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BORN in Bonteheuwel township, Cape Town in 1977, Mario van Rooy,aka Devious and his family moved to Mitchell's Plain in 1982 ("to get away from the gangsterism").
He lived and schooled in Mitchell's Plain, and in the late 1980's, became involved in the B-Boy scene - primarily through the local chapter of the Universal Zulu Nation. In 1992 he and his hip hop associates decided to form their own crew, called "Western Block", and he built his name as an mc.
When Western Block parted ways in 1999, Devious continued as a solo mc / rapper, building his profile in and around Cape Town.
In 1997 he was invited to join POC (Prophets of the City) as a guest artist for their tour of England and Belgium. The relationship with POC grew, and he maintained contact - especially with Shaheen - after POC dissolved.
Instrumentation:
vocals
Genre:
hip hop, rap
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The exposure from the tour and the contact with POC resulted in his being asked to session as a guest mc for artists on POC's "Ghetto Ruff" label, and he recorded as a guest mc on Esmile's album "Keep it Real", for the debut album of BVK (Brasse Vannie Kaap) he recorded "Don't play Games", and tracked voices on "Gun Talk" for Skeem.
Devious sees himself as a youth worker involved "working in prisons, schools and communities in Cape Town, doing edutainment work. Much of this work is facilitated by institutions such as "CRED" (Creative Education), "Youth at Risk"; and Bush Radio.
There are not a lot of live performance opportunities or platforms in Cape Town, in part because of the way in which the city is laid out, with its history of division. So performances are normally when a project-based campaign is in place, rather than regular.
In this context, he prepared two tracks for the YAA2000 (Youth Against Aids) show : "Conspiracy Theory" and "Ins and Outs". After that, he continued work with the HIVHOP project, preparing another 5 tracks for an EP dealing with various aids-related and youth issues. Recorded the tracks "Don't Front on Me", "Misconceptions", and an acapella called "Ken jy vir my".
On the strength of his recent endeavours in the HIVHOP project, Devious together with other Cape Town artists were invited to participate in the "Annual Living Yearbook" showcase of NIZA (Nederlandse Institute ver Zuidelike Afrika) in the Netherlands.
Mr Devious died tragically on the night of 23 January 2004. See NEWS item elswhere on this site.
Contact Details:
visit www.mr-devious.com
the site also includes details of the film “Mr Devious ?My life? an independently produced documentary launched in 2006.
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