Embee is a Swedish hip hop DJ and producer. He was born Magnus Bergkvist on February 24, 1977 in Badelunda, Västmanland, Sweden. He is best known for his work with Swedish hip-hop group Looptroop. His first solo album Tellings from Solitaria won a Swedish Grammy Award for best hip hop or soul release of 2004.
Collaborations include Capleton, Dilated Peoples, Saïan Supa Crew, José González, Jojje Wadenius to name a few.
He was born and spent his childhood in Västerås Sweden. At the age of 19, he moved to Gothenburg. He formed Looptroop in the early 1990s with Cosmic and Promoe two MCs who he had met in school. He started working with Promoe in 1991 and Cosmic joined them in 1993 to form Looptroop. Their first demo tape Superstars was released in 1993.
Embee worked in the US as a solo DJ for a year in the mid 1990s and released a number of solo singles and EPs during that time. He returned to Sweden in 1996 for the release of the second Looptroop tape Threesticksteez which featured a couple of tracks from Supreme. Supreme became a fully fledged member of the group for the From the Waxcabinet tape in 1996 (later released as a vinyl EP) named after the groups's recording studio "The Wax Cabinet".
Embee founded the David vs Goliath record company together with the other members of Looptroop 1998. Their first album on that label was Modern Day City Symphony released in 2000 both in Sweden and internationally followed by The Struggle Continues in 2002, Fort Europa in April 2005 and Good Things in 2008. Embee won successive awards at the Swedish hip hop awards as best producer for the first two albums. Embee toured throughout the world with Looptroop to promote "Modern Day City Symphony" including Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia and South Africa and continued to do international tours for all the following albums as well.
Embee is a member of the Casual Brothers. Embee produces the beats and Cosmic (a former member of Looptroop) raps over them. So far, they have released two EPs together (The Casual Brothers and Costumer's Choice (Part Two)), which featured Christian Kjellvander.
In 2004, Embee released the first solo album Tellings from Solitaria which featured an appearance from the other members of Looptroop and other Swedish artists such as José González, Daniel Lemma, Vanessa Liftig and Timbuktu (artist) . Recorded over a couple of years and mixed by Embee & Soundism, it was critically acclaimed and won a Swedish Grammy Award as the best hip hop/soul release in 2005. He also won the Swedish DJ awards in 2004 and 2006.
In early 2010 Embee released The Mellow Turning Moment on Bad Taste Records. Some Guests include Maia Hirasawa, Nikola Sarcevic of Millencollin, Hello Saferide, Mariam Wallentin of Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Fabian Kallerdahl and Erik Undéhn from The Early Days.
In November 2010 Embee released the album Skuggpoeten thru his Wax Cabinet Productions/David vs Goliath label. Skuggpoeten is a collaboration with folk singer/componist Esmeralda Moberg and Embee's dad, writer Roger Bergkvist.