Last Emperor

The Last Emperor is the recording name of Jamal Gray, Philadelphia-born hip-hop artist. He is renowned for his quick wit and lyrical skill. The Last Emperor took his moniker from the Bernardo Bertolucci film epic of the same name (The Last Emperor). He attended and graduated Overbrook High School (Philadelphia) then went on to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science/International Relations from Lincoln University.

Career
After moving to New York he began performing at open mic nights. It was at the Lyricist Lounge that he became known mainly for his eminent stage presence and hypnotizing live shows. The Last Emperor quickly gained a verse on KRS-One's 'CIA (Criminals In Action) with Zack De La Rocha). Two years after graduating from Lincoln he obtained a major recording contract from Aftermath Entertainment. Jamal amazingly become a protégé of Dr. Dre a well known gangster rapper and pioneer of hip-hop music, also the legendary producer of artists such as, Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, Eminem and Co-founder of Death Row Records. In 2003 official word came out that The Last Emperor had signed to Rawkus Records, unfortunately due to distribution problems the record was kept off the rack. Last Emperor has his own label Red Planet Music Corp. which is distributed by Raptivism. Que who is Last Emperor's brother is also his partner in the label.

He has opened for such acts as the former Def Squad (Redman, EPMD, Das EFX and K-Solo), Common, The Roots, and KRS-One. He has performed at the Lyricist Lounge on several occasions. He’s traveled around the world from Denmark [Roskilde Festival], London [Jam in the park], and Norway [Quart Festival] to North America as the Guest MC for the popular rock group, The Gorillaz.

He's currently signed to Raptivism Records, but was signed to two different well known labels in the past: Aftermath Records and Rawkus Records. Last Emperor released his debut album Music, Magic, Myth (Palace of The Pretender in Europe) in 2003.

The Last Emperor has released the single Black Apache on Red Planet in September 2006.

New music is coming, with videos. New album is almost done with guest appearances from el da sensei, killa priest, reef, etc not mention a whole new web update on all related sites. (redplanetmusic.blogspot.com, thelastemp.com, etc)