Yea Big

Stefen Robinson grew up immersed in bluegrass, rock, and Motown while living in Kankakee, Illinois, nurturing a broad curiosity about music that extended from listening to performing. His first instrument was the cello, taken up in fourth grade, before he soon added clarinet and saxophone. Guitar and bass entered the picture during high school, and the mandolin joined his arsenal by his freshman year in college. Digital-media coursework at school introduced him to beatmaking, an activity he sustained after earning his degree. Once relocated to Chicago and employed at a dog daycare center, he linked up with local avant-garde electronica figures, leading to the early-2006 release of The Wind That Blows the Robot's Arms on Jib Door under the name Yea Big. Chicago hip-hop message boards helped him connect with MC Kid Static around the same time. Their overlapping tastes sparked a collaboration that produced the self-titled full-length Yea Big + Kid Static, issued in October 2007.