabriel Teodros (independent, September 11, 2006)

Lovework - Gabriel Teodros (MassLine, 2007)

Crow Hill - Air 2 A Bird (Amos Miller & Gabriel Teodros) (independent, 2010)

Colored People's Time Machine - Gabriel Teodros (Fresh Chopped Beats/MADK Productions, 2012)

Earthbound - CopperWire (Meklit Hadero, Burntface & Gabriel Teodros) (Porto Franco Records,  2012)

Children Of The Dragon - Gabriel Teodros & AirMe (independent, 2014)

   EPs   

Sexy Beast - Abyssinian Creole (Khingz & Gabriel Teodros) (MADK/Pangea, 2005)

No Label - Gabriel Teodros (MassLine, 2007)

The Lentil Soup EP - Gabriel Teodros & DJ Ian Head (Everyday Beats, 2011)

   Mixtapes   

GT's Ethiopium: A Jitter Generation Mixtape - Gabriel Teodros (independent, 2009)