Wildabeast, born as William Santiago and raised in New York City¹s Spanish
Harlem, began his plight towards artistic greatness at an early age. Growing
up in Spanish Harlem was never an easy life, but his strength to be outside
of the box and explore his passions is what defines the ³Hood Hippie¹s²
attitude. His talents led him to enroll in the LaGuardia School for
Performing Arts (the same school the movie Fame is modeled after) with a
scholarship in Drama. The diverse and eccentric student body expanded his
frame of reference for culture and life farther than he ever imagined, and
led his urge for music expression to sprout. While back in Spanish Harlem,
Wildabeast connected with a collective known as The Livest as its youngest
member and performed on many New York City stages and countless Public
Access television shows.
An artist, endless paintings of his adorn the walls of his room and at No
Fame Studios: the studio where Wildabeast created his first solo album Hood
Hippie along with his Notherground partner, 6th Sense. Wildabeast¹s musical
influences range far and wide, including Portishead, the psychadelia of King
Crimson, the stripped down ferocity of The White Stripes, and the classic
stylings of Jimi Hendrix. On Hood Hippie, tracks ooze with an intense, free
spirited state of mind. In terms of MCing Wildabeast portrays a delivery of
a Redman or Busta Rhymes with the schematic execution of an MF Doom or Sean
Price. Tracks like "Alone", and "What Ya Want", show dexterous perfection in
cadences and schematics most MCs wish they could execute a mere fraction of:
Hood Hippie is designed to resonate with different listeners far and wide.

Wildabeast has perfored around New York City with his band The Denzel
Collective, and has performed with GZA from The Wu-Tang Clan. He is also
bringing up a crew of talented rappers called the Fundzalo Brothers, and in
2007, Rawkus Records signed him to The Rawkus 50: a group of the 50 Next
important hip hop artists. He will be releasing Hood Hippie Volume 2 with
production again heavily from 6th Sense, as well as production from
Frequency, Kno of the CunninLynguists, and Scram Jones.