Tem Blessed – Biography
Temistocles Duarte Ferreira was born in the country of Guinea-Bissau, on the west coast of Africa. Being that both of his parents were born and raised in Cape Verde, he was raised in a traditional Cape Verdean home. He is the youngest of six and at the age of three years old, the entire family migrated to New Bedford, MA, U.S.A.
Temistocles found acceptance in the emerging Hip-Hop culture and after listening to Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh’s banging hit, Ladidadi, he wrote his first rhyme. As Temistocles grew he found himself drawn more and more into Hip-Hop culture through the visual arts and music. He was constantly found either writing rhymes in his lyric book or drawing graffiti in his “black book”. Hip-Hop had not only become his creative means of expression but also his life.
At age 18 Temistocles began attending the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. There he would find the atmosphere conducive to elevate his craft to the level of performance. While in college Temistocles balanced his school work along with his social life rather well. He was able to make the Dean’s List while attracting accolades from his peers when he performed at student functions, parties, and the school radio WMUA 91.1.
His roommate at the time, Walter Jones currently known as “Halogen”, formed a rap group named Incognegro. At this time Temistocles took on the name of Crack Dog. A name he took from a wild, rambunctious cartoon character he had created in his “black book”. Temistocles later would change that name to Crack Kid after “electrifying” the air waves one cold and stormy winter night at WMUA 91.1FM.
In 1992 Temistocles met up with another Hip-Hop artist Demmene Syronn.
There was an instant creative chemistry between the two. With a new energy within the group the members decided to change the name. After a brief brainstorm the name Busted Fro was selected. The name derived from the group constantly striving for originality. They wanted a name that exclaimed visually a sense of history but with a new school “rough around the edges” approach.
“The first man on this planet was African, he didn’t have a pick so you know his ‘fro had to be busted!” -Tem. Blessed
In conclusion all three members of the group decided that they just liked the way the name sounds.
In 1994 Walter Jones left the group after transferring from Umass Amherst. Demmene and Temistocles soon found that like Ying and Yang their styles complemented one another well. With maturity and a sense of knowledge of self Temistocles took on the name “Blessed” towards the end of that year. At approximately the same time Demmene also took on a new stage name, “Isotope 2000″. In 1995 Busted Fro along with Shotgun from Ugly Kids produced Busted Fro’s first underground hit single entitled “Sunny Daze”.
Their popularity in the area grew, creating a rather significant loyal following. Even with all this success the group still did not feel complete. Tem. Blessed and Isotope wanted to follow the traditional Hip-Hop formula of having a D.J. in the group. After a brief search they found that D.J. in Walter Gomes a.k.a. D.J. Wal-Gee.
These three artists realized that they were on to something. The group knew that their style of music was innovative while always remaining grounded to the roots of Hip-Hop. Busted Fro began to pick up momentum touring the college scene hitting colleges such as UMaine ,Bangor, Westfield State, and UMass Dartmouth, just to name a few. They became the premier group in UMass Amherst by performing at different functions and winning the Iota Phi Theta Talent Showcase of 1996 held at the UMass Fine Arts Auditorium.
Also, in 1996, Temistocles Blessed Ferreira graduated from UMass with as B.A. in Legal Studies with a minor in Afro-American Studies and Sociology, successfully balancing his educational interests along with his musical aspirations.
Busted Fro has continued to elevate the underground Hip-Hip scene.
Busted Fro has independently released hits such as Fire and Ice-Revolutionary Minds Compilation, Weapon Mind- Dje-Dje Ka Bo Kunfia International Album, Secret Eyes-Busted Fro Maxi Single, and Underground Hits-Busted Fro Maxi Single B-Side.
The members of the group were featured in the Hip-Hop magazine Blaze in 1997 issue highlighting Hip-Hop in Cape Verde. Busted Fro has also opened up for nationally know recording artists such as Das Efx, Brand Nubian, Killa Priest, and Dead Prez.
With the released of their self titled album, Busted Fro continues to not only to balance full time jobs, responsibilities such as families, but also an up-and-coming explosive music career.
Tem Blessed released a solo project titled “Brilliance” in 2005. Recently he has released a Maxi Single titled Y’all Ain’t Ready. Y’all Ain’t Ready, Tem Blessed’s 6th project is in stores now. The 6 song enhanced CD /Maxi-Single opens with the title track Y’all Ain’t
Ready. A solid Hip-Hop classic produced by famed producer Mark Gonsalves. The second track on the album, produced buy Timmy Dosantos features superstar kriolu rapper Dje-Dje of Strela Negra, R2 of Novo Reino, and D. Lopes on the track called Aiyai All Stars. The third song introduces to the world Debora Ferreira in a powerful spoken word piece titled Mi E Caboverdiana (I am Cape Verdean). Debora expresses her pride, pain and determination as a strong Cape Verdean women. Track number 4 is called Self Destruction/Real talk. Tem Blessed uses Hip-Hop as a tool to address the violence that is plaguing the Cape Verdean/black community locally and globally. The 5th track is the instrumental for the song Y’all Ain’t Ready.
Tem Blessed is always looking to give more than what you pay for. “If you listen closely you may find a bonus 6th track on the CD…but you didn’t hear it from me.” The enhanced CD portion of the disc allows you to access a music video and live performance footage through your computer.
