Tomas Vanderbeke aka Toto aka MC Equal grew up in Kuurne, living in Kortrijk, and is a young, promising MC and highly motivated event organizer with many achievements to his name.
He was active for a long time as an emcee with the collective "BREAK YOUR BRAINZ" the oldskool dubstep and the drum 'n bass scene where he collaborated with Testeffex and Vuchido to become part of Straightsteppers. Here MC Equal took his first steps as a rapper / emcee in front of an audience.
From 2013 MC Equal works together with producer Brecht and they released the single “In The Mood” with which the duo took their first steps within the (West-) Flemish hip-hop scene. Equal soon returned to the stage and since then he has performed in numerous venues throughout Flanders. With an energetic live show, the audience is always treated to a strong example of top-shelf hip-hop. He was already allowed to do the support act for Tourist Lemcee, Brihang and Stikstof, among others.
In 2014 MC Equal was crowned “De Bestn Vant Westn” in the West Flemish MC battle of the same name. In 2015 he won the USAF Rap Rally in Ghent and the preliminary rounds of the freestyle MC contest “End Of The Weak”, qualifying him as a Belgian finalist.
Tomas is founder and organizer of the legendary “A Day / Night Of Hip Hop” parties in collaboration with JanSan Skatepark & Phatmark Collective vzw.
In 2016 he started his own project "De Stroate" with which he opened the first official hip-hop academy in Belgium. He wants to give hip-hop a face and platform in Kortrijk by organizing small and large events / workshops. In this way he hopes to create opportunities for Hiphoppers that were not there before.
His passion over the years was noticed in his own region and throughout Flanders. In 2015 he was a candidate for the Kuurnse Cultuurprijs and during the Flemish Rap Awards 2016 he managed to conquer third place in the categories “Rookie of the Year” and “Rad van Tong” (a prize for the most creative and quirky artist, act or organization).
