Jazz Hop

A Tribe Called Quest was an influential hip hop group of the 1990s, originally formed in Queens, New York City in 1985. The group is composed of Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, and DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, Jarobi White, was an intermittent collaborator appearing on their first album, but he left the group soon after, although he is mentioned as a 'sometimes' member on their third album liner notes. Along with De La Soul, the group was a central part of the Native Tongues Posse, and enjoyed the most commercial success out of all the groups to emerge from that collective.

Lyrics Born (a.k.a. Asia Born) is Tom Shimura (b. 1972), originally from Berkeley, California, though through his childhood he lived in Tokyo, Japan, and Salt Lake City, Utah. He began his hip hop career while at college at UC Davis, where he was a DJ at the college station KDVS. He is a founding member of the group of artists known as Quannum Projects. He is also one half of the group Latyrx with fellow MC Lateef The Truth Speaker.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth is a rap group from the 1990s. Hailing from "Money Earnin'" Mount Vernon, New York, this DJ-MC duo first made noise in the rap world on the 1991 EP, All Souled Out. It sold moderately well enough to justify Elektra Records clearing the way for 1992's Mecca & The Soul Brother LP. As a producer, DJ Pete Rock (Peter Phillips) tended to prefer obscure soul and jazz sides for sample sources, frequently making use of horn-driven hooks. Lead vocalist C.L. Smooth (Corey Penn) tended to be philosophical in his raps, and he mostly avoided profanity.

To some, it must seem like this young electronic producer came out of nowhere. Emancipator (Douglas Appling) played his first live show in July 2009, opening for Bonobo at the Roseland Theater (cap. 1500). Since then, he’s toured with Bassnectar, drawn crowds at festivals like Trinumeral and Symbiosis, and closed out Sound Tribe Sector 9’s late night parties in Denver at the request of the band.

Read more about Emancipator on Last.fm.