Thee Phantom wrote his first rhyme at the age of 8 and made his first beat by mixing the instrumental from the Beastie Boys' Paul Revere with Beethoven's 5th Symphony at age 13. He took that recording, forged on his brothers double tape-deck stereo, with him to his best friend's house and played it for him. His friend laughed at it, ejected the tape and flung it across the room, stating that it would never work. Fast forward, many moons later and Thee Phantom stands poised to take his B-Boy Meets Beethoven around the world and back again. The artist whose determination was steeled by every, "No" he heard, is no longer asking for opportunities. He is taking them. He has achieved some success along his journey which further buoys his belief that he will reach his goals. Most notably, in 2002, Thee Phantom became the first Hip-Hop Artist to perform at Philadelphia's prestigious Kimmel Center, with musical accompaniment from the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Included in the ensemble was Violist Renard Edwards, who 30 years earlier became the first African American musician to play for the Philadelphia Orchestra. Phantom says, "I can only imagine the struggles and roadblocks he encountered trying to accomplish his goals, so there's no way in the world I can allow a few naysayers stop me." Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.