Kanine Born Derek Saunders in Evansville, IN Kanine is the son of a preacher. He grew up in a strict Christian household and was secluded from alot of things in the outside world. In his late teenage years after not really experiencing things like he wanted to, Kanine turned to the streets for guidence. He ran the streets night and day and joined a local gang where he was forced to prove himself by selling drugs and turning to violence. After a few years of living the street life, Kanine turned to what he loved most and that was music. This rap fenom has overcome alot of personal struggles in life and reflects it in his music. He quietly stands out from everyone else by expressing versitility in his rap styles with early influences from 3-6 Mafia, Bone, Tupac,Nas, and Scarface. He covers all styles of hip-hop. He started rapping back in his freshman year of high school after hearing the upperclassmen freestyling in the lunchroom. After hearing how they expressed themselves, Kanine started writing verses and recorded them on a handheld tape recorder. After hearing how friends was telling him how good he sounded, he soon joined up with a rap group back in 2003 named Two-O(2nd Offense) which consisted of himself, J-Swade, AMS-Sosa, and Yung Werk. They recorded a few songs and did a few shows and at the time was workin on a demo cd for Universal Records who showed great interest in their style until the untimely death of Yung Werk. Shortly after the group parted ways and lost focus on what they were trying to accomplish. Kanine turned back to the street life while still writing verses and doing songs here and there. He started handling matters on his own and started workin on a solo album. He recorded his first solo track called "One on One" in late 2004 which caught the ear of Aftermath Records but due to bad management, things didn't go as planned and he took a break from music until he met up with former neighborhood friend Chubby Boi. The two started the rap group "Crime Talk Boys" along with rapper/producer Sailboss. They recorded numerous mixtape tracks in two month span of time. After hearing a mixtape from Death Squad Records, Kanine linked up with the same people he used to hear in the lunchroom in high school and joined the Death Squad Records camp along with Chubby Boi. In September 2006, the label put out a compilation cd entitled "Death From Above" where Kanine was featured on 5 tracks including a solo. He also is featured on the upcoming follow up compilation cd from the record label entitled "Tha Takeover" which is a double-disc. After recording songs for the double-disc album, Kanine parted ways from Death Squad Records and is now under 3rd Eye Productions along with producer/lyricist B Epp$, Chubby Boi, and Trinity. He is currently finishing up his debut album entitled "Fresh Out The Gate" and at the same time doing shows across the Indiana and Kentucky Region. "Fresh Out Tha Gate," which is the single for the album is getting spins across the region in clubs and radio stations. It was also ranked the 19 song in the nation on the American Idol website.
"Knowledge and understanding will always surpass stardom....But soon everyone will realize The Problem." ---Kanine---