THE NOTORIOUS MSG
Blasting out of the streets of Chinatown, THE NOTORIOUS MSG have arrived with a vengeance. Serving up deep-fried beats straight from the Chinese ghetto, they will not stop until they achieve complete world domination.

This is the story of three renegade restaurant workers from the hardened streets of Chinatown, New York City. Pursuing their dreams of rap superstardom, Hong Kong Fever, Down-Lo Mein and The Hunan Bomb fled the harsh ghettos of Asia only to face more hardships as second-class citizens in America. They struggled to earn a living, toiling in the kitchens and risking their lives as Chinese restaurant delivery boys. Facing robberies and beatings on a daily basis, their fight for survival came to a head when an unknown assailant killed one of their original band members, Funky Buddha. This was the last straw; it was time to fight back.

Rising up with a fury, the trio were reborn and The Notorious MSG exploded onto the NYC music scene with a new calling. Once only fighting to defend themselves, they renewed their fight, this time for all their brothers and sisters in the Chinatown ghettos who would never get the chance to realize their dreams.

Facing discrimination as Chinese delivery boys, The Notorious MSG are prepared for the same battle with corporate America. Today, The MSG rises again to challenge yet another foe, the music industry. Seeing how Asians have yet to be accepted as a force in the American music scene, they will continue to unleash their blistering musical buffet and flaunt their unique Asian-American flavor with no apologies.

While the MSG Revolution is only just beginning, the three unstoppable Chinatown Bad Boys have already developed a presence both nationally and internationally. Their song Dim Sum Girl was downloaded 7,500 times within 48 hours of introduction. Their music video, .Straight Out of Canton,. was downloaded 92,691 times in the first two weeks following their licensing deal with Comedy Central.

The boys are presently overthrowing New York City with their fiery street anthem "Chinatown Hustler," the hot single off their upcoming full-lenth debut album, soon to be released. The new release will also include a new music video featuring an appearance by DJ Cipha Sounds of MTV's Direct Effect and Hot 97 New York. The Notorious MSG have also made appearances on MTV, MTV Chi and Shade 45 Radio with DJ Cipha Sounds.
www.notoriousmsg.com
www.myspace.com/notoriousmsg


A native of Osaka, Japan, Yasuyuki Takagi (call him Yaz) was influenced by the sounds of jazz at a very early age. As a child, Yaz listened to both the music of his native homeland as well as his father's jazz collection. Looking back on his childhood, Yaz always felt that the presence of his father's records had a big influence on his musical development. And though he admits that he didn't know what it was he was listening to back then, it had enough of an impact to shape his musical direction for the rest of his life.

As a student, Yaz listened to artists such as Bob James, Dave Grusin, The Crusaders, Earth, Wind and Fire, Grover Washington Jr. and other American jazz artists. And while his friends were listening to the energy and power of rock 'n roll, it was David Sanborn's music that led him to pursue the saxophone as his instrument of choice. Subsequently, upon entering Japan's Kochi University Yaz began to study the saxophone while earning his Bachelor's Degree in Education. And although he started to listen to and collect more of the same albums which he heard as a child in his father's house, he never dreamed that one day he might go to the United States, New York in particular, to pursue a career as a professional musician.

After graduation, Yaz worked through the day as a social worker in Osaka while studying saxophone with Tetsuyuki Miya and theory with Sadayasu Fujii. As his passion for jazz grew stronger through time; He began to play with jazz groups and also sat in on some of teacher's gigs, as well. At this point Yaz decided that he wanted to continue his jazz studies abroad and moved to New York in April, 1992.

However, after moving to New York, Yaz was impressed with the higher level of musicianship and began to lose confidence in his own abilities. Feeling that his own ability was inadequate to pursue a career as a professional musician in New York, he decided to return back to Japan. However, with only a month left in N.Y. before his scheduled return home, he met a fellow saxophonist, Rob Scheps, while practicing at central park He told Yaz "why don't you try this fingering for that scale?". This revolutionary meeting with him convinced Yaz to stay in New York.

He took lessons with him while working as a dishwasher in a Japanese restaurant. As time passed, his abilities (and confidence) improved as his continued to work at night and practice during the day until soon he was able to switch to a day job, thus leaving his evenings open for music.

As Yaz began to play with more and more groups and jam sessions, his abilities came to the attention of some N.Y. area local bands, such as Joy Ryder and the New York Rhythm All Stars, the smooth jazz group Since When?, The Sly Geralds Band, to name a few. When he lost his day job as the result of the September 11th, tragedy, Yaz became a full time musician, formed his own group (The Yaz Takagi Group) and became a regular feature with the New York City Transit Authority's "Music Under New York" series.
www.yazband.com