I was born sept 8th, 1975 in Winamac, a small town in the middle of nowhere north central Indiana. When I was first able to talk, i was a rambling motor mouth which is why my late grandpa Dommer dubbed me “Jabberbox”. I suppose my love for music began from over exposure to my parents’ records at a young age. I remember when I was just a little shit playing my mom’s 45′s while destroying my room.

It was in 1984 when my world was turned upside down by one of the first records I bought for myself, ”Break-Master feat. the New York City Breakers” a compilation from K-Tel:

On this record, was where I first heard rap music… I was hooked.

Two years later I went on to purchase the cassette that would inspire me to craft my own raps, Run-DMC’s ‘Raising Hell’. From that point forward I’ve been obsessively recording myself.

In the late 80′s, my best friend Tommy Gun and I formed, the 2 Bad Boys, our own cheesy version of a rap group. Our method of recording was to stand between two boomboxes, one to play the instrumental (which was stolen from the b-side of a popular rap single) and the other to record. We were loved by some and hated by tons for our efforts.  Even though we were detached from urban culture demographically, we were infatuated with it and our goal was to put our own unique flavor on our raps.

When we graduated high school, the 2BB unofficially disbanded only to be reunited for infrequent drunken recording sessions. If you listen to my album, ’88 Oranges’ completely through, you can hear a secret reunion track we recorded (hidden track #22). To this day, Tommy is still my brother from another mother and I stay reppin’ the 2 for life.

I suppose from 94-99 was a time of personal discovery, substance experimentation, and poor life decisions for me. During that time I joined the marine corps reserves, attended ball state university (muncie, IN), and lived in Lafayette, IN for a few years where i did a bit of dirt. All the while i continued to write but did not (nor did i intend to) record anything.

Because of one of the above mentioned “poor life decisions” i wound up catching a case in early 2000 for the dirt i did in Lafayette. Not to air out all of my dirty laundry and go in to details but, i ended up having to serve some jail time plus a year on in-home detention. With this forced down time, I decided it would be an opportune time to take my writing seriously and back into the direction of song creation. When I got out of jail, my wife and i got married and began planning for our family and life together. I spent that first year of our marriage on in-home detention. We bought a computer and I began recording again as well as using the internet as a means to connect with other artists and potential supporters.

At this time I adopted the moniker, ‘Infrared Doses’ and I put out a couple of albums that were pretty rough around the edges. I also organized the now defunct ‘Else Music’, a collective of like-minded artists that connected and collaborated together via the internet without ever meeting face to face. Else Music housed some very talented artists in the (better off unheard) infant stages of our careers. 

[Else music artists included; Infrared Doses, Elias (now of Scribbling Idiots), Binary Scribes (baus & prof. orange), Octal40, Myn Dwun, Toddla T (now on Ninja Tune), and Fatc among other frequent collaborators.]

Back then, dial-up internet speeds impeded the process of transferring music like we know it today. For most, the preferred means of music consumption was still via compact discs. With novice web skills, I started an online store to house ‘unknown’ experimental hip hop artists’ cdr’s from all over the globe. That site, “Freshraps.cjb.net” is where i began many relationships with artists i still work with today. This is also where I released my first ‘Id Obelus’ album, ’2 Bit Fugue’ in 2002.

As freshraps grew just big enough (not very big at all really) for me to struggle keeping up with shipping and consignment obligations, I decided to bring that piece of internet rap history to a close.

In 2004, I finally started seeking opportunities to get out and perform. My only experience of the like was with
Tommy  now over a decade in the past. For a suitable first show, I began talks with Tommy and a group of friends from Atlanta (Dirga, Brad Baker, Scott Steady, and Carson aka 8trak). Dirga, a multi-instrumentalist, was in tune with the local music scene and was organizing the annual Cabbagetown Festival in his neighborhood. Our genius plan was to form a band strictly to perform at the festival as our first and last show. The Combustible Huxtables were formed. Basically, Dirga composed our music and the guys got together in ATL to practice a few times before our “big show”. They sent me the music they were making via the internet and I was able to turn some of the tunes into new versions of my exisisting songs plus write a few new ones. I flew down there 2 days prior to the show for our first practice together as a band. I won’t say it all ended up coming together like perfection but I will say that it was fun, it wasn’t that bad, and it was the stepping stone i needed to start taking my show on the road.

I would go on to play shows in Pittsburgh, PA and Muskegon, MI before finally honing in on some spots here in my home state of Indiana to perform.

In 2005, I was honored to be contacted by Subversiv Recs., an independent label based in Germany who wanted to use a track of mine on an upcoming compilation they were putting out. The track was, “MC Trustworthy’ from my 2004 release ’88 Oranges’. It was produced by NYC production team, the Neurologists. The compilation, ‘Offbeats 2.1′ was released on limited vinyl and compact disc. I was ecstatic to finally make my debut on wax and to be on a record with the likes of some of my favorite artists in the underground hip hop scene.

In 2007 (my 5th anniversary as Id Obelus), I wrapped up my magnum opus, ‘Flyourfavorite’ with the help of Oblio of the Dreadnots and many contributing mc’s and producers. A couple of indie labels finally began to take notice to what I was doing and expressed interest. I began discussions with SIQ Records, based in Hawaii, to distribute the new album and add me to their roster of artists. Almost simultaneously, Eric Brown (founder and president of Audio Recon) contacted me about digital distribution. I was able to work a deal with them both, SIQ to handle physical distro and Audio Recon digital for the new record plus my back catalog. In the same year, an old song I did with Oblio and Authentic (japan) was used on a compilation cd for Japanese label, Dejine Records. A group of videographers took our song along with others from that album and created some surreal videos that were released on the dvd, “Zero.Feedback vol.1″. It was manufactured and distributed by the Italian company of the same name (zero feedback).

I spent the better part of 2007-2008 promoting ‘Flyourfavorite’ by playing quite a few shows in Indianapolis. I got to the point where i was getting bored with the format of me just rhyming on stage with an mp3 player playing my beats. That’s when opportunity knocked.

A younger 3rd cousin of mine (matt milo) reached out to me to collaborate. He had been in an experimental noise band Tramaj Voyix but, just started delving into his own weird blend of experimental rap music. We got together one evening merely to try to create and record some songs (which we did) and to make a long story short, inspiration struck and Random Art Projects was born. What started out as just matt and I, ended up evolving into a 5 man genre defying band that released a ground breaking album and played all over Indiana in our short existence.

After R.A.P. broke in 2009, I finished ‘the Jabberbox’ my glorious return to sample-based low budget rap shit. During this recording i began working with Richard Cook which has turned into something more than just a couple of one offs. In 2011, look out for our Creatures of Habit project… it’s pretty good.