Livestock

Benjamin Reeve, better known by his stage name Livestock, is a rapper from Guelph, Ontario. Livestock was a long-time member of the Plague Language collective founded by Noah23 and Orphan. History Prior to rapping, in the late 1990s, Livestock performed locally as a hip hop DJ under the alias Beetle Juice aka Beetle Jiggly, inspired by the Beat Junkies as well as local Guelph DJs Bias Ply, DJ Basic, B Art, NV US, Tom, and DJ Krinjah. After DJing and organizing local hip hop concerts in the late '90s and early 2000s, Livestock began learning the craft of lyricism with Noah23 after-hours at a vegan restaurant in Guelph called the Cafe Aquarius where Noah was chef. Among his influences in this period were Will Oldham, Neko Case, Project Blowed, El-P, Anti-Pop Consortium, Deep Puddle Dynamics, Divine Styler, and Warcloud. It was around this time that Livestock and a few other local hip hop artists including Noah23, Treevortex, DJ Cloev, and others shared a local jam hall (the House of Velvet jam space) for a weekly freestyle session. Livestock's first release was as a member of the group The Twin Sisters with Naval Avatar and Treevortex. The group released one EP, entitled Amulet, in 2002. In early 2004, Livestock compiled the collaborative songs of himself, Noah23 and Homesick under the group name The Train Rawbers. This material was initially released on the Spring equinox of 2004, but then was mastered and re-released in later that Fall. The album is credited to the three MCs equally, but is primarily "Livestock's brainchild, featuring [Noah23] and Homesick". Livestock features on all tracks, while Noah23 features on six, and Homesick features on only four. The album was initially released with the subtitle "Volume 1", though no further volumes of material were officially released. In November 2004, Livestock released his debut solo album, Spiral Like the 9, which was recorded in the office at the Cafe Aquarius mainly during business hours while the restaurant was operational.