 | | Born Paul Francis in 1977 in Miami, FL, Sage Francis spent most of his youth in Providence, RI. Interested in the poetic side of rap, Francis has been rhyming since age eight, later winning the Superbowl Battle in Boston in 1999 and the Scribble Jam in Cincinnati in 2000 and 2001 (the last under the name of his "metal" alter ego, Xaul Zan). |
 | | Building on the rapping style of eccentrics Kool Keith and Del the Funky Homosapien, Def Jux headliner Aesop Rock became one of the hottest MCs in the post-millennial underground. |
 | | Atmosphere are a hip-hop group from Minneapolis centering around rapper Slug (aka Sean Daley). The son of a black father and a white mother who divorced when he was a teenager, Slug became entranced with hip-hop, graffiti, and breakdancing, and formed the Rhymesayers collective with two high-school friends -- Siddiq Ali (Stress) and Derek Turner (Spawn). |
 | | Before Eyedea & Abilities were an MC/DJ pair, they were Mike Larsen and Gregory "Max" Keltgen, two friends from Minneapolis. |
 | | Believing that rap needs a healthy alternative underground to counter mainstream hip-hop, Anticon is a collective loosely modeled after the American indie rock movement. |
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 | | A self-taught bassist, guitarist, keyboardist, and drummer, P.O.S. (which stands for a variety of things, including Product of Society, Piece of Sh*t, and Promise of Skill) spent most of his childhood influenced by the energy of punk, drumming for Cadillac Blindside and singing and playing guitar for Building Better Bombs. |
 | | Patterning his persona and logo after the Marvel Comics super villain Dr. Doom, the man behind MF (Metal Face) Doom's iron mask is actually Daniel Dumile, aka Zevlove X, a member of former Big Apple hip-hoppers K. |
 | | Possessing a hyper-literate, intellectual style of rapping augmented with dizzying elocution that would tongue-tie even the fiercest auctioneer, Busdriver is eclectic and eccentric enough to cite vocalese jazz singer Jon Hendricks as a primary influence. |
 | | Rapper Brother Ali spent much of his life living in various cities in the Upper Midwest, starting in Madison, Wisconsin, then moving to Michigan as a young child -- where he was first introduced to breakdancing and graffiti and rapping -- and finally settling in northern Minneapolis with his family when he was 15. |
 | | A longtime friend of Definitive Jux leader El-P, rapper Murs first appeared as a solo artist in 2003, after nearly a decade of working with various groups in the underground. |
 | | El-P, aka El Producto, is one of hip-hop's most obstinate and adventurous pioneers, combining a lo-fi old-school aesthetic with a progressive rock musician's inclination to push boundaries. |
 | | Largely responsible for making Columbus, OH, a viable medium for hip-hop, Blueprint may have a cartoonish-sounding voice, but his lyrics are definitely not one-dimensional, varying from complex narratives to rhyme-battling punch lines to office humor. |
 | | Rjd2's music is a collage of cut-and-paste hip-hop that combines disparate elements to make for soulful, moody portraits of the world. |
 | | The underground hip-hop supergroup Deltron 3030 features Deltron Zero (Del Tha Funkee Homosapien), the Cantankerous Captain Aptos (producer/remixer Dan "The Automator" Nakamura) and Skiznod The Boy Wonder (turntablist Kid Koala). |
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 | | Featuring dual MCs as well as a full band, Flobots are a progressive rap group from Denver, CO, with a political conscience, musical chops, and a powerful live show. |
 | | Though there's actually six of them, Jurassic 5 got everything else right on their self-titled debut EP. |
 | | The Oakland-based Hieroglyphics are an underground rap collective who, at their best, combine an offbeat sensibility with a strong grounding in battle rhyming, freestyling, and other hip-hop traditions. |
 | | Each a respected artist on the individual level, DJ RJD2 (born Ramble John Krohn) and MC Blueprint (Albert Shepard) first came together as Soul Position in 2001 in Columbus, OH. |
 | | Initially regarded as one of the most promising rappers to emerge in the late '90s, Mos Def turned to acting in subsequent years as music became a secondary concern for him. |
 | | Felt initially started as a joke between friends Murs (from Living Legends) and Slug (from Atmosphere) after a discussion came up during a 2001 joint tour about who would have the best chance of sleeping with Christina Ricci. |
 | | If skills sold, Talib Kweli would have been one of the most commercially successful rappers of his time. |
 | | When he began releasing singles in the late '90s, party rap and gangsta rap were the dominant styles most MCs favored, but Mr. |
 | | Cousin of renowned gangster rapper Ice Cube, Del tha Funky Homosapien (real name Teren Delvon Jones) was born in Oakland, California on August 12, 1972, and got his start with Ice Cube's backing band, Da Lench Mob. |
 | | Like a few other West Coast rap acts, including the Pharcyde and Jurassic 5, Blackalicious has generally favored what hip-hoppers call the "positive tip"; in other words, its lyrics have often been spiritual and uplifting rather than violent or misogynous. |
 | | Alternative rock band from Panama Cage was formed by ex-Tempest Evan Rodaniche, who was joined by drummer Jorge Loaiza, bassist Giancarlo Costa, and guitarist Ricardo Costa. |
 | | The mysterious cLOUDDEAD combines a trio of underground hip-hop artists arranged in the Anticon collective -- Doseone, why?, and Odd Nosdam. |
 | | A founding member of Freestyle Fellowship, Aceyalone played an important role in the evolution of left-field hip-hop on the West Coast during an era when hardcore gangsta rap reigned. |
 | | Comprised of the Harlem duo Vast Aire and Vordul Megilah, Cannibal Ox debuted in 2001 on the Def Jux label with The Cold Vein, produced by El P. |
 | | With just a few (mostly underground) releases, Dilated Peoples energized the rap underground in similar fashion to fellow West Coast crew Jurassic 5. |
 | | Another fantastic collaboration in the partner-heavy rap underground, Danger Doom brought together producer Danger Mouse (Gorillaz, plus his own heavily publicized production career) with rapper MF Doom (owner of a half-dozen aliases, all with full-length releases). |
 | | Born in Napa, ID, Adam Drucker, or Doseone, one of the founders of the group Themselves (Jel was the other) and a main player in Subtle and cLOUDDEAD, spent much of his youth in Philadelphia and New Jersey perfecting his battle raps. |
 | | Handsome Boy Modeling School was a teaming of quirky super-producers Prince Paul (best-known for his work with De la Soul and Stetsasonic) and Dan "The Automator" Nakamura (fresh off his underground success with Kool Keith's Dr. |
 | | The underground hip-hop duo Jedi Mind Tricks started out in the streets of Philadelphia in early 1996. |
 | | The first artist to release an EP on San Francisco's Soleside Records, Lyrics Born went under the original moniker Asia Born on 1993's Send Them before changing it three years later on his collaborations with labelmate Lateef. |
 | | Born Felipe Coronel in a military hospital in Lima, Peru, in 1978, Immortal Technique moved to Harlem with his parents when he was two years old. |
 | | Oldominion crew members and MCs Onry Ozzborn and JFK had been meaning to do a project together for a while, but it wasn't until after they heard Cannibal Ox's 2001 album, The Cold Vein, that they decided to organize themselves. |
 | | After single-handedly redefining "warped" as the mind and mouth behind the Bronx-based Ultramagnetic MC's, "Kool" Keith Thornton -- aka Rhythm X, aka Dr. |
 | | The Living Legends, a loose collective of MCs and DJs from the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Japan, and Europe, are unique for both their down-to-earth songs and approach to the music business. |
 | | Though popular success has largely eluded the Roots, the Philadelphia group showed the way for live rap, building on Stetsasonic's "hip-hop band" philosophy of the mid-'80s by focusing on live instrumentation at their concerts and in the studio. |
 | | Although the first instrument young Jel (born Jeffrey Logan) played -- much to his chagrin -- was the cornet, as soon as he had saved up enough money he bought his first (and only) drum machine/sampler, the SP 1200, when he was in high school. |
 | | The Seattle-based Boom Bap Project, with MCs Karim (aka Nightclubberlang) and Destro Destructo, along with DJ Tre, self-released their debut album, Circumstance Dictates, in 2001, though Tre was replaced by DJ Scene after the record came out. |
 | | Gift of Gab made his name as the technically adept MC in the vaunted underground rap duo Blackalicious, in partnership with producer/DJ Chief Xcel. |
 | | Mac Lethal, born David McCleary Sheldon, is a rapper representing Kansas City, MO. He released his first album, Men Are from Mars, Porn Stars Are from Earth in 2002, years after having already garnered a reputation on the freestyling/battle-rhyming circuit. |
 | | The progressive Southern duo Cunninlynguists' combination of witty lyrics and edgy production has made them a favorite of underground hip-hop fans. |
 | | The meeting of two West Coast rappers fuelled this talented Canadian band. In 1996, Mad Child was a solo artist performing in San Francisco when he returned to his hometown of Vancouver. |
 | | The Florida-based political rap duo Dead Prez consists of Stic.man and M-1, a pair of rappers inspired by revolutionaries from Malcolm X to Public Enemy. |
 | | Dan "The Automator" Nakamura is a San Francisco-based hip-hop producer whose work with "Kool" Keith Thornton on the latter's Dr. |
 | | Los Angeles-based alternative rappers Freestyle Fellowship (Aceyalone, Myka 9, P.E.A.C.E., and Self Jupiter) first began slapping together their crazy word salads in the early '90s, resulting in their first record, To Whom It May Concern, which was issued in a limited run (only 300 vinyl copies and 500 tapes) yet managed to produce the seeds of their loyal following. |
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