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.
Alvin Nathaniel Joiner (born September 18, 1974 in Detroit, Michigan), better known by his stage name Xzibit, is an American rapper, actor, and host of MTV's Pimp My Ride. He began his music career as a member of the Likwit Crew, a loose collective of West Coast rappers including King Tee, Defari, and Tha Alkaholiks. He released his solo debut album 'At The Speed Of Life' in 1996 and has since released 5 more albums, his latest being Full Circle, released in 2006. His new album MMX is expected to be released sometime in 2011.
Travis Lazarus "Travie" McCoy (born August 6, 1981 in Geneva, New York) is a rapper, singer, multi-instrumentalist and lead vocalist of the alternative hip hop group Gym Class Heroes. Signed to T-Pain's Nappy Boy Entertainment, he released his solo debut album, Lazarus, on June 8, 2010. The lead single from the album, Billionaire featuring Bruno Mars, has so far reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Waajeed (b. Robert O'Bryant) is a Detroit-born music producer, and one half of the hip hop and R&B group Platinum Pied Pipers. He formed the Bling47 record label & coinciding website/online store, Bling47.com [1] in 2002 and released an instrumental album called B.P.M.. Bling47 has also released projects by J Dilla and the vocalist Tiombe Lockhart. Before producing records, Waajeed was a DJ in and around the Detroit music circuit. As a producer Waajeed began comparatively late (2000), but before long had landed a handful of tracks on Slum Village's Trinity (Past, Present and Future) album.
Rapper Murs & producer 9th Wonder have collaborated on four albums. • Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition (2004)
• Murray's Revenge (2006)
• Sweet Lord (2008)
• Fornever (2010)
The New Boyz are a hip hop group and jerkin' crew from Hesperia, California comprised of rappers Earl "Ben J" Benjamin and Dominic "Legacy" Thomas. After meeting as freshmen at Hesperia High School they released their debut single You're a Jerk, which was based on the local dance style of jerkin'. It became a national hit and paved the way for them to release their debut album Skinny Jeanz and a Mic in September 2009 and release another successful single, Tie Me Down featuring Ray J.
Mercury Prize 2009 Award Winning Producer, Wayne Lotek, produces a mash up of hip-hop, reggae influenced grime and UK dancehall. Originally from North London, Lotek is now based in Melbourne Australia. With an enviable production resume and stellar career in Europe as part of Lotek Hifi, Wayne Bennett aka Lotek matches refined production with musical originality in a rare package. A cornerstone of Big Dada and Ninja Tunes...
Mayer Hawthorne grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, just outside of Detroit, and vividly remembers, as a child, driving with his father and tuning the car radio in to the rich soul and jazz history the region provided. “Most of the best music ever made came out of Detroit,” claims the singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, who counts Isaac Hayes, Leroy Hutson, Mike Terry, and Barry White among his influences, but draws the most inspiration from the music of Smokey Robinson, Curtis Mayfield, and the legendary songwriting and production trio of Lamont Dozier...
Mix Master Mike (born April 4, 1970 [1]) is an American turntablist of Jewish and Filipino extraction. His real name is Michael Schwartz. He was born in Daly City, California. He first gained notoriety after performing at several live DJ competitions. Mix Master Mike later joined the ground-breaking turntablist group, Invisibl Skratch Piklz. After gaining fame, he hooked up with the Beastie Boys, working on the album Hello Nasty. He is now considered their resident DJ, replacing DJ Hurricane (who was preceded by Doctor Dre - not to be confused with Dr. Dre !).
Los Angeles producer Nosaj Thing crafts stately, ethereal synth-based instrumental hip-hop, with influences that range from Boards of Canada and DJ Shadow to Danny Elfman and Erik Satie. An L.A. native, Jason Chung was inspired at an early age by the hip-hop radio stations that the bus driver would play on his way to elementary school, and particularly by the Beat Junkies' turntablism on Power 106.