September 21, 2009 - Wichita, KS, hip-hop phenom XV -- the 24-year-old artist/producer/writer whose recent mixtape project titled Everybody's Nobody was co-hosted by Hot 97 N.Y. DJ Enuff & DJ Benzi -- will appear with The Heavy Hitters at the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors Pre-Party at Club Touch (240 W. 52nd St.) on Sept. 22nd.

The event will take place prior to the taping of the show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which will celebrate the legendary Def Jam Records label's 25th anniversary, and air on the network Oct. 13, with 30 Rock's Tracy Morgan as host. XV will perform Warren G's "Regulator" and LL Cool J's "4,3,2,1" as part of the tribute to the history-making rap record company along with selections off his most recent project.

XV is unique in the rap world, having grown up with Alternative bands like Green Day, Cake, Weezer, Pixies, Oasis and Smashing Pumpkins as his favorites. "The first concert I'd ever been to in my life was the Foo Fighters," he says. "It was my first mosh pit, where I received my first black eye. Rock concerts influence my stage performance because rock artists actually give a show, with lights, energy, setlist structure... Everything!" Some of his all-time hip-hop heroes include 2Pac, Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, R. Kelly, Lil Kim and Outkast. He took the name XV "when I decided to get out of a lot of the dumb stuff I was doing out on the streets and focus 100% on music." He describes himself as "a talkative, yet socially outcast, sports-hating, videogame-loving guy attempting to live a second childhood."

XV's Everybody's Nobody project, which also featured Ne-Yo, Colin Munroe, Grammy winning producer Omen and Boi-1da (Drake's "Best I Ever Had"), was downloaded 40,000 times within four days of its release on July 31, making it #1 over the likes of Lil Wayne and Rick Ross.

The mixtape was featured on more than 500 blogs, generating more than 1.3 million listens and views on MySpace, where XV's "Fall Out the Sky" was premiered on the site's front page last Friday (9/18), generating another impressive round of hits.

XV's "Mirror's Edge," a collaboration with Bun B, Mike Posner & GLC, remixed by DJ Benzi, has been receiving daily spins on Hot 97's "Rush Hour" time slot and was selected as the influential station's "Heavy Hitter" pick of the week, marking the first time DJ Enuff has ever aired an unsigned artist's mixtape. The track was named # 1 independent record on DJBooth.net's independent charts for two consecutive weeks and running. He also creates beats for his production website, KingzmenProductions.com.

XV is also poised to make history as the flagship artist for Noizy Cricket!! the groundbreaking label/management company launched by former Chris Lighty protégé's le'Roy Benros & Patrick Castelo. Noizy Cricket!! along with The Catalyst Group CEO Leyla Turkan will also be involved in marketing, promotion and servicing, while developing a new model of digital distribution called the Embryonic Project, which will offer fans a full album at a never seen before price-point.

XV's next project is scheduled for release early 2010 through Noizy Cricket.

"I'm particularly obsessed with dreams, goals and living life to the fullest extend," he says. "It's the reasoning behind my obsession with 'flying," which in my mind, is a metaphor for doing the impossible. I have been trying to achieve a dream since I was 15. Now, 10 years later, I am still working to accomplish my dream. I haven't given up on it and the more I don't give up the closer I get to it. I feel like I can be living proof of somebody who chased a dream and caught it."

Perhaps 25 years from now, VH1 Hip-Hop Honors will pay tribute to the legacy of XV. At the rate he's going, it wouldn't be a surprise.