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.

Intuition is the name of 1) a synthpop group and 2) a hip hop artist. 1) Intuition is the duo of vocalist Garrett Miles and programmer Ken Porter. Hailing from sunny Phoenix, Arizona, they have taken the music world by storm with their infectious and unforgettable sound. Fusing together elements of techno-pop, R&B and traditional rock with an electronic backbone, Garrett's smooth and soulful voice gives the synthetic wizardry a warm richness and unique trademark rarely found in today's commercial music world.

There is more than one artist with this name: 1. Sol is a Seattle, Washington based hip-hop artist. His signature sound maintains a marriage between the core values of hip-hop and the mainstream sensibility of pop(ular) music. Sol says that he grew up on a combination of 90