A–Tola also known as Asherman or Ash is a hip hop rapper of Jamaican descent, born and bred in South London Borough of East Dulwich. He is the younger of 3 brothers who were raised his mother, whilst his father remained in Jamaica. He went to school in Peckham, but by the age of 17 “Tola” had dropped out of College mid term due to an honest lack of interest.
From an early age Ash it was evident that Ash’s interests lay in music especially in the Rap and R&B genres and it was from this interest that he took early influences from Notorious B.I.G and Jay Z. However, rapping was not his first exploration into music in 1997 he began a sound system called “Live Wire” with two friends, and it was from his initial passion here where he learnt to play to crowds (both large & small) in house parties, clubs and parks alike .
Ever the progressive state of mind and in a bid to define himself, Ash had ambitions of becoming more than just a DJ in a sound system; he decided that he would now like to set up his own rap group which he called Gold Rush Entertainment. He set upon hiring rehearsal rooms to audition and eventually find good rappers who had similar ambitions of progressing in the music industry as well as at the same time being serious about doing so.
It was in that period of time (circa 1998) where Ash realised that he had far more ambition and drive than all the rappers he had assembled in the group and thus decided it would be in his best interest to go it alone. Ash knew that music was his passion so he had to follow his dream.
With his goal in mind - to be a rap star - Ash began developing himself, spending many long nights recording song after song, until he had the best twenty compiled on one tape. This tape became his demo, the demo then reached the desk of Kuba (Co-Founder) of Street Dreams Entertainment via way of DJ Crew Aylesbury All-Stars.
Kuba was impressed by what he heard on the demo immediately requested Ash’s presence in a face-to-face meeting. This meeting was a pinnacle in Ash’s career as a rapper and he performed two of his songs live in front of the Street Dreams Management Team, they were impressed and after the obligatory negotiations which go with the process of signing an artist, Ash inked his deal in 1999 (in a car park at the urban music festival – keeping it real hip hop or what!!). Within a couple of months of Ash signing his deal, he was featured on the roster of Street Dreams Entertainment with the likes of Pariz 1, Mike GLC and Kama Kazi who were initially part of Hip Hop Super Group S.D.M. under Street Dreams Entertainment
Initially the deal was for two albums, but as he was still working for his 9 to 5 job at the same time and thus the two album release period became more of an Artist Development period. Whilst in development A-Tola featured heavily on the DJ Amnesty Mix tape serious ‘Uninvited Guests’ which sold approximately 22,000 units cumulatively.
However it was not all smooth sailing for Ash, his commercially edged music did not fit the ethos of street dreams entertainment at the time as they were solidifying a more Street influenced target audience, and this left Ash in somewhat of a career void early on in his career. Ash even endured periods of time where his Management questioned their haste in signing the sharp witted but clean cut rap techniques of Mr A-Tola as he was proving to be difficult to market to their existing fan base.
It was setbacks like these which included the failure of his first single ‘I Like 2 Buck’ (due to the lack of promotion and Video rejection by music channels due to female groans being deemed x-rated adlibs for TV?!) which seem to have only proved to make him more focused and resilient as an artist and a person. The progression to which saw Ash spending the next couple of his years at Street Dreams Entertainment redefining himself, whilst becoming stronger, battling for his own respect on projects that he featured on, importantly learning not just a lot about himself but also how to bring out the best in his chosen art form and career.
The saying that the proof is in the pudding could not be more true when referring to A-Tola as it was not until he performed at Imperial Gardens that things started to turn around for Ash, many people thought he would not even show up (ye of little faith!), but it was this performance that made Management at Street Dreams Entertainment realise that they had something special in Ash and also their responsibility to really explore avenues of making the kid a star.
With a fresh lease of life, it was in 2004 whilst recording, that Ash became to realise that his passion had turned into much more than just that, it had become a career and it was around this time he recorded with Teisha O’ Day and Mister Jam in Nottingham.
It was recording in Nottingham which taught Ash the importance and also responsibilities of writing with more content and less profanity for his material to be fully received rather than trying to fit into an image Ash has now grown to be a fully fledged artist in his own right, developing a business brain and stage presence to match.
A-Tola’s recent credits have included the ‘Nothing Can Stop Us’ Single with SDM and also ‘Injury Time’ by Choong Fam which he featured on to good responses.
A-Tola is now currently working on his Pre-Album (as opposed to a Mix CD) “Da Mona Lisa” which is scheduled for release Autumn 2006 and features 100% original material. The first single will be the Reggae influenced ‘Sound Bwoy’ which is due Out On Road from Summer 2006 following his football promo single “Grandstand” (already received love from Radio 1’s Chris Moyles as well as currently getting spun by every hip hop DJ in the country!).
