Lyrics Born

Tsutomu "Tom" Shimura (born September 2, 1972), better known by his stage name Lyrics Born (formerly Asia Born), is a Japanese-American rapper, singer, and producer.

He is one half of the duo Latyrx with Lateef the Truthspeaker.

Shimura was born in Tokyo and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah and Berkeley, California.

He attended Henry B. Plant High School in Tampa, Florida.

Shimura changed his stage name from Asia Born to Lyrics Born in 1995, citing the desire to ensure that he won fans based on his merits as a rapper rather than his ethnicity.

His first studio album, Later That Day, was released on Quannum Projects in 2003.

In an article published by Rolling Stone in 2022, Later That Day was listed as one of the "200 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time."

Lyrics Born's collaborations with Lateef the Truthspeaker on Latyrx records often see them trading lyrics back and forth in quick succession.

Lyrics Born and Lateef's methodology for writing this type of lyric is described by Lateef in the book How to Rap: "With Latyrx stuff, when we have parts that we're writing that we're both going to be trading off, we write them together for the most part. I'll sit there and write a rhyme, like I'll write a line or two and then we'll break up who's gonna say what, and he'll write a line or two and we'll break up who's gonna say what. It's a very organic process."

In 2023, Lyrics Born's most popular song "Callin' Out" was mentioned as one of the "100 Greatest West Coast Hip-Hop Songs of All Time" by Rolling Stone.