underground hiphop | Musicosity

underground hiphop

Skillz

Skillz (formerly Mad Skillz, born Donnie Shaquan Lewis in Richmond, Virginia) is an African-American rapper. Known as a talented freestyle rapper, Skillz has not received widespread acclaim outside of the community, but within it is considered one of its best performers. He first made a name for himself by finishing in second place in a national freestyle competition in 1995, which resulted in a recording contract with Atlantic Records. Skillz' Atlantic debut, From Where???, and its single, The Nod Factor, were released in 1996, but sank without a trace.

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Jneiro Jarel

Jneiro Jarel (born Omar Gilyard) is a Philadelphia-based hip hop producer. Noted for his abstract style, he is also known for his beat-making alias Dr. Who Dat? and his group Shape of Broad Minds, who released both their debut EP and album on Lex Records in the summer of 2007.
Jneiro grew up in Brooklyn, and moved out of the Brownsville section at the age of 5. His mother was in the army, and as a result, he lived in many places (Maryland, Arizona, Georgia, etc.). Finally touching down in Houston, Texas in the mid 80's, where his cousin "DJ Starr" put him on to hip hop at an early age.

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Akir

Akir is an African- American rapper who is known for the political message in his songs. His single "Politricks" exposes political efforts to thwart minorities political voices. Akir was featured on Immortal Technique's Revolutionary Vol. 2 & in the Source's "Unsigned Hype" in January 2005. In March 2006 he released his debut album Legacy. Akir first entered the hip-hop scene as an on-air personality with WNMH 97.9 (Mass.) from 1994 to 1996.

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Artifacts

There are two artists known as Artifacts:
1. The Artifacts, a hip hop duo
2. Artifacts, a hardcore punk band 1.) The Artifacts were a throwback hip-hop duo from Newark, NJ. Their music reflected and emphasized three of the four elements of true hip-hop culture: MCing, DJing, and their specialty, graffiti writing or “bombing”; both Tame One and El Da Sensei are proficient at all three. With unique styles that play off each other well, Tame and El’s graff-rap was well received by underground audiences and continued in the Jersey rap tradition of Redman and Lords of the Underground.

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JJ DOOM

JJ DOOM is a collaboration between producer Jneiro Jarel and the masked hip-hop artist MF DOOM. Their debut collaborative album, titled KEY TO THE KUFFS, is scheduled to be released on August 21, 2012 via Lex Records. Key to the Kuffs features guest appearances from Beth Gibbons (of Portishead), Damon Albarn (of Blur/Gorillaz), Boston Fielder, and Jneiro Jarel's fellow partner from the duo Willie Isz, Khujo Goodie (of Goodie Mob).

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R.A. the Rugged Man

R.A. the Rugged Man, real name R.A. Thorburn, is a rapper from Stony Brook, Long Island. He began his music career at age 12. At 18, he signed to Jive Records. R.A.'s legend, perpetuated by the P.R. biographies at his various labels, say he was dropped due to violent and disgusting behavior, but in interviews he disputes many of the more extreme stories told about him, adding that Jive just didn't know how to break new artists at the time.

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Mike G

There are two artists with this name: 1. Mike G is a member of the Los Angeles Hip Hop collective OFWGKTA. He has released one solo album (ALI, 2010), A mixtape titled Mike Check, and a number of Chopped & Screwed Remix albums, including a version of "Bastard" by fellow bandmate, Tyler, The Creator. A collaboritive EP with Vince Staples (Award Tour) is set to be released on Black Friday. His second solo album "GOLD" is expected to be released in 2012. Ali - http://hulkshare.com/sjikf2q6svpu The Award Tour - http://www.mediafire.com/?0mi13wc51e5v2sb

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Wasted Youth

There have been at least three Wasted Youths. The first Wasted Youth were a punk/new wave group from Canning Town in east London who released several records on the Bridge House label in the late 70s. Similarly to early Only Ones their sound was very Lou Reed influenced. The first two singles "Jealousy" and "I'll Remember You" remain classics of their kind The second (sometimes known as "LA's Wasted Youth") was a band in early 80s from Los Angeles, California, who played classic hardcore punk.

Read more about Wasted Youth on Last.fm.

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