Musicians

Some of the artists who inspire us:

A Tribe Called Quest
Without question the most intelligent, artistic rap group during the 1990s, A Tribe Called Quest jump-started and perfected the hip-hop alternative to hardcore and gangsta rap. In essence, they abandoned the macho posturing rap music had been constructed upon, and focused instead on abstract philosophy and message tracks.
- John Bush
Tribe proved that there is more to making a good record than having complex rhymes, and showed that the lyrically average could write good songs when focused through love of hip hop. Tribe made music that was soulful and inspiring, for the headphones, the system, the ride, and the bedroom. What other group has done it like that?
- Jay Seagraves on Midnight Marauders

Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star
While Puff Daddy and his followers continued to dictate the direction hip-hop would take into the millennium, Mos Def and Talib Kweli surfaced from the underground to pull the sounds in the opposite direction. Their 13 rhyme-fests on this superior debut show that old-school rap still sounds surprisingly fresh in the sea of overblown vanity productions. While these MCs don't have all of the vocal pizzazz of A Tribe Called Quest's Phife and Q-Tip at their best, flawless tracks like the cool bop of "K.O.S. (Determination)" and "Definition" hint that Black Star is only the first of many brilliantly executed positive statements for these two street poets.
- Jason Kaufman
The promise of rap's future lies soley on Talib and Mos's backs. They treat rap the same way Miles and Coltrane treated Jazz...a way to be spiritual but ultra cool at the same time.

Common
Common (originally Common Sense) was a highly influential figure in rap's underground during the '90s, keeping the sophisticated lyrical technique and flowing syncopations of jazz-rap alive in an era when commercial gangsta rap was threatening to obliterate everything in its path. His literate, intelligent, nimbly performed rhymes and political consciousness certainly didn't fit the fashions of the moment, but he was able to win a devoted cult audience. He issued his most personal work to date with Electric Circus in December 2002.
- Steve Huey

The Roots
By taking the sounds traditionally produced by old-school DJs--spare breakbeats, scratch squiggles, burly bass lines--and recreating them in the organic context of a traditional live band, the Roots presented themselves at once as visionaries and rigid traditionalists. In the process, they also helped raise the barometer of possibilities for rap in a live context.
- Brett Anderson

K-OS
Raised by Jehovah's Witness parents and having lived in locales as disparate as Toronto and Trinidad, it's no surprise that Kheaven Brereton, aka K-Os (pronounced: chaos), is a bit different than your average MC. A singer as well as an MC, and a producer to boot, K-Os proved on his debut album, Exit (Astralwerks), that being preachy didn't have to mean being boring. Arriving in early 2003, the LP was dramatically different, with lush, instrument-driven arrangements to go with the traditional hip-hop elements of drum programming, samples, and the like.
- Johnny Loftus

OTHER INFLUENTIAL ARTISTS:

Gangstarr, Jurassic 5, Hieroglyphics, DJ Shadow, Zion I, OutKast, De La Soul, People Under The Stairs, Ugly Duckling, Pharoahe Monch, Binary Star, Nas

	A Tribe Called Quest Without question the most intelligent, artistic rap group during the 1990s, A Tribe Called Quest jump-started and perfected the hip-hop alternative to hardcore and gangsta rap. In essence, they abandoned the macho posturing rap music had been constructed upon, and focused instead on abstract philosophy and message tracks. - John Bush Tribe proved that there is more to making a good record than having complex rhymes, and showed that the lyrically average could write good songs when focused through love of hip hop. Tribe made music that was soulful and inspiring, for the headphones, the system, the ride, and the bedroom. What other group has done it like that? - Jay Seagraves on Midnight Marauders
	Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star While Puff Daddy and his followers continued to dictate the direction hip-hop would take into the millennium, Mos Def and Talib Kweli surfaced from the underground to pull the sounds in the opposite direction. Their 13 rhyme-fests on this superior debut show that old-school rap still sounds surprisingly fresh in the sea of overblown vanity productions. While these MCs don't have all of the vocal pizzazz of A Tribe Called Quest's Phife and Q-Tip at their best, flawless tracks like the cool bop of "K.O.S. (Determination)" and "Definition" hint that Black Star is only the first of many brilliantly executed positive statements for these two street poets. - Jason Kaufman The promise of rap's future lies soley on Talib and Mos's backs. They treat rap the same way Miles and Coltrane treated Jazz...a way to be spiritual but ultra cool at the same time.
	Common Common (originally Common Sense) was a highly influential figure in rap's underground during the '90s, keeping the sophisticated lyrical technique and flowing syncopations of jazz-rap alive in an era when commercial gangsta rap was threatening to obliterate everything in its path. His literate, intelligent, nimbly performed rhymes and political consciousness certainly didn't fit the fashions of the moment, but he was able to win a devoted cult audience. He issued his most personal work to date with Electric Circus in December 2002. - Steve Huey
	The Roots By taking the sounds traditionally produced by old-school DJs--spare breakbeats, scratch squiggles, burly bass lines--and recreating them in the organic context of a traditional live band, the Roots presented themselves at once as visionaries and rigid traditionalists. In the process, they also helped raise the barometer of possibilities for rap in a live context. - Brett Anderson
	K-OS Raised by Jehovah's Witness parents and having lived in locales as disparate as Toronto and Trinidad, it's no surprise that Kheaven Brereton, aka K-Os (pronounced: chaos), is a bit different than your average MC. A singer as well as an MC, and a producer to boot, K-Os proved on his debut album, Exit (Astralwerks), that being preachy didn't have to mean being boring. Arriving in early 2003, the LP was dramatically different, with lush, instrument-driven arrangements to go with the traditional hip-hop elements of drum programming, samples, and the like. - Johnny Loftus