independent hip-hop

As a young kid growing up in San Jose, Chris Manak soon realized he needed an escape from the realities of suburban life in the Silicon Valley. The age of nine was his coming of age. This was the year he discovered sports (Pittsburgh Pirates), video games (Pac man), girls (Anita Balderama), and hip hop ("Rappers Delight"). Alongside partner Sweet Steve, young Chris fashioned primitive mix-tapes (using the pause button) and ran amok at the local roller rink.

Having spent nearly two years on the road touring in support of 88 Keys and Counting, Grieves found himself returning home to a fractured reality. Reeling from turbulence in his career and heartbreak in his personal life mixed with coming down from the high of the support he received on the road Grieves conceptualized Together/Apart, an album that would address the bond music creates between each of us as individuals and as a whole despite the many distances we experience be they geographical or emotional.

Percee P (b. John Percy Simon, 1971) is an underground hip-hop artist from the Patterson Projects, South Bronx, New York City. He is known in the underground for selling his mixtapes himself at shows and in front of Fat Beats and for his many guest appearances on other alternative and underground hip-hop artists' releases. He has worked with such rappers as Big Daddy Kane, Kool Keith, Lord Finesse, Aesop Rock, Edan, Jurassic 5, C-Rayz Walz, Jaylib, Jedi Mind Tricks, Maestro Fresh Wes, Wildchild, and many more.

DJ Babu (born Chris Oroc) is a Filipino-American DJ and is a member of a crew of DJs called the Beat Junkies, a group which includes others such as Melo D, DJ Rhettmatic, and J-Rocc. DJ Babu introduced the title "Turntablist" in order to differentiate what he was doing (scratching vinyl records) from more conventional aspects of DJ-ing. He is a member of the hip-hop group Dilated Peoples, along with Rakaa and Evidence.

Read more about DJ Babu on Last.fm.