Manafest
Genre: Rock/Hip-hop/Rap
Official Web Site
Manafest Bibliography: (click on each album cover to view tracks and Manafest lyrics)
Manafest Biography Over 5000 independent record sales, over 300 shows across North America and Canada, performing with the likes of KJ-52, John Reuben, LA Symphony, Thousand Foot Krutch and Hawk Nelson, award-winning freestyle skills, not to mention endorsements from Circa Footwear as well as a World Vision partnership and yet Manafest has really just begun. Every story has a beginning and this is Manafest's.
The story of Chris Greenwood, a.k.a. Manafest, is an unlikely one. At the young age of seventeen, Chris was already an established skater in the Toronto area with sponsorships left and right. In fact, his success locally was significant enough that he decided that it was time to move on to bigger things-namely Los Angeles to take his skating to the professional arena. Yet just as all was falling into place, tragedy struck.
Shortly before leaving for L.A., Chris fell while attempting a trick and suffered a debilitating injury to his foot, one that would force him to give up skating for months. To a kid whose skating was his life, this was a serious blow. Yet out of this setback came an unexpected new development.
Having always been interested in hip-hop culture, Chris spent a good deal of his time away from skating with some local MCs. These informal hang-outs transformed his casual interest in hip-hop into a serious love for the music that began his budding career. There has been no turning back since.
Fast forward several years to the present. Manafest opens for Thousand Foot Krutch's Set It Off release party and catches the eye of frontman Trevor McNevan. McNevan grows interested in Chris and pitches Manafest to BEC Recordings label president Brandon Ebel. Ebel likes what he hears and signs Manafest to a deal.
"Epiphany," Manafest's debut release for BEC Recordings, is chock full of the best combination of elements-infectious rhymes, sincere lyrics and an artistic energy that's undeniably magnetic. Chris Greenwood is clearly and unabashedly himself, even in the face of genre stereotypes and surface level judgments that tend to plague many artists in the Christian arena. Supporting this uniqueness is the fact that rock mainstay Thousand Foot Krutch's Trevor McNevan makes a cameo on the one of the lead singles, "Skills," a fist pumping anthem about staying true to your roots.
And in spite of all the success that's taken place in the recent years, Manafest has done just that. Chris maintains that his reason for being an artist is to care for kids that were just like him-skaters, outcasts, and ultimately, kids that need to know that they're loved. And though it sounds like something you hear frequently, when Manafest says it, somehow it just sounds genuine.
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