Click here for music and videos performed by Million Styles.
Kenshin Iryo more known as Million Stylez was born the first of june 1981 in Stockholm Sweden. He grew up in a suburb called Sollentuna. He is half japanese and half french and grew up mainly with immagrents from every corner of the world. In that way he says he can relate to people worlwide. Million started experimenting with Hip Hop at the young age of nine, writing and recording rap tunes in Swedish on his casette-player. After a couple of years he started to write lyrics in english but it was not until he turned 18 that he moved on to singing and deejaying. He is one out of a few out there that can master so many different styles such as singing, deejaying and rapping. He never had any schooling but still he feels that nothing can put any boundaries on him musically.
In the summer of 2005 Million Stylez went to the finals in “Big Break” arranged by Irie FM (Jamaicas nr 1 radiostation) and red stripe. It is an annual talent competition for upcoming artists in Jamaica with more than 1200 talented applicants. After liveshows (in St. Elizabeth, Montego Bay and Kingston), TV and radio-interviews he ended up in a honourable fourth place. He was also the first non-jamaican that had ever participated in the competition.
2006 March 1st saw the release of his first single “Miss Fatty” through German distributor Soundquake, and was their number one selling song during a long period of time. “Miss Fatty” was also recieved very well by radiostations like Hot97, Shade 45 (eminems sattelite radio) BBC1Xtra, Kiss FM, NRJ, Voice, P3 etc. It has also been the number one track on Trace TV/radio that covers over 50 countries around the world. Not to mention all the sound systems and Djs all over the world. The video for this huge hit was shot in Cuba and has over 13 million views on youtube so far. It was actually this particular tune that opened up all the doors for him careerwise.
Million Stylez released his debut album “From A Far” 2007 with KBC music and it includes everything from roots, dancehall and Hip Hop to some R&B influenced songs. Just to mention a couple of songs that made this launcher was of course “Miss Fatty”, very concious “Brighter Day”, “Give me the strength” and then “Fade Away” that had a huge impact on Europe especially and even became no1 on the german reggae charts.
It wasn´t until three years after in may 2010 that he released his second album entitled “Everyday” this time through his own label Adonai Music. This musical masterpiece feature hits like: “Everyday” (everyday riddim), “Love we deal with” and the cross-over smash hit “Supastar”. This time around he decided to have a couple of guest appearances, but not just any artsists. He linked up with none other than Gentleman and recorded a song called “Help Is On The Way”. He says that it was an honour for him to do “World crisis” with the living legend Don Carlos for this album. From the old to the new, “As mi forward” is a massive street anthem alongside the dancehall superstar Busy Signal. “Everyday” is more of a compilation of the latest and greatest songs he recorded at the time. He says that there is no thought behind his music making, just feeling and emotions. Overall its a more mature and evolved album than his first one.
Just to mention a few of the artists that Million has worked with over the years, there are big stars like Beyoncé, Gentleman, Peetah Morgan (Morgan Heritage), Don Carlos, Loon (Bad Boy), Smif N Wessun, Mr Vegas, Busy Signal, Wayne Marshall, Bunji Garlin, Lukie D and Cecile but the list goes on and on. He has also been opening up for huge stars like Sean Paul, Beenie Man, Elephant Man, Ne-Yo, Fabolous, Nina Sky, Ryan Leslie, Fatman Scoop, Wayne Wonder, Mr Vegas, TOK, among others. We can also add to the list that he has recorded thousands of dubplates for big soundsystems and selectors worldwide like David Rodigan (UK´s most known selector), Mighty Crown (former world clash champions), Massive B (Hot 97), Sentinel (former world clash champions), Robbo Ranx (BBC 1extra) plus several several more…
Million Stylez has now been performing in every continent independently and the touring continues. He is constantly working on new material and his third album will be coming out early 2013. What more is there to say? Million has a million tings a gwaan.
