Team Embassador

Formed in 2002 in Montclair, NJ, by former high-school classmates rapper R-DeLeon (Leon Collins) and singer B-Tizzy (Sheldon Maxwell), Team Embassador's goal was to create upbeat, all-inclusive music, inspired mostly by the duo's Caribbean roots (Collins was born in Trinidad, and Maxwell in Jamaica). After the release of the first installment of their Pirates Mixtape, Team Embassador (who explained that they replaced the "a" of ambassador with an "e" to stand for "everybody") soon started their own label, EMB Music Group, in order to better promote and distribute their music, focusing mostly on the West Indies, though their popularity also spread throughout the New York/New Jersey region. With enough of a fan base to assure them they had something they could market, R-DeLeon and B-Tizzy began shopping their music at major labels, eventually signing a distribution contract with Lightyear/EMI and releasing Team Embassador's full-length debut, System Overload, which combined soca, reggae, and dancehall with rock and hip-hop, in mid-2007. ~ Marisa Brown, All Music Guide