Mir Fontane

Rapper/vocalist Mir Fontane was born Jamir Daaliya in 1994. He grew up in Camden, New Jersey, spending a lot of time drawing and listening to a mix of classic hip-hop and '90s R&B, informed by drives to school with his grandfather listening to R&B radio. He developed a rhyme style that incorporated his visually minded thought processes, relying heavily on storytelling, humor, and colorful production to create direct yet easy-to-enjoy tracks. He produced several mixtapes on his own, including 2014's He So Crazy (a conceptual collection based around themes from comedian Martin Lawrence's '90s sitcom Martin) and 2016's Who's Watching the Kids. In 2016 he signed to Atlantic Records subsidiary 300 Entertainment and began work on his debut album, 2017's Camden. ~ Fred Thomas